I think once you make such rule you have headed down a slippery slope.
Everyone has to know you are serious and usually that takes having in place some harsh consequences.
I guess where VHSL has put itself with this safety related rule is if a kid gets injured from a batted ball that is hit with an illegal bat someone will be answering some serious questions. An the one askin the questions may be one of those guys you see on TV that are looking to collect 30-40% of what he can recover!
I am bginning to wonder....maybe the solution was to change the ball instead of the bat?