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The Basic Rules of Softball

Softball is played between two teams of nine players each who take turns batting and fielding. The batting team aims to score runs by having a runner touch all bases to reach home plate, while the fielding team tries to get three outs to prevent runs. A game lasts seven innings, and the team with the most runs at the end wins. There are four bases forming a diamond shape on the field. Batted balls caught in the air or throws that reach a base before a runner result in outs. Specific rules govern pitching, batting, and base running.

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1K views2 pages

The Basic Rules of Softball

Softball is played between two teams of nine players each who take turns batting and fielding. The batting team aims to score runs by having a runner touch all bases to reach home plate, while the fielding team tries to get three outs to prevent runs. A game lasts seven innings, and the team with the most runs at the end wins. There are four bases forming a diamond shape on the field. Batted balls caught in the air or throws that reach a base before a runner result in outs. Specific rules govern pitching, batting, and base running.

Uploaded by

Louie J. Ubay
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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SOFTBALL

The basic rules of softball


 Two teams (of nine players) alternate turns at batting and fielding (often called
defense).

 The aim for the team batting is to advance a runner around all bases to the home
plate to score runs.

 The defending team tries to defend its bases by getting three outs and not allowing
the batting team to score.

 The team that scores the most runs in seven innings wins. (A tiebreaker procedure
comes into play if the scores are tied after the seventh innings.)

 Each team’s innings ends when three of its batters have been ruled out and then the
team that was defending goes in to bat.
The playing field
 There are four bases (first base, second base, third base and home plate) on the
field of play.

 The lines between the bases are generally 45 to 60ft (approximately 12 to 18m) apart
and when joined they form a ‘diamond’.

 Inside the diamond is the infield which contains the pitcher’s plate from which the
pitcher throws the ball underarm; outside the baselines is the outfield.

 Any ball going outside the first or third base line is a foul ball (runners are not allowed
to advance and the batter gets another try unless the ball was caught in the air, in
which case they are out).
So how can a batter or runner be given out?
A batter or runner is out in the following circumstances:

 If the ball the batter has just hit is caught without first bouncing.

 The ball is thrown to a base before a runner gets there.


 A player running between bases is tagged by the ball (touched by the ball or the glove
of the defending player).

 If three strikes are called by the umpire.

 They run more than 3ft (0.9m) out of the base line to avoid being tagged.
There are a number of rules of softball specific to the pitcher who must pitch the ball
into the strike zone to give the batter a fair chance of hitting it.

Runners must follow a range of rules determining how they are allowed to advance between
bases, but you can find out the specifics of this the more you watch and play.

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