History of

softball
History of softball
• Softball is said to have begun – indoors, actually – in 1887 on
Thanksgiving Day in Chicago. A group of men had gathered at
Chicago’s Farragut Boat Club. During the merriment, a reporter from
the Chicago Board of Trade, George Hancock, tied up a boxing glove
(with its own strings) into a sphere, took a broomstick handle, and,
using chalk, marked lines on the floor. That night a game took place
with 80 runs scored, and from there the sport had been born. The first
rulebook is said to have been issued (by Hancock) in 1889.
History of softball
• In 1895, Lewis Rober Sr. moved the game outside in a vacant lot outside of the
Minneapolis, Minnesota firehouse he worked at so the firefighters could get
some exercise while waiting for an alarm. It was known at that time as ‘kitten
league ball,’ which was later shortened to ‘kitten ball.’ In 1922 the name
‘kitten ball’ was changed to ‘diamond ball.’ At different times, the name of the
game also would include ‘mush ball’ and ‘pumpkin ball.’ It wasn’t until 1926
that the term ‘softball’ was used, when Walter Hakanson of the YMCA (Young
Men’s Christian Association) of Denver, Colorado conceived of it while
attending a meeting to form the Colorado Amateur Softball Association. There
have been many variations of the game over the years as well.
History of softball
• In 1933 the first-ever national amateur softball tournament took place in
conjunction with Chicago’s World’s Fair and soon after, the reporter who wrote
about the event, Leo Fischer, helped establish the Amateur Softball Association
(ASA). Softball continued to spread to the rest of the world, with perhaps its
biggest push coming from American servicemen playing and teaching the game
on the fields of World War II. In 1952 the first meeting was held for the
International Softball Federation (ISF), which would govern the sport around
the world, and the first world championship in international play took place in
1965, when women’s teams from five countries competed in Australia. One
year later, the first Men’s World Championship would be played (in Mexico).
History of softball
• In 1991, women’s fast-pitch softball was selected to debut as
a medal sport at the 1996 Olympic Summer Games in
Atlanta, Georgia.
History of softball
• Today, softball is played by millions of people
around the world, both recreationally and
competitively. It is an Olympic sport and has
been included in the Olympics since 1996.
Equipment
of softball
Softball
filed
Softball diamond/ softball playing
field
Softball diamond/ softball playing
field
Fundamental skills of softball
• Batting
• bunting
• Catching
• Fly ball
• Ground ball
• Throwing
• Fielding
• Baserunning
• Pitching
• Sliding
Terminology of softball
• ball – as called by the umpire, a pitch that does not enter the strike zone in flight and is not struck at by
the batter
• base – one of four points on the infield that must be touched by a runner in order to score a run. Also
applies to the rubber or canvas bags comprising first, second, and third base, as well as the hard plastic or
rubber plate known as home plate.
• baseline – the area between each base along which the base runner must generally run
• base runner – a batter who has reached base safely
• batter – also known as “hitter”; an offensive player who takes his/her position in the batter’s box to try to
hit the pitch
• batter’s box – a rectangular area beside home plate where the batter must stand to hit the pitch
• batting order – the official list giving the sequence in which members of the (offensive) team must come
to bat
Terminology of softball
• catcher – defensive player who normally positions him/herself behind
home plate and receives pitches
• center fielder – the defensive player positioned near the middle of the
outfield
• defensive team – the nine players in the field (pitcher, catcher, 1st,
2nd, & 3rd basemen, shortstop, and left, center, and right fielders)
Terminology of softball
• fair ball – a ball hit into the field of play
• fielder – any one of the nine players on the defensive team (pitcher, catcher, 1st, 2nd, & 3rd
basemen, shortstop, and left, center, and right fielders)
• first baseman – the defensive player in the portion of the infield near the bag that the batter
will initially run to (invisible line goes from catcher to first baseman to right fielder)
• foul ball – a batted ball that settles on foul territory between home and first base, or between
home and third base, or that bounds past first or third base on or over foul territory, or that first
falls on foul territory beyond first or third base, or that, while on or over foul territory, touches
the person of an umpire or player, or any foreign object to the natural ground; A foul fly shall be
judged according to the relative position of the ball and the foul line, including the foul pole,
and not as to whether the infielder is on foul or fair territory at the time he/she touches the ball.
Terminology of softball
• foul lines – the two straight lines extending from home plate past the
outside edges of first and third bases to the outfield fence
• foul tip – a batted ball that goes sharply and directly from the bat to
the catcher’s hands and is legally caught. It is not a foul tip unless
caught, and any foul tip that is caught is a strike, and the ball is in play.
It is not a catch if it is a rebound, unless the ball has first touched the
catcher’s glove or hand
Terminology of softball
• hit – when a batter reaches first base (or any succeeding base) safely on a fair ball which settles on
the ground or touches a fence before being touched by a fielder, or which clears a fence; when a
batter reaches first base safely on a fair ball hit with such force, or so slowly, that any fielder
attempting to make a play with it has no opportunity to do so; when a batter reaches first base
safely on a fair ball which takes an unusual bounce so that a fielder cannot handle it with ordinary
effort, or which touches the pitcher’s plate or any base (including home plate) before being
touched by a fielder and bounces so that a fielder cannot handle it with ordinary effort; when a
batter reaches first base safely on a fair ball which has not been touched by a fielder and which is
in fair territory when it reaches the outfield unless in the scorer’s judgment it could have been
handled with ordinary effort; when a fair ball that has not been touched by a fielder touches a
runner or an umpire, when a fielder unsuccessfully attempts to put out a preceding runner, and in
the scorer’s judgment the batter would not have been put out at first base by ordinary effort
Terminology of softball
• home plate – the five-sided piece of whitened rubber that the batter stands beside to
hit the pitch
• homerun – a safe hit, when no error or putout results, which allows the batter to
reach all four bases and score a run; usually a fly ball in fair territory which goes
over the outfield fence
• infield – the diamond-shaped area in fair territory formed by the three bases and
home plate that is normally covered by defensive players (known as infielders)
• inning – that portion of the game within which the teams alternate on offense and
defense and in which there are three putouts for each team. Each team’s at-bat
comprises a half-inning
Terminology of softball
• left fielder – the defensive player in the outfield closest to the third base foul line
• offensive team – the team that is at bat
• pitcher – the player who throws the ball to the batter
• right fielder – the defensive player in the outfield closest to the first base foul line
• run – the point scored when a batter or base runner advances to home plate
• shortstop – a defensive player who normally positions him/herself in fair territory
between second base and the third baseman
• single – a hit that allows a batter to reach first base safely
Terminology of softball
• strikeout – when a batter is put out by a third strike caught by the catcher; a batter is put out by a third strike
not caught when there is a runner on first before two are out; a batter becomes a runner because a third strike
is not caught; a batter bunts a ball into foul territory after two strikes (unless such a bunt results in a fly ball,
which is caught by any fielder. This is not considered a strikeout, but a putout by the fielder)
• strike zone – the space over any part of home plate between the batter’s armpits and the top of
his/her knees when he/she assumes a natural batting stance
• strike – as called by the umpire, a pitch that enters the strike zone in flight and is not struck at by
the batter; a pitch that a batter swings at and misses; a foul ball
• walk – also called base on balls (BB); an automatic advance to first base for the batter after the pitcher
delivers four “balls” as called by the umpire, based on their being outside the strike zone