HISTORY OF SOFTBALL

Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball (11 to 12 in. circumference) on a
field that has base lengths of 60 feet, a pitcher's mound that ranges from 35–43 feet away from
home plate, and a homerun fence that is 220 feet away from home plate. It was invented in
1887 in Chicago, Illinois, United States as an indoor game. The game moves at a faster pace
than traditional baseball. There is less time for the base runner to get to first while the opponent
fields the ball; yet, the fielder has less time to field the ball while the opponent is running down
to first base. The name "softball" was given to the game in 1932, because the ball used to be
soft; however, in modern-day usage, the balls are hard.

A tournament held in 1933 at the Chicago World's Fair spurred interest in the game.
The Amateur Softball Association (ASA) of America (founded 1933) governs the game in the
United States and sponsors annual sectional and World Series championships. The World
Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) regulates rules of play in more than 110 countries,
including the United States and Canada; before the WBSC was formed in 2013,
the International Softball Federation filled this role. Women's fast pitch softball became
a Summer Olympic sport in 1996, but it and baseball were dropped from the 2012 program; they
are to be reinstated in 2020.

There are three types of softball. In the most common type, slow-pitch softball, the ball, which
can measure either 11 inches, for a women's league, or 12 inches, for a men's league, in
circumference, must arch on its path to the batter, and there are 10 players on the field at
once. In fast pitch softball, the pitch is fast, there are nine players on the field at one time, and
while bunting and stealing bases are permitted, leading off is not. Fast pitch being the most
common in some states, such as Virginia, where fast pitch is the most common type of softball
in high schools across the state. The Olympics features women's fast pitch softball. Modified
softball restricts the "windmill" wind-up usually used by fast pitch pitchers, although the pitcher
is allowed to throw as hard as possible with the restricted back swing. Softball rules vary
somewhat from those of baseball. Two major differences are that the ball must be pitched
underhand—from 46 ft (14 m) for men or 43 ft (13.1 m) for women as compared with 60.5 ft
(18.4 m) in baseball—and that seven innings instead of nine constitute a regulation game.

Despite the name, the ball used in softball is not soft, unless using a practice indoor softball. It is
about 12 in (about 30 cm) in circumference (11 or 12 in for slow-pitch), which is 3 in (8 cm)
larger than a baseball. Softball recreational leagues for children use 11-inch balls until they
participate in travel ball around age 12 and adjust to a 12-inch sized ball. The infield in softball is
smaller than on an adult or high school baseball diamond but identical to that used by Little
League Baseball; each base is 60 ft (18 m) from the next, as opposed to baseball's 90 ft (27 m).
In fast pitch softball the entire infield is dirt, whereas the infield in baseball is grass except at the
bases and on the pitcher's mound which are dirt. Softball mounds are also flat, while baseball
mounds are a small hill. Softballs are pitched underhand, but baseballs are pitched overhand.
This changes the arc of the ball when approaching the plate. For example, depending if the
pitcher pitches a fastball, in softball the ball would most likely rise while in baseball because the
pitcher is on a hill, the ball would drop.
The earliest known softball game was played in Chicago, Illinois on Thanksgiving Day, 1887. It
took place at the Farragut Boat Club at a gathering to hear the outcome of the Yale
University and Harvard University football game. When the score was announced and bets were
settled, a Yale alumnus threw a boxing glove at a Harvard supporter. The Harvard fan grabbed
a stick and swung at the rolled up glove. George Hancock, a reporter there, called out "Play
ball!" and the game began, with the boxing glove tightened into a ball, a broom handle serving
as a bat. This first contest ended with a score of 41–40.The ball, being soft, was fielded
barehanded.

George Hancock is credited as the game's inventor for his development of a 17" ball and an
undersized bat in the next week. The Farragut Club soon set rules for the game, which spread
quickly to outsiders. Envisioned as a way for baseball players to maintain their skills during the
winter, the sport was called "Indoor Baseball". Under the name of "Indoor-Outdoor", the game
moved outside in the next year, and the first rules were published in 1889.

In 1895 Lewis Rober, Sr. of Minneapolis organized outdoor games as exercise

for firefighters; this game was known as kitten ball (after the first team to play it), lemon ball, or
diamond ball. Rober's version of the game used a ball 12 inches (30 cm) in circumference,
rather than the 16-inch (41 cm) ball used by the Farragut club, and eventually the Minneapolis
ball prevailed, although the dimensions of the Minneapolis diamond were passed over in favor
of the dimensions of the Chicago one. Rober may not have been familiar with the Farragut Club
rules. Fire Station No. 19 in Minneapolis, Rober's post from 1896 to 1906, was listed on
the National Register of Historic Places in part for its association with the sport's
development. The first softball league outside the United States was organized in Toronto in
1897.

The name "softball" dates back to 1926. The name was coined by Walter Hakanson of
the YMCA at a meeting of the National Recreation Congress. (In addition to "indoor baseball",
"kitten ball", and "diamond ball", names for the game included "mush ball", and "pumpkin ball".)
The name softball had spread across the United States by 1930.By the 1930s, similar sports
with different rules and names were being played all over the United States and Canada. By
1936, the Joint Rules Committee on Softball had standardized the rules and naming throughout
the United States.

Sixteen-inch softball, also sometimes referred to as "mush ball" or "super-slow pitch" (although
the ball is not soft at all), is a direct descendant of Hancock's original game. Defensive players
are not allowed to wear fielding gloves. Sixteen-inch softball is played extensively in
Chicago, where devotees such as the late Mike Royko consider it the "real" game and New
Orleans. In New Orleans, sixteen-inch softball is called "Cabbage Ball" and is a popular team
sport in area elementary and high schools.

By the 1940s, fastpitch began to dominate the game. Although slow pitch was present at
the 1933 World's Fair, the main course of action taken was to lengthen the pitching distance.
Slow pitch achieved formal recognition in 1953 when it was added to the program of
the Amateur Softball Association, and within a decade had surpassed fastpitch in popularity.
The first British women's softball league was established in 1953.

In 1991, women's fastpitch softball was selected to debut at the 1996 Summer Olympics.The
1996 Olympics also marked a key era in the introduction of technology in softball. The IOC
funded a landmark biomechanical study on pitching during the games.

In 2002, sixteen-inch slow pitch was written out of the ISF official rules, although it is still played
extensively in the United States under The Amateur Softball Association of America, or ASA
rules.

The 117th meeting of the International Olympic Committee, held in Singapore in July 2005,
voted to drop softball and baseball as Olympic sports for the 2012 Summer Olympics, but will be
back in the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

The Differences between Softball and Baseball

Baseball and softball are nearly identical in many respects, but you’ll notice a few major
differences between the two sports when you begin to compare. You need to know the
differences if you’re planning to coach beginning-level softball if all your experience has been in
baseball — and vice versa. The following list gives you a glimpse at some of the more glaring
distinctions:

 Pitching area: Youth baseball programs, particularly at the advanced levels, feature a
pitching mound that the pitcher throws from (the younger levels may call for hitters to hit
off a tee or from a ball pitched from their coach). That isn’t the case in softball — at any
level. The pitcher delivers balls on level ground with the batter. The other major pitching
difference is that softball pitchers deliver the ball in an underhand motion; baseball
pitchers can throw overhand or even sidearm if they choose.

 Distance from the pitcher’s area to home plate: The game of fast-pitch softball puts a
greater emphasis on pitching, because the pitcher throws from a distance much closer to
home plate than in baseball. At the beginning levels of youth softball, pitchers generally
deliver pitches about 35 feet from home plate. At the higher levels of play, pitchers throw
balls from 40 feet.

 Base paths: The base paths in softball are several feet shorter than those in baseball.
When pitchers throw from 35 feet, the bases typically are 55 feet apart; when pitchers
deliver balls from 40 feet, the bases usually are 60 feet apart. The smaller base paths in
turn create a smaller infield area, which affects the defense of the infielders.
 Field size: Outfield measurements vary greatly. A common distance from home plate to
the outfield fence in softball is 150 feet for the younger kids, while for the older kids it
extends to 225 to 250 feet.

 Size of the ball: A regulation softball is significantly larger than a regulation baseball. A
softball measures between 11.88 and 12.13 inches in circumference and weighs
between 6.25 and 7.00 ounces; a baseball measures between 9.00 and 9.25 inches in
circumference and weighs between 5.00 and 5.25 ounces.

Sometimes, leagues for the youngest softball players use smaller and softer softballs,
because a girl’s hand at the beginning levels of play isn’t big enough to grip and throw a
regulation softball.

 Bats: At the youth level, bats used for baseball and softball are interchangeable. At the
advanced levels of play, players use softball-specific bats, which come in a variety of
different materials, such as graphite, carbon, Kevlar, and liquid metal, to name a few.
Many softball programs only allow specific types of bats to be used.
What Is Science?
Science is a set of tools and systematic methods for studying the natural world through
observation and experimentation. Or more simply, science is a way of exploring and
understanding the physical world.
We humans love to find patterns, and we've been looking for patterns in the world as long as
we've existed. Our brains, however, are not very reliable when it comes to identifying and
explaining those patterns. In fact, we can be pretty terrible at it. We get sick, and we assume it
was the last thing we ate, even though it almost never is. We see a cold winter and call climate
change a hoax. So, many of our instincts are objectively wrong.
Science is a way of avoiding that by using a systematic method called the scientific method:
identify the problem, gather data, create a hypothesis, test the hypothesis, does the new data
agree with the hypothesis?

The Three Branches of Science

There are three main branches of science: physical science, Earth science and life science.
Let's talk about each branch and the areas of study within each branch.
Physical science is the study of inanimate natural objects and the laws that govern them. It
includes physics, chemistry, and astronomy. In physics, we try to break down the whole
universe into a set of fundamental, mathematical laws that explain the smallest things in the
universe and the largest. In chemistry, we study the composition, structure, changes and
properties of matter: focusing on the scale of chemical bonds and reactions. And in astronomy,
we study celestial objects, including the origin of the planet on which we live.

Earth science is the study of the Earth and the physical components that make it up: the
constitution of the atmosphere, the seas, the land, and how those things are tied together. It
includes geology, oceanography, meteorology and paleontology. Paleontology, the study of life
that lived in prehistoric and geologic periods, has some overlap with the life sciences. And other
parts of Earth science have a lot of overlap with physical science.

Earth Science Includes Volcanoes,

Earthquakes, the Atmosphere, the
Core of the Planet, and Much More
 HISTORY
OF
SOFTBALL

Danica P. Gallarte
BSPSY – Irreg.