Are fast-pitch softball pitchers indestructable?
Now to frogan, I don’t believe that softball is unbalanced Baseball has been played at a major-league level for more than 100 years. In that time, strategy has not changed significantly, and neither has the nature of the day-to-day, routine plays. Guys are still thrown out at first about two steps away from the bag, and the base length hasn’t changed, but the athletes are 10 times faster. That’s balance. And since softball is derived from baseball, we can guess the intent of the sports creators to mimic baseball as best they could. But in the 30-odd years since Title IX, softball ERAs are super-low, and no-hitters are common events. That’s unbalance, if baseball is considered the starting reference point. I can say that the softball is NOT softer than a baseball. As a player who has been hit several times with a softball and a baseball I can tell you that they are the same. I think it’s pretty conclusive that a baseball is denser than a softball. Getting hit by a softball may hurt quit
Softball is an inherently unbalanced sport because of several factors, including: * The pitching circle is placed significantly closer to the plate than a baseball rubber. * The ball is softer than a baseball, obviously. * The bat is not tapered (it’s a cylinder, not an inverted cone shape), which gives it less power. * The bases are shorter than baseball. * It’s generally played by women, who have less upper body strength, on average, than men. The reason for this is that, originally, softball was specifically designed to be a “gentle” sport. A “de-tuned” version of baseball, if you will. You were less likely to be injured by a softer ball thrown underhand by a woman and hit by a bat that couldn’t transfer power most efficiently. Now, flash forward several decades. Female athletes have advanced, but the game hasn’t. Stronger, better athletes are further unbalancing an already unbalanced sport. The sport now places an extraordinary emphasis on pitching because the softball pitcher has
