Why do girls play softball instead of baseball?

[glenn1]

To OP, why don't pro male ball players use a whiffleball since it's far more difficult than a hardball?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXq5KvtNf4s

 

[Darwin333]

She's an outfielder with amazing speed.

Assuming center field, or at least that's what they are tasking her for, as that's the only outfield position that would ever be given a scholarship. Hopefully she helps take the Tigers to another World Series next year. BTW, we just sent #6 Alabama packing and play #15 Georgia at 2:30CT today, or an hour and half from now. It's on ESPN2 if you care to watch some of her future teammates.

Most people are surprised to learn but the top four recruited positions are:

Pitcher
Catcher
Shortstop
Center fielder (with one hell of a set of wheels on her)


Most other positions, save maybe 2nd, are what they call "utility positions". For instance your niece could probably very easily be taught to be one hell of a 3rd base player and could darn sure play right/left field. 1st has to be able to "stretch" so maybe she'd be good or maybe not but the speed is wasted. What you can almost never do is turn any of those players into the 4 listed above at the college level unless they were being severely misused wherever they came from.

 

[Darwin333]

LSU sends Georgia home 4-1 and goes to the Semi's. Game tonight against #2 Oklahama at 8:30CST, gotta beat them twice to move on though so it's going to be tough but Sandra Simons is on fire with 2 HRs against Georgia and both pitchers looked pretty solid.

 

[SP33Demon]

Women can't run as fast, they're smaller (e.g. so they can't cover as much ground as a 6ft man who runs a 4.4 40), can't throw as fast, nor hit as hard. Women should almost never be competing against a man in any physical sport that requires power, they are simply at a chemical disadvantage off the bat. It's also why the IOC tests so stringently for testosterone.

 

[gorcorps]

To OP, why don't pro male ball players use a whiffleball since it's far more difficult than a hardball?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXq5KvtNf4s

That's so cool

 

[Sho'Nuff]

but the pitcher's mound is much much closer in softball, giving less reaction time

in my state, i've seen quite a few HS softball girls who made it to state championship playoffs having thrown no-hitters and perfect games in MOST of their regular season games. it is far more rare in boy's HS baseball.

that makes it seem like softball pitchers have way too much of an advantage.

A 60MPH softball pitched from 43' is equivalent to an 84MPH baseball pitched from 60 feet 6 inches. And some college (women) fastpitch pitchers hurl a softball at about 69-74MPH - which is equivalent to a 97-104MPH fastball pitched from 60 feet 6 inches.



So yeah - a fastpicth softball ain't exactly easy to hit.

 

[edro]

At this point, it's just cultural. It's a completely different sport.
Girls don't want to play baseball because they have their own sport.

I walked past a softball game the other day, while at my nephew's baseball game.
I also noticed that both teams were wearing complete face masks on all players.
Girls can't get their teeth knocked out, but boys can? Odd.

 

[SearchMaster]

At this point, it's just cultural. It's a completely different sport.
Girls don't want to play baseball because they have their own sport.

I walked past a softball game the other day, while at my nephew's baseball game.
I also noticed that both teams were wearing complete face masks on all players.
Girls can't get their teeth knocked out, but boys can? Odd.

The diamond dimensions are 2/3 of the dimensions for baseball, and as a result it takes much less time to reach first base from home. So there is a lot of bunting and "slapping" which is a swinging, running bunt and the third baseman comes much closer to the plate just in case. I don't know about you, but I don't want to be standing 25 feet from a well hit line drive coming right at your face.

Most players in higher level softball don't wear the masks because by the time they've made it to that level, their reaction times and fielding skill are high enough to mitigate the danger.

I was at my son's baseball game yesterday and overheard two high schoolers. One was a male baseball player and one was a female softball player. Apparently their middle school had an 8th grade girl that was good enough that she wanted to play baseball instead of softball. She already had a scholarship offer from dozens of colleges and had committed to Auburn, but was insistent on playing baseball. Then they laughed about whether she would participate in the off-season weight lifting and said she could probably outlift most of the boys.

 

[Homerboy]

SearchMaster has already said everything I was coming in here to say. So I will just say "What SearchMaster has said"

 

[zinfamous]

The pitching is typically less based around fastballs and average pitching speed is slower for women.

Not that there aren't women who can throw fastballs, but physiologically speaking men (especially professional players) are going to have much larger arms than their female counterparts. Googling says fastest female pitchers are 10% slower than male pitchers of the same caliber. Which isn't enough of a difference to mean women couldn't just play baseball, but I guess culturally at some point the indoor version of baseball seemed better suited for women.

The mound is closer in softball, though, so the speed of the ball to batter ends up being a bit faster when compared to major league rules.

As for why they don't just play baseball with baseball tools and field distances, perhaps a bit slower...I dunno.

 

[zinfamous]

Women can't run as fast, they're smaller (e.g. so they can't cover as much ground as a 6ft man who runs a 4.4 40), can't throw as fast, nor hit as hard. Women should almost never be competing against a man in any physical sport that requires power, they are simply at a chemical disadvantage off the bat. It's also why the IOC tests so stringently for testosterone.

The question isn't why don't women play against men in baseball--It's why don't women play baseball instead of softball?

 

[zinfamous]

That's the one thing that I like better about baseball than softball. In softball you can have one shutdown pitcher and win a championship because many of them can pitch every inning of a 3 game stand. In baseball, it takes several great pitching performances from multiple players to win championships, and I think that makes it a little more special.

I do love this time of year though, some of those college softball pitchers have A+ booties and the camera angles really accentuate it

My niece is going to LSU in fall of 2018 on a full ride softball scholarship, and I'm really looking forward to watching that team as often as I can.

dude....creeper.


[pics of niece?]

 

[MongGrel]

I used to date a woman in the past who was a fastpitch softball pitcher, she was a nurse and a former cheerleader and probably could throw a ball faster than I could.

Heh, well, she was very good at the ball thing at any rate.

:whiste:

 

[Blackjack200]

Most people are surprised to learn but the top four recruited positions are:

Pitcher
Catcher
Shortstop
Center fielder (with one hell of a set of wheels on her)

That sounds like baseball, most anyone that's good enough to get a D1 scholarship is probably a pitcher as well as a center fielder or shortstop when they don't pitch.

The diamond dimensions are 2/3 of the dimensions for baseball, and as a result it takes much less time to reach first base from home. So there is a lot of bunting and "slapping" which is a swinging, running bunt and the third baseman comes much closer to the plate just in case. I don't know about you, but I don't want to be standing 25 feet from a well hit line drive coming right at your face.

Someone else made reference to 30 feet as well, but a baseball diamond is 90 feet, and 2/3 of that is 60 feet. I played 3rd base in arc pitch softball and you have roided up dudes with shaved bats trying to smash that thing as hard as they can. You just need to keep your glove in front of your chest (where it can quickly be moved up to cover your face or down to cover your stomach/balls.) When I played shortstop I was a little deeper in the infield and took a more traditional stance, (crouch with glove down on the dirt), but at third base my glove was in front of my chest.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

Women throw like girls and run like girls. The field has to be smaller to accommodate that and that requires using a different ball to slow things down. It's not rocket science.

 

[Printer Bandit]

Women throw like girls and run like girls.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjJQBjWYDTs

 

[Newbian]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6M8szlSa-8o

 

[Darwin333]

That sounds like baseball, most anyone that's good enough to get a D1 scholarship is probably a pitcher as well as a center fielder or shortstop when they don't pitch.

I've been around absurdly competitive best of the best softball for 8 years and after 10U I've never seen a pitcher pull double duty as a SS or CF. Well at least not anyone you would consider a potential starter. Lots of pitchers, my daughter included, can and do play 1st base though. Pitchers just train differently, they spend 90% of their time on very short but hugely explosive "launches" versus actual "speed".

Then again I'm confined to my area of softball "fiefdom", college and pro. Hell they rarely let my daughter run the bases anymore and she is flat out not allowed by her coaches to slide, period. She will get down if the game is on the line but always gets her ass chewed afterwards. Only reason her coach lets her bat is because she went all "destroyed teenage girl" on her coach when she took her out of the lineup, little brat played the hell out of her coach.

If you have any examples of good pitchers also playing CF I'd love to see some videos or links as that would be one seriously outstanding athlete.

Someone else made reference to 30 feet as well, but a baseball diamond is 90 feet, and 2/3 of that is 60 feet. I played 3rd base in arc pitch softball and you have roided up dudes with shaved bats trying to smash that thing as hard as they can. You just need to keep your glove in front of your chest (where it can quickly be moved up to cover your face or down to cover your stomach/balls.) When I played shortstop I was a little deeper in the infield and took a more traditional stance, (crouch with glove down on the dirt), but at third base my glove was in front of my chest.

I don't, and will never, allow my daughter to play infield without a facemask on. That goes double for when she is pitching. Travel ball with the team dues, hotel rooms, money spent at tournaments and her expensive ass gear (freaking $300 bats and she gets a new one every year) already costs a ton so I'll be damned if I pay for dental work on top of that.

 

[Darwin333]

Women throw like girls and run like girls. The field has to be smaller to accommodate that and that requires using a different ball to slow things down. It's not rocket science.

Slow things down? Have you ever watched a softball game?

As was stated a few times in this thread, if it's so "slowed down" why can't the best major league hitters hit off of softball pitchers? Hell most of them couldn't even get a foul and if you are ever in Southern Louisiana I'll bet a weeks pay that my 14 year old can strike you out all day long with that big slow softball. I'll bet you a years pay that you couldn't make it on base against those slow and weak 14 and under girls.

Barry Bonds talked a lot of smack to Jennie Fench, even wanted cameras to be there when he took one of her pitches for a ride. That slow and weak girl had him demanding that the cameras be turned off real quick. Here she is against Albert Pujols and he doesn't even come close. Pay attention to where the catcher catches the ball. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gm9iZnqGMvY

While I am doting on my daughter a bit, I haven't been able to hit off of her (other than sheer luck) since she was 12, I'd make the same bet with any other good breaking ball pitcher. You have just as much reaction time as you do with very good baseball pitchers but they can move the ball more and even make it defy gravity and rise in the last 8 feet or so.

 

[SP33Demon]

The question isn't why don't women play against men in baseball--It's why don't women play baseball instead of softball?

For many reasons.
1) It's impossible to tell which females will become manjawed andro-men after puberty due to abnormally high Test.
2) Females are more social than men so they do what their friends do, especially when younger.
3) Society is learning to now play to its strengths, especially in business (ever heard of strengthsfinder by Donald Clifton?). It doesn't behoove women to try and improve on weakness they have a <.01% chance of doing which would entail alienating/stunting themselves socially. Social skills are far more valuable for women than men because they are simply more gregarious and social skills will take them farther than any sport ever could. Play the percentages.
4) Men could seriously hurt even a higher than average (for a woman) Test andro-woman because said woman would simply be at the average of most men in high school. Elite baseball players are usually 6ft (even in high school), and that is well above the average of any woman. It'd be like you trying to play college ball against guys with scholarships. Even college male pitchers don't have the reflexes to catch a line drive off a metal bat.
https://youtu.be/i4sRejNFgmU

But don't worry, I'm sure some college will give a scholarship for a track and field sprinter to be a "pinch runner" just to say they had the first female to play div 1. The team will be the Bad News Bears of Div. 1 but by golly, they'll be the first school to have a girl play with the guys so they can use it for recruiting new students. Our push for androgyny (and hence mediocrity) will reach new limits and we will continue to celebrate high Test women. :biggrin:

 

[GagHalfrunt]

Slow things down? Have you ever watched a softball game?

Yes, have you?

As the field is shrunk to accommodate women's physiology and weakness in throwing/running the ball has to be changed to slow it down to compensate for the smaller dimensions. If women played on a softball sized diamond with a baseball the corner infielders would have a life expectancy of 20 minutes. A softball is moving significantly slower than a baseball in all phases of the game and it most assuredly is slowed down compared to how fast a baseball travels when hit.

The best major league hitters can and do easily adapt to hit softballs. It's a different swing required to successfully hit the different ball trajectory, so of course they're going to struggle to hit it if they see baseball pitching every day of their lives and then try to hit a softball once in a 20 second charity demo.

 

[LTC8K6]

I thought that the reason a baseball hitter often has difficulty in softball is because the pitcher is much closer, giving less time to read the pitch and hit the ball.

Basically the same reason that baseball hitters have trouble with a good fastball.

Whereas the softball hitters are quite used to the timing, since they deal with it normally.

 

[glenn1]

Yes, have you?

As the field is shrunk to accommodate women's physiology and weakness in throwing/running the ball has to be changed to slow it down to compensate for the smaller dimensions. If women played on a softball sized diamond with a baseball the corner infielders would have a life expectancy of 20 minutes. A softball is moving significantly slower than a baseball in all phases of the game and it most assuredly is slowed down compared to how fast a baseball travels when hit.

The best major league hitters can and do easily adapt to hit softballs. It's a different swing required to successfully hit the different ball trajectory, so of course they're going to struggle to hit it if they see baseball pitching every day of their lives and then try to hit a softball once in a 20 second charity demo.

Yeah, I think without practice that the women would have a bit of a hard time hitting some MLB fastballs also, it's not like it's going to matter much what your sex is when someone like Aroldis Chapman is throwing 106 MPH filth at you. It's not slighting women to say they're the absolute best of the best at a sport that's comparable to but not equal to one predominantly played by men. And the best pitchers are going to make you look ridiculous no matter what, whether it's softball or hardball. See the composite GIF below, quick because they're all travelling in the 90+ MPH range and you have .3 seconds to decide whether to swing and where your bat needs to be.

http://www.si.com/more-sports/2013/07/24/sports-gene-excerpt

 

[Slew Foot]

How come none of these charity demos have chicks trying to hit off Kershaw?

 

[Homerboy]

There is a lot of ignorant and sexist ideas in here