History of Softball

 

 The game of softball originated in Chicago on Thanksgiving Day, 1887. A group of about twenty young men had gathered in the gymnasium of the Farragut Boat Club in order to hear the outcome of the Harvard-Yale football game. After Yale’s victory was announced and bets were paid off, a man picked up a stray boxing glove and threw it at someone, who hit it with a pole. (Popular names were cabbage ball, mush ball, or pumpkin ball,) depending on the area in which it was being played. The game finally took on the name “softball” in 1926 after a Denver YMCA official brought the name up as a suggestion. Softball made a huge leap in 1933 when a reporter from Chicago and a salesman of sporting goods made a softball tournament to go along with the world’s fair.

 

Fun Facts

 

USA won the gold medal in the 1996 and 2000 Olympic games defeating China and Japan.

The NCAA softball championship (Women’s College World Series) was first held in 1982.

Softball is one of only 2 sports in the NCAA which are exclusive to women, the other is Field Hockey.

The original "softball" was a rolled up boxing glove.

The original bat was a broom handle.

 

Rules

 

There are 9 players on a softball team.

The playing field is divided into the infield and outfield

An official game is 7 innings (a inning is when both teams have had their turn to bat)

The ball must be thrown underhand.

Batters must follow the same order throughout the whole game

The batter is out if and when:

-3 strikes have been called -A fly ball is caught -You are tagged out

Runners must touch each base in order  Runners may overrun 1st base only, all other bases the runner may be tagged and called out if they are off the base.

 

Runners cannot lead off a base, they must be on base until the ball as left the pitcher’s hand After a fly ball has been caught the base runner must tag the occupied base before advancing to the next base One base runner cannot pass another base runner that is ahead of them.

 

Terms

 

Ball- a legally pitched ball that does not enter the strike zone (four balls equals a walk)

Grounder- A ball that is hit on the ground

Force out- when the runner has to advance to the next base to make room for the following base runner.

Fly ball- ball hit up in the air to the infield

On deck- the next batter

Pop up- ball hit up in the air to the infield

Strike- term used when a ball is swung at and missed or is called when the ball enters the strike zone and is not swung at all.

Strike zone- the ball passes the batter over the plate between their chest and knees