MIAA Rejects Switch to Wood Bats.

Sports Editors/Business Editors

FRANKLIN, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 22, 2003

The Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Council (MIAC) voted 12 to 5 to reject a proposed rule change that called for wood bats to be used in all high school baseball games in 2004. The MIAC is the rule making body of the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association.

As a result of today's vote, the current rule that allows schools or leagues to use either aluminum or wood bats will remain in effect for future regular season play.

The 2003 MIAA Baseball Tournaments will be played using wood bats, as determined last October by the MIAA's Baseball Committee (that has jurisdiction over the MIAA tournaments). The Baseball Committee will review its tournament rules for 2004 at a fall meeting.

The MIAC also voted 14 to 3 to reject a proposal that called for a ban on boys participating on any girls' teams that involved contact sports. In making its decision, the MIAC was aware that the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court had ruled that the Equal Rights Amendment of the Massachusetts Constitution precludes the MIAA from making such "gender-based distinctions." Several subsequent Superior Court cases also found against the MIAA whenever the Association attempted to limit the participation of boys on traditional girls' teams.