Quick Hands, Quick Thoughts: Softball

Though the practices performed within softball literacy do not immediately seem as if they should be considered a literacy practice, according to two of the six propositions about the nature of literacy, it is. Not only does it involve the physical performance from a play, but also includes formal writings, new rules and regulations, and offer different rules in different countries. For me, softball was something that has made me who I am today. Whether it be the welcoming community or the constant push to make myself better at the game.. Softball literacy is also filled with artifacts that make us a community within our team and a community with other softball players.

Softball is a growing sport for girls within the United States. Whether you are an 8-year-old girl, to a senior in college softball, it’s a sport that many are attached too. A new form of hitting came into play during the 2005 Women’s College Series. Slap hitting is a new form of hitting that changed the way the game of fast-pitch softball is being played. Slapping changed the way coaches and players think about how they are going to field a slap hitter. This form of hitting is becoming a major role within fast-pitch softball. When I got the opportunity to learn how to slap hit I was excited to gain this ability. With practice, patience and determination, I began to learn the hitting style that I use today.

In the game of baseball more than any other sport, you really have to focus and think about what you’re doing on every single play. Of course there are parts of the game that become somewhat natural, but baseball is a game of fundamentals. You have to always be on top of your game and one step ahead of the curve, no pun intended. Every play contains different situations, which call for you to do an assortment of different things. You have to be thinking of what it is you’re going to do if the ball is hit to you, and what you do if hit to any of the other eight of your teammates on the field. Have you ever felt on top of your game, but for some odd reason you just couldn’t focus and preform at the best ability that you know you’re capable of? That’s what happens many times in baseball. You really have to focus and know what you’re doing wrong, and what adjustments to make to fix it. More than all other sports one little odd or unusual thing you start doing or change in your mechanics has a huge effect on the amount of production and performance out on that diamond. While hitting, throwing, or catching the ball, the simple extra movement or step you’re taking can cause a hundredth of a second difference in your throw, swing, or pitch, but this game is a game of seconds and that slight movement is the difference between a homerun or a ground ball, an amazing play in the field and an error, a strikeout or a ball

Have you ever had so much passion for a sport you have been playing for almost your whole life? I love playing all positions of softball and I admire everything that comes with it that includes battle wounds, road trips to games, making memories to practicing out on home field getting ready to bat some love into their lives. Softball is not an easy sport at all but it’s my passion and a privilege to be able to stand on that field. So much love, effort and hard work has been put in over the years. After 12 years of truly knowing the sport these are my favorite things out on the field such as pitching with strength, sliding with passion, and batting to hear all of your support to make a home run!

Softball is a sport that is known throughout the United States and the world. Softball originated on Thanksgiving Day in Chicago in 1887. The game was actually said to have begun as an indoor game. Softball was started by a group of men who had gathered at a club to watch the Harvard vs. Yale football game. When the news came that Yale had defeated Harvard, 17-8, one Yale supporter, overcome with enthusiasm, picked up an old boxing glove and threw it at a nearby Harvard alumni, who promptly tried to hit it back with a stick. This gave George Hancock, a reporter for the Chicago Board of Trade, an idea. He suggested a game of indoor baseball. Naturally, Hancock's friends thought he was talking about playing a game outdoors, not indoors.

In the game of softball the baselines are only sixty feet long. Therefore, you must run super fast in order to be safe at first base. However, baseball baselines are ninety feet long, so the infielders have more time to get the runner out, and the runners have a longer distance to run. Softball pitchers have an advantage because the pitching mound is so close. An elite softball pitcher can throw speeds topping seventy miles per hour. This means a softball pitch can reach the plate in only thirty-five hundredths of a second! That is actually faster than it takes a 100 miles per hour major league fastball to reach home plate. The baseball takes thirty-eight hundredths of a second. After locating the pitch, a softball batter only has about twenty-five milliseconds to decide to swing or not. That is about fifty-five percent less time than a major league baseball player has. The game of softball can be very challenging for a batter. However, it can be even more challenging for an infielder. When balls come off of the bat at about one hundred miles per hour, a softball

“The inclusion of the package of new sports will afford young athletes the chance of a lifetime to realize their dreams of competing in the Olympic Games – the world's greatest sporting stage – and inspire them to achieve their best, both in sport and in life (Elliott).” Softball should be back in the Olympics because it makes money and and benefits players by increasing interests.

Hard work never goes un-noticed, and although I did improve, I had acquired the label of ‘outfielder’. The position that wasn’t home to me, but I was forced to recognize as my spot on the field. My first year of Varsity softball arrived and I made it clear infield is where I wanted to be, but my coach’s confidence in me continued to lack to match the level of mine, along with the fact the returning third basemen was a veteran. And the outfield is where I was sent, yet again.

Fischer and Pauley. The association brought rules for different age groups because it feels that softball is a game for all ages. A 12-inch ball is standard with most age groups. The size of the field varies with age and between fastpitch and slowpitch games. “The pitcher rubber is anywhere from 35 to 50 feet from home plate and the distance between bases ranged from 55 to 65 feet,” states Softball Performance. Fastpitch has caught the most attention. A fastpitch softball pitcher can throw the ball to the home plate at speeds equal to those of major league baseball pitchers.

Do you ever wonder the reasons why your team is always losing a particular game? Even though losing a game is a scenario that is frustrating, in the end, you might just say that there is always the next time. Then that next time that you are talking about comes, are you going to make the same mistakes that you have done in your previous games? If that is the case, then you might probably need some softball tips. Now, observe the equipment that your team has been using while playing.

My coach always said that softball was 90% mental and 10% physical. This was what I lived by for the six years that I played for his travel team, and it made me learn a lot of valuable lessons along the way. Pushing yourself to be the best that you can be is just as mentally tough as it is physically and that is where you have to use the motto and become disciplined mentally because it is more important that the physical part of the game. I chose to observe a softball game, but not just one game with two teams playing but a tournament played by many teams from different places. AAU softball is a hobby that requires great dedication that I have been through first hand and I witnesses that this weekend when I attended a tournament, and as

Before I was 9 I had no interest in softball, but one day I decided I was going to play. My dad tried to teach me but we would always argue and I wouldn’t get anything done. My dad decided to get me lessons. I got good over the winter. I was placed on coach pitch softball, but got moved up because they couldn’t throw the ball fast enough for me to hit it. They moved me to 10 and under and did really well I played rec softball until I could play middle school softball. Also I am very fast and can out run a lot of people. I played middle school softball both years. Last year during tryouts the head coach realized how fast I was he made switch from right handed to left handed to slap hit. I can run from base to base in 2.7 seconds, there was only one person faster than me and she was a senior she ran them in 2.6 seconds. All of last season I spent pretty much relearning how to bat because slap hitting and hitting right handed is two completely different things. I spent the whole summer taking private lessons and now I am pretty good at slap hitting, but I can still improve a lot. My bat speed right handed was 75 plus mph but now it’s only about 55 mph. The most difficult thing about slapping is figuring out how to do all the different kinds. There’s soft slaps, hard slaps, drag slaps, and some more. I am a second baseman. Softball is a sport I love to play with my

Participant 1 (PAR1, AFSAS Person 1) was playing softball when he attempted to slide into a base; PAR1 was then hit in the back of the head resulting a concussion/7 LWDS.

Build Speed and Accuracy in Softball Pitching Drill Whilst we cannot guarantee that every throw you will make is going to be a strike, it is still important for players like you to enhance your speed, endurance and accuracy. Fortunately, there are various activities to build speed and accuracy in softball pitching drill that you can try. The drills aim to sustain the players’ natural abilities by repeating specific activities. We compiled a shortlist of the best recommendations and potential practices to be included in your drills.

The size of the ball, the speed of the pitch, and the distance from the mound to the plate all are variables of deciding which one is harder, softball or baseball? Debates break out all over the world with people fighting why softball is a sport made for girls. There is no real reason why the inventor of softball made it a bigger ball just for girls, but the difference is clearly noticeable. Studies show that most professional baseball players have a difficulty hitting from a softball pitcher. In order to prove this study, there must be drawbacks that make these softball players able to blow by a fastball by some of the greatest hitters.