Seems they need to add 25 ft to the fences. ...Field length.
Why? So it's baseball? I've seen it on big fields and it's not good. It becomes a speed game at that point. It's 7 innings of bombs and speed now. The top pitchers are still shutting down hitting. Just aren't many elite pitchers because the training is insanity.
Oklahoma hit 161 Home runs in the regular season. Tells me the field size is BS, that is all.
I don't necessarily agree with your opinion of baseball but you are correct that (1) popularity of softball is exploding and (2) it is not baseball, nor should it be
I’ll admit my take was a bit slanted, I really like baseball… I’ve watched it my whole life. Couldn’t agree more with your take. Softball is just so much more artistic and beautiful. I don’t speak for everyone but I believe if most people immersed themselves in it and then compared the two they will see what I see.
That's one team, one that's ruled softball until this year and all those HRs couldn't get them to the WCWS. One that pitching shutout today. Baseball pulls in the fences, changes the ball, changes the bats to get more HRs these days. Softball is fine. It's a fast-paced power and speed and pitching game that doesn't take all day to play like baseball. Baseball was made for drinking.
Of the Softball games that I have watched (not Oklahoma) I have seen an unreasonable number of HR hit.
The difference between hitting a baseball & hitting a softball is huge. Let college or pro baseball players have to hit softballs & see how many home runs you get.
Just looking at super regional scores, I think softball is about where it needs to be. Average score of 19 games was 7.9-2.5. Not a lot of close games. But scores don’t look too high or too low.
Little League when I was twelve. I hit pop-ups over that fence at that age.
The explosion in offense is because of a combination of hotter bats and the strike zone shrinking. Pitcher have to put it in the heart of the plate to get a strike called.
Your last sentence pretty much sums it up, they have learned to hit. Good or bad they play year round travel ball, lift weights and get quality instruction. The introduction of title ix that fully funded scholarships gave many an opportunity to go to college.
70’ base paths would result in 95% groundouts. 60 feet is perfect.. just like 90 in baseball. You have to field it perfect and make a good throw to get an out. Any bobble and the runner is safe.
Been watching last 10 years, teams still have 1 or 2 Slap hitters in lineup.
That’s a good point. Boys, throwing overhand, don’t have to be trained since birth to pitch. I mean some are, but a boy can start pitching at 12 or 13 and be an effective pitcher. Girls, you have to make that call EARLY. You can’t just pick up a softball and pitch it effectively. HS teams are usually 1 stud pitcher and one serviceable pitcher. Travel usually has 2 studs and 2 or 3 serviceable girls.
We have actually recruited smaller. We are not a very “big” team.
The sport toting the hail state banner this off season
I know nothing about softball and have probably never watched a game until yesterday…. But after watching that game compared to Oklahoma, I could definitely tell we weren’t a big team. Oklahoma had a team full of linebackers apparently.
Playing Ok we looked like a bunch of sorority girls playing the Washington Redskins offensive line circa 1980.
HAHA couldn’t have said it any better. It’s like ok here’s a perfect absolutely gorgeous sport, let’s try to screw it all up! Some people just don’t think.
I’m by no means an expert but I do coach some basic softball pitching and have helped developed a few pitchers at a beginner level. It is much more complex than baseball pitching. A lot of girls get frustrated, dont like the pressure and heckling by other teams, and dont have the mental makeup for lack of better terms to do it. It’s not easy and takes a certain type of person and mentality to do it. A truly elite softball pitcher is almost like a unicorn. There’s a lot of good ones don’t get me wrong, but the complete package is EXTREMELY rare and I’ve coached over a hundred kids and seen a lot.
