The Stupid Mask... WTF?????

Little Sherry is all set to go out and play in the softball championship on national TV. She's nervous, but confident, and she grabs her glove and starts to jog from the dugout.
"Hold on, Sherry! Aren't you forgetting something?" her coach calls to her.
She turns around, and he hands her a plastic contraption. "You almost went out there without your Stupid Mask on. Now go get 'em!"

The Stupid Mask...
Now I don't watch much Little League softball, because why anyone who doesn't have a sibling on the team would watch it is beyond me. But I noticed, as I was flipping channels, that they make the infielders wear these absurd devices that are not unlike headgear.

That's it. The picture says it all, but I'll spell it out. I'm all for safety, and face guards on helmets are fine...because the batter isn't standing in a ready position with a glove on. But when it's evident that little girls need huge guards while in the field because they simply aren't capable of defending themselves with gloves and reflexes, then perhaps you've got them doing it wrong. Maybe ballet would be more accomodating, or simply waiting until they're old enough to develop hand-eye coordination before making them play big people games.
Then they wouldn't have to worry about looking like some characters out of Star Wars.