Risk of batted-ball injury for slow-pitched softball pitchers

I am not very interested in sports specifically, but I did always think that softball compared to baseball, was a much less risk involved sport.  This evaluation by Bomani Sports Research made me feel differently after reading their article.
The test was to see if the new polyurethane-centered softballs introduced in the 1990's can still be a great risk to the pitcher. In light of this change, a softball of this structure was used for the test. Another major variable giving the ball a range of reactions at impact is the bat material.  Since, many different types of bats get used frequently, there were five different bat types used.  Each bat was labeled through their variables, such as, material, weight, and balance point.  In order to get a consistent pitch each time, a pitching machine was introduced and placed at the exact distance away from home plate.  Four softball players with a variety of age, height, and weight were chosen purposely for real life accuracy, to bat the balls in which the ball speeds after impact were measured.  One other tested experiment showed that by using the cheaper, less performing equipment can decrease the probability of a ball to pitcher impact due to the decreased speed of the returning ball.  The slower speed gives the pitcher a significantly larger time to react.  This reaction time was concluded to be the highest in young adults. 
Some of the results showed that a composite bat greatly outperformed a wooden bat which would magnify the injury of the pitcher if an impact were to occur between ball and pitcher.
A chart was made showing how each batter, bat, and pitch speed affected the resulting batted-ball speed.  It was concluded that slow-pitch soft-ball players are in a dangerous situation regardless of which commonly used equipment is used.  If sports currently were more interested in safety rather than performance, then the probability of injury's could still be decreased drastically.
After comprehending the whole article it makes me wonder why the batter, especially in slow-pitch softball, wears the helmet and not the pitcher.  Is there some huge performance related downside that would occur from the pitcher wearing a helmet, because of not then I think that rule needs to be implemented.  How do you feel about this?