I agree with you. This field has basically cut the HRs down from close to 800 last year to just over 300 this yea. Maybe instead of 1 an inning, we use 7 (or a number agreed upon) as the total allowed per game. And an out after that. Just my humble opinion. Its worth trying.

As for the mat. I used to get a lot of strikes pitching (Pre Mat) from the side of the rubber that come would cross the plate and actually land on the side of where the mat would be. And at states, if the ball landed more than a foot behind the plate, it was called deep.

There are too many arguements with the mat. Especially when its right up to the plate. It needs to come back 6 inches so we can tell whether it hit the plate of not. The mat is too deep. If you are under 5'9, a 10 foor arc at the very back of the mat is unhittable.

We have that great batting area now, God back to the umpire calling strikes "as he sees it". There is no arguments on were it landed. Its his opinion if it is a strike or not. I actually think thee umpires may like it better. The opinion of the umpire and batter will sometimes differ, the same as a base runner and umpire.