One of the sweetest sounds in sports may not be heard for much longer.

The “ping” made by a baseball on an aluminum bat is nice to listen to but it can be potentially terrifying to watch once the ball leaves the bat. So terrifying, in fact, that every high school team in North Dakota will be making the switch next season from aluminum bats to wood. Other states, including Illinois and New Jersey, could have similar rules in place by the start of the next high school season. Rumors have circulated throughout New York but the state has no immediate plans to make the switch but it remains a future possibility.

Many factors, most notably cost, could prevent New York high school teams from adopting wood bats but Cato-Meridian head coach Steve Riley said the only factor considered should be safety.

“I haven't seen any injuries happen yet (from aluminum bats),” Riley said, “but it's one of those things that could happen at any time. It's a ticking clock and only a matter of time.”

Riley may not have witnessed any accidents on the diamond, but at least 17 players have died from baseballs shot off the end of bats in the last 15 years, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. The death of a pitcher in Montana due to a line drive off an aluminum bat was a major reason why the switch to wooden bats was made in North Dakota.

Wood bats are considered safer because the ball travels slower than if hit by an aluminum bat. This gives pitchers and other infielders more time to react to a liner directly at them.

Recent rule changes, though, have made aluminum bats safer than they had been in the past and that's enough for some coaches like Moravia's Rich Valentino. In 1999 the NCAA changed the kind of bats allowed from negative five to negative three. High schools soon adopted the rule. Bats are measured on a ratio from of length to width, so a 30-inch bat with a weight of 25 ounces would have a ratio of negative five. The ball leaves the bat at 97 mph on negative five bats and that was too fast for adequate reaction time.

It takes more power to muscle a ball out to the outfield fence with a wood bat, as the impact zone on the aluminum bat is wider. It is estimated that the ball travels about 30 feet farther off an aluminum bat.

That change can be seen on the field, Valentino said.

“Kids were just launching balls out of the park,” he said. “Players that I didn't expect to hit home runs, were. The change has taken care of that problem. We're in a good spot now.”

The rule's added security is good enough for Valentino who has never seen a serious injury from a ball hit by an aluminum bat in his 30 years around the game. Even if Valentino did want to play with wood bats he probably couldn't. He doesn't know where the money would come from.

“We probably have enough in the budget to get one new bat a year,” he said. “For our whole team to switch to wood bats and have extras when they break would be too expensive.

The Blue Devils need only about three or four aluminum bats for their team but Valentino estimates at least eight wood bats would be needed.

Even though aluminum bats can cost as much as $200 more than wooden bats, in the long run wooden bats won't be cheaper. They can split, chip or crack after one swing or 1,000 swings. And just add in the chilly April weather.

That doesn't matter to coaches like Riley. He knows about the costs, he dreads the extra equipment to lag around and he understands the rule changes. But like others that are calling for changes soon, he simply doesn't see the point in keeping unnecessary dangers in the game.

“I've always believed baseball should be played with wooden bats,” he said. “I'm a traditionalist. I hope (the change) happens.”