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:

Types of softball

There are two general forms of softball–slowpitch and fastpitch.

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• Fastpitch softball is a very defensive, pitcher-oriented game. The pitcher delivers the ball at maximum speed with a flat arc, making the ball difficult to hit. There are many strikeouts and ground balls, and scores are low. Good pitchers are premium players.
• Slowpitch softball gives batters more dominance by making it easier for them to hit the ball. There are two types of slowpitch softball, depending on whether the pitcher is a member of the defensive or offensive team.
• A defensive pitcher is used in most regulation slowpitch games. A pitched ball must describe an arc with an apogee at least above the batter's head. In order for a strike to be called, the ball still must cross the plate between the batter's shoulder and knees, or land in a small area directly behind home plate. The strike zone can vary from league to league and umpire to umpire. Because of the requirement for an arc, the pitcher must throw the ball relatively slowly. The emphasis is usually on hitting for power. The pitcher usually acts as a fielder, in addition to pitching.
• An offensive pitcher is most often found in informal games where the emphasis is on the social rather than the competitive aspects of the game. The pitcher aids the batter by attempting to give the easiest pitch to hit. There are no walks, and a batter is normally given a fixed number of pitches to attempt to hit (usually 3 or 4). The batter is considered to strikeout if he/she fails to hit the ball into fair territory after the given number of pitches. The pitcher does not act as a fielder, and a rule is often made that if a batted ball touches the pitcher, the batter is out.

A regulation game of slowpitch softball requires one more player than a game of fast pitch – usually an additional outfielder.

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