Compared to baseball, one of the four major American sports (football, baseball, ice hockey, and basketball), softball requires a small field, a large ball, and a slow ball (because the rules of softball require the hand to be under the shoulder during the throw).Due to these advantages, softball soon became popular all over the United States.
There are two kinds of sports -- fast and slow.Both forms of softball are popular with the American people.With the expansion of American power in world war ii, softball was popularized around the world.Since then, softball has gradually become a women's sport.In the 1950s, softball changed from a popular game to a competitive sport.Australia hosted the first national women's softball championship in 1947, while the men's event did not begin until 1984.1965 host Australia defeated the United States 1-0 in the final of the first women's softball world championship in Melbourne, Australia.After this competition, fast softball soon became the mainstream of the sport.
The second women's softball world championship was held in 1970.Since then, the men's, women's and junior softball world championships have been held every four years.One hundred years after its birth, softball remains one of the most popular sports in the United States.The world softball federation also has more than one hundred ten members.
The game of softball began with four shortstops and ten players on each side.Also known as kittenball and mushball, the game's score is often high because the rules of slow softball require the pitcher to throw the ball in an arc, effectively limiting the ball's speed.Fast softball, by contrast, is a low-scoring contest with only nine players on the field.
But Olympic softball is not much worse than professional baseball. At the Atlanta games, a pitcher threw a ball at 118 kilometers an hour.Since softball pitchers and hitters are only 12.2 meters apart, baseball is 18.4 meters, and top baseball pitchers can hit the ball at 160 kilometers per hour, softball players are no worse at reacting.
In addition, the ball, called softball in English, is actually as hard as a baseball.The only difference between the two balls is that the softball has a circumference of 30.4 centimeters and the baseball has a circumference of 22.8 centimeters.
Softball was withdrawn from the Olympic summer games in 2012.
