The lighter the bat, the easier it is to control, and, contrary to old school thinking, you can hit a ball harder and farther with a light bat than with a heavy bat because you can swing a light bat much faster. As acceptance of this fact has grown in recent years, the overwhelming trend in both baseball and softball has been to lighter bats. The National Collegiate Athletic Association and high school reviewing sports bodies have rules prohibiting baseball bats from being more than three ounces lighter in weight than the length of the bat in inches. This was done for safety reasons as it was thought that big, strong players swinging ultralight bats hit the ball so hard that infielders were at risk.