About Softball

Softball is a team sport, in which a ball, eleven to twelve inches (or rarely, 16 inches) (28 to 30.5 centimetres) in circumference, is thrown (pitched) underhand by a player called a pitcher and hit by an offensive player called a batter with a round, smooth stick called a bat (usually wooden, metal or composite). In softball there is an offensive team, the team that bats in attempts to score, and a defensive team, the team that occupies the field. Scoring is accomplished when a batter from the offensive team advances and touches a series of three raised markers on the ground called bases, and then touching the final base, called home plate.

There are many ways to get on base. Types of hits include full swing, bunt, drag bunt, and slap hits. A batter can get on base through a walk, or when hit by a pitch, but these situations are not hits. Runners can only leave their bases after the pitcher releases the ball.

Both teams switch between offence and defence after the defensive team makes three outs. Outs can be made in many ways. A defensive player (a fielder) can catch a hit ball before it hits the ground, making an out. A fielder can also hold the ball while touching a base, when a offensive player (here, a base runner) is forced to advance, before the runner reaches that base. If the runner is not forced to advance, the runner must be tagged with the ball to be called out. A pitcher "strikes" out the batter, resulting in an out.

A strikeout is when the pitcher throws three strikes to the batter. A strike is given when there is a good pitch, which the batter does not hit, when the batter swings at the ball and misses it or when the batter fouls off the ball (although a foul ball cannot be strike three unless it is bunted). The batter is also given four balls. A ball is a bad pitch. If the batter receives four balls, the batter is awarded first base. This is known as a walk.

Softball has a set number of innings, usually seven or nine. An innings is one series of both teams playing offence and defence. At the end of the set number of innings the team with the highest score wins.

Softball is a direct descendant of baseball, which is sometimes referred to as "hardball" to distinguish it from softball, but differs from it in several ways.

The sport's governing body, the International Softball Federation holds world championships, held every four years, in several categories.