Leading off today: New York City's new law banning metal baseball bats in high school games is being challenged in a lawsuit filed in Federal court.
A group billing itself as "Don't Take My Bat Away" contends that the law passed last month lacks scientific justification and is unconstitutional. They are represented by attorney David Ettinger, who also works for Easton Sports -- the country's leading metal-bat maker.
Ettinger is seeking an injunction from U.S. Southern District Court in Manhattan. The group he represents includes coaches, players and parents from New York City. The Public School Athletic League and the Catholic High School Athletic Association also oppose the new law. The PSAL alone has more than 100 varsity teams that would be affected by the ban next season.
City Council acted on the premise that balls travel faster off metal bats, increasing the injury risk for players. They had to override a veto by Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Oddball no-hitter of the year: The Clarke baseball team got back-to-back no-hitters last week from Mickey Rogers in a 13-0 win over Carle Place on Tuesday and Sam Braverman in a 9-0 victory against Bethpage the next day.
That's fairly unique in itself, because few pitching staffs have that kind of depth, plus luck is sometimes the wildcard in any no-hitter -- a bloop single here, a hole opened up by a hit-and-run there, etc., and suddenly the no-hitter is a one-hitter.
The unique twist here is that Clarke (14-2) coach Tom Abruscato swapped out all eight of his position players after the fifth inning of Rogers' no-hitter, meaning that he was working with a makeshift defense behind him.
