Softball question

United States
May 22, 2007 11:01am CST
I don't know much about softball but our church has a softball team and sometimes I go watch them play. I understand most of the game but I don't understand why they have different balls for the male and female players. One ball is bigger than the other. Is its use based on the gender of the pitcher or the batter. And what is the rationale behind that? Can someone fill me in?
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1 response
jbb316
@jbb316 (1779)
• United States
22 May 07
The bigger ball is for the women. It is larger and easier to hit and catch for the women. It is just a little something they do for women since men are used to playing baseball they use a smaller ball in softball.
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youdontsay
@youdontsay (3497)
• United States
22 May 07
Thanks. So the size of the ball is determined by the batter, not the pitcher?
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jbb316
@jbb316 (1779)
• United States
22 May 07
Yes. but normally women only play womens's teams and men only play mens teams. But then there are coed tournaments where you have men and women on the same team. In this case when a female batter comes up they get to hit the big ball and the male batter hits the small ball.
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youdontsay
@youdontsay (3497)
• United States
26 May 07
That really clears it up for me. We have co-ed teams and I was getting so confused about the thing of switching balls. Thanks.