Kira Long doesn’t recall the line drive that smashed into her face.

But she does remember the ambulance trip and an overnight stay at the hospital.
So now, when the Des Moines Christian softball player steps into the pitcher’s circle, she wears a clear acrylic mask she hopes will prevent another injury.
In Iowa high school competition, 40 feet separates the pitching rubber from the batter’s box. New, powerful, composite bats — “hot bats” in common terminology — can be a devastating weapon that can drive a ball with dangerous force.
Long, who was injured in April during a spring league game, has helped drive local interest in face masks worn by fielders since a batted ball broke her nose and both orbital bones of her eyes.
“I don’t remember the ball coming back at me,” Long said. “I like blacked out for a couple of seconds on the ground. Then the ambulance was there.”
The state’s high school teams open regional tournament play this week. Class 1-A starts today, 2-A on Thursday and 3-A and 4-A teams open Saturday.
Some schools, like Waukee, Johnston, Iowa City High and Norwalk, will wear masks. Meanwhile, state and national athletic associations will continue to discuss whether the gear eventually becomes as common as batting helmets and shin guards.
None of the states bordering Iowa require face masks. Iowa permits the equipment to be worn — stopping short of requiring it.
Face masks are becoming more common in the Des Moines area.
Sales of the masks, which cost about $40, have increased five-fold in the past year, according to Mike McClintock, general manager of Hopkins Sporting Goods in Clive.
McClintock said the spike, up to about 60 masks this year, is directly because of safety concerns after Long’s injury.
Waukee coach Andrea Wilmes said her pitchers are required to wear them because of Long’s incident.
“If there’s a way to keep kids safer, we should do it,” Wilmes said.
The combination of tighter-wound softballs and stronger bats can propel balls toward the pitcher at nearly 100 mph.
The same bats designed to add distance to a player’s drives shorten the time the ball travels toward the fielders. So-called exit speed can last 3/10 of a second, according to former Buena Vista University coach Marge Willadsen, the former chairwoman of the NCAA softball rules committee.
“The ball trampolines off the bat,” Willadsen said.
Softball has become a more dangerous game because of the technology, Willadsen said.
From 1983-2008, four catastrophic injuries occurred on high school softball fields, according to an annual survey by the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research. One of them was fatal.
YouTube.com videos show players hurt in games by batted balls.
Some coaches and parents want face masks to become required equipment.
“I think next year, you’ll see it be mandatory,” Des Moines East coach Bob Ligouri said.
Joel Oswald, assistant director of the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union, said the issue will be discussed by the coaches’ advisory committee this fall.
A recommendation to require face masks would need to be approved by the Union’s board of directors.
Oswald said the Union will ask the national rules committee to consider the issue.
“We at least think it needs to be discussed,” Oswald said.
According to Oswald, an Underwood player’s nose was broken by a batted ball this season.
Long, a freshman, didn’t require surgery after her accident and returned to play about two weeks later. She was participating in a game at Altoona when she was struck by a ball that rocketed off a Johnston player’s bat.
Dr. Jeff Schoon, a family practice physician who coaches Long’s team, ran to her aid.
“The first words to me were, ‘I can’t breathe and I can’t see,’ ” Schoon said.
Schoon said the Union should require the pitching rubber to be moved back three feet, to a 43-foot distance. That change is already slated to occur nationally in the 2011 season. Some high school coaches support that change.
He also said he supports banning metal cleats by varsity teams. Schoon said he’s seen three players seriously injured this season when their legs were slashed, including one that required an ambulance trip.
Mitch Long, Kira’s father, said his daughter didn’t have enough to time to react to the line drive.
“It was a hard hit ball right off the sweet spot of the bat,” Mitch said. “It came back so fast. Those new bats are so hot, everyone has a $300 bat now.
“I’ve never seen so much blood.”
The ball struck Kira on her left cheek, she said.
Medical workers, including a nurse and an EMT from nearby diamonds, provided urgent care. They used all of the gauze from two first-aid kits to soak up the blood.
Mitch called Kira’s mom, Joy, so she could meet them at Blank Children’s Hospital in Des Moines.
“I think I ran like three red lights getting to the hospital,” Joy said. “I feared the worst, because I’ve heard of kids dying from that.”
Word traveled fast about her injury, inspiring other teams to buy masks.
Kira, who said she’s embarrassed by her injury, said she’s glad to become a pioneer in player safety.
“I feel important that I could change that,” she said.