Softball was introduced to me when I was probably eight years old, I remember walking with a few of my cousins to the dirt field at the corner of my grandma's house. There were no hand mitts involved just a softball and an old wood bat. I think I had the basics down but now researching this paper I have learned a lot more. I was thrilled to learn that Softball is said to have begun in 1887 on Thanksgiving Day in Chicago. It was indoors, a group of men gathered at Chicago’s Farragut Boat Club anxiously waited for the outcome of the Yale versus Harvard football game. When Yale was announced as the winner, a Yale alumnus threw a boxing glove with a string tied around at a Harvard supporter. The Harvard fan swung at the balled-up glove with a stick. The first softball game commenced with the football fans using the boxing glove as a ball and a broom handle in place of the bat. George Hancock, a reporter for the Chicago Board of Trade jokingly called out “play ball”.
Because of the underlying fervor encompassing the game, the Farragut Boat Club chose to formally make their very own arrangement of principles. The game before long spilled all through Chicago and in the end over the Midwest U.S. Softball molded itself throughout the following decade, the game went under numerous structures like 'indoor baseball, cat baseball field ball, mush ball, and pumpkin ball. In 1026 Walter Hakanson instituted the expression 'Softball' while speaking to the YMCA at a national entertainment congress meeting. By 1930, the term stuck as the game's authority name.
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In 1934, the Joint Rules Committee on Softball worked together to make a lot of institutionalized principles. Up until this point, the game was being played with various guidelines, player positions, and ball sizes. The first softball utilized by the Farragut Boat Club was 16 crawls in the circuit.
In any case, Lewis Rober Sr. the man answerable for sorting out softball match-ups for firemen in Minneapolis utilized 12-inch balls. The favored size is the 12-inch ball, softball match-ups today are played with 10-12 inch balls. While the game was initially played inside the game took on so much ubiquity and acknowledgment that it immediately turned into its official game outside. In 1991, ladies' fastpitch softball was added to the program of the 1996 Summer Olympics a milestone numerous individuals perceive as a definitive accomplishment as a game. In spite of the fact that softball was later dropped from the 2012 Summer Olympics lineup, the game is as yet one of the most mainstream sports in the United States and 113 nations have formally joined the International Softball Federation since the association's development in 1952.
Today, softball is one of the most popular sports in the country, and an estimated 40 million Americans engage in at least one softball game each year. Because it can be played on either a field or an indoor arena, softball games are played all year round. Softball is sometimes played by co-recreational leagues, where both women and men play on the same teams but the rules are generally modified to reduce physical inequalities between the sexes. Often companies and organizations from amateur coed teams play for benefits and charity fundraising events.
The historical backdrop of softball is as yet unfurling, and the game has experienced various alterations since its creation in 1887, however, it is as yet one of the most favored games in the nation and has built up a following in a few nations all through the world, particularly in Australia, China, and Japan. Adored by beginners and experts all things considered and athletic foundations, the world can just envision what is coming up for the fate of America's other most loved distraction.
As indicated by the official guidelines grew from the get-go throughout the entire existence of softball, in the long run, characterized by the International Softball Federation, there are nine players on the field at once. The players take the places of pitcher, catcher, first baseman, second baseman, shortstop, third baseman, and outfielder. Typically, three outfielders are holding the places of the correct defender, left defender, and focus defender. Notwithstanding, slow-pitch softball takes into consideration the fourth individual in the outfield. Like baseball, the group with the most keeps running toward the finish of the seventh inning is named the victor. Be that as it may, if the groups are tied toward the finish of the seventh inning, the game can go into additional innings, until the tie is broken leaving one victor.
An inning is split into two sections called the top and the bottom of the innings. The away team bats first at the top of the inning while the home team field, then the teams switch so the home team bats at the bottom of the inning. The field is in a diamond shape with four bases, first base, second base, third base, and home base, where the batter stands. The pitcher must throw the ball underarm and must have at least one foot on the plate at the point of delivery.
Once a batting order is set at the start of the game it cannot be changed throughout. A batsman can be given out by being caught by a fielder without the ball bouncing, missing the ball three times in which a strike is called, or by being tagged by a fielder holding the ball while running between bases. A batsman can be walked to first base if the pitcher fails to get the ball in the strike zone 4 times without a stroke being made. The strike zone in softball is larger than that of baseball.
Batter: A person in the batters bot attempting to hit the softball from the pitcher.
Pitcher: A person in the pitching circle who throws the softball to the batter.
Batters Box: The area surrounding the home plate where the batter must stand while trying to hit the ball.
Pitching Circle: The rectangular piece of rubber in the middle where the pitcher must throw the ball. The pitcher is required to maintain contact with the pitching rubber until the ball is released.
Strike: A pitch is thrown through the strike zone that the hitter does not hit, whether by swinging or not. A strike is also any pitch that a batter swing at but misses.
Base Runner: A batter who has legally reached base either by walk or hit.
Out: An out occurs when either a hitter or base runner is legally removed from play by the opposing team, Such as striking out, hitting a ground out, or hitting a pop or fly out.
Grounder: A ball that is hit on the ground either in the infield or outfield
Ground Out: A ground out is where a ground ball is hit, and the opposing team catches it and throws to first base where the team baseman catches the ball and tags first base before the hitter touches first base.
Fly Ball: A ball that is hit in the air and the opposing team catches.
Single: First base hit
Double: Hitter makes it to second base
Triple: Hitter makes it to third base
Homerun: A hit ball where the batter advances to all three bases and returns to home plate safely without error committed by a fielder. A homerun can either be out of the park meaning a ball hit over the outfield fence or in the park meaning the batter advances around all of the bases without being tagged out.
Grand Slam: A home run hit with the bases loaded or runners on first second and third.
The difference between 16-inch and 12-inch softball is more than the size of the ball. Traditionally, the only kind of organized softball played in Chicago was a 16-inch. After all, Chicago is known as the home of 16-inch softball. The 16-inch softball is used when the game is played without gloves. This style of softball is quite popular in Chicago and New York metropolitan areas. It is softer than the 12-inch softball, its size limits the distance it can travel compared to the smaller balls. A version of slow-pitch softball unique to Chicago uses a softer 16-inch ball. The larger ball doesn’t travel far when hit, which means few home runs.
Most softball players are familiar with 12-inch softballs. A softball 12 inches in diameter is required for the regulation play by men's fastpitch softball teams, including senior men’s fastpitch teams and boys’ youth fastpitch teams. It is also used by women’s fastpitch teams.
The balls are also used in modified fastpitch games, but the ASA requires modified games to use 12-inch balls with modified compression.
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