Softball is better than baseball

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Softball is better than baseball
Junior outfielder Reagan Gensiejewski of the Hillsdale College Softball Team. Courtesy | Camryn Olson

Softball is better than baseball.

It isn’t even a close call. 

After working all the way up from T-ball to captain of a NCAA Division II softball team, I have come to this conclusion through hard-won experience. The sports look a lot alike to the casual observer, but true sports fans will appreciate the factors that make softball a better game. 

Here are five reasons why softball is better than baseball.

  1. Intensity: Blink your eye and you might miss a play. Because a softball field is smaller than a baseball field — 43 feet between the mound and the plate, and 60 feet between the bases rather than 90 feet — players must make quick decisions and fast moves. You’ll never see a softball player jog from home to first. 

A smaller field also allows fans (or crazy softball dads) to sit closer to the action, so they can really get in the umpire’s ear after a bad call or chew out the coach for a terrible pitch sequence. A smaller field lets fans not just watch the game, but be a part of it. 

  1. Speed: Softball is just seven innings, so it packs the drama of a nine inning baseball game into a shorter period of time. Every out carries more significance. 

Not only is the pace of play quick, but softball games don’t drag on for hours. Runners can’t lead off before the pitch, which avoids the tedium of pick-off attempts. This speeds the game significantly. 

Softball has the mercy rule. If a team is up by eight or more runs after the fifth inning, a dull game comes to a rapid conclusion. Softball also has the international tie breaker for extra innings to keep the game short. The last out from the seventh starts on second, giving teams a better chance to score and end the game. 

Softball is so quick, it doesn’t need a mid-game stretch to keep spectators interested. 

  1. Participation: Softball has fewer players, and flexible substitution rules that allow more options for coaches who enjoy strategy and more playing opportunities for athletes. Less players, less laundry. Anyone off the bench can enter the game, for as long as they want. The best part of the rule is that there is no limit on how many players can be substituted in, and where they go. 

This means that the coach can play every player in every game, at any position. Additionally, the pitching motion in softball doesn’t require athletes to take required days off, which means pitching staffs are smaller. A good coach tries to rotate everyone in, giving boyfriends and parents an extra reason to stay through the whole game. 

  1. Slapping: This technique adds a new element to softball. A left-handed batter performs what looks like a funky dance in the batter’s box, running towards the pitcher and hitting the ball simultaneously. The best slappers can place the ball over the first baseman’s head, or right behind second base. By the time the ball is fielded, the slapper is so fast, she is standing at first less than two seconds later.

Imagine if Ichiro could slap. Lethal. Unfortunately, he plays an inferior sport. 

  1. Cheers: Every sport has fired-up players and fans but softball cheers bring a different enthusiasm to the game. There is a cheer for every situation, every play, and each player has her own. They have the power to change the momentum of a game. Baseball by contrast, is stoic. Showing emotion is frowned upon. Break into a taunting cheer, and you might be clocked in the head next at bat. Not in softball. If a girl hits a homerun, you’ll even see a bat flip. Females will lose their voice from a game, and are encouraged to. 

There is one cheer every softball player lives by from the moment they first pick up a bat: “If it was easier, they’d call it baseball.” 

 

Reagan Gensiejewski is a junior outfielder on the women’s softball team studying rhetoric and public address. She is an assistant editor for the Collegian.