Softball

Softball is a team sport in which a ball, eleven to twelve inches in circumference, is thrown by a player called a pitcher and hit by an offensive player called a batter with a round, smooth stick called a bat. The ball itself is also called a softball. Scoring is accomplished by the batter running and touching a series of four markers on the ground called bases. Softball is a direct descendant of baseball (sometimes referred to as hardball to differentiate the two), but differs from it in several ways, of which the chief four are:

Players

In fastpitch softball the fielding team fields nine players – the left, center, and right fielder play in the outfield, while the pitcher, catcher, first baseman, second baseman, third baseman, and shortstop play in the infield. The basemen play in the vicinity of their bases, while the shortstop plays between the second and third baseman (normally the second baseman plays on the first base side of second base and the shortstop on the third base side). The pitcher stands at the pitching point in the centre of the diamond; for men the pitching point is 46 ft (14 m) from home plate, while for women it is 40 ft (12 m) from home plate (43 ft at elite level). There is no pitcher's mound as in baseball, but the pitching area is denoted by a circle surrounding the pitching plate 8 ft in diameter. The catcher plays behind home plate, squatting to receive the pitch.

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In slowpitch, a team fields an additional outfielder; the centre fielder is replaced by a left centre fielder and a right centre fielder. Another form of slowpitch instead adds a rover who plays between the centre fielder and second base. The rover is also called a shortfielder.

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The batting team sends one batter at a time to home plate to try to hit a ball thrown by the pitcher forward into fair territory. Once the ball is hit into fair territory the runner may try to advance to first base or beyond (see below). Once on base the batter becomes a baserunner.

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