NEWSFLASH! The US team has lost to Japan, 3-1, in the World Softball Championships. The Americans will probably get a rematch with Japan for the championship, however. The US next faces Australia, whom it has already beaten 11-2, with the loser of this next match receiving the bronze medal and the winner playing for the title. Video coverage of the World Championships (archived, if not also live) is available at the tourney website. Softball fans are also dissecting the games on the discussion forums at Ultimate College Softball (see links section on the right).
This Friday (and all remaining Fridays of the regular season), I will preview the upcoming weekend's games. Before doing so, I wanted to do an entry, primarily for sports fans who have not watched much softball, on differences they could expect to see between softball and baseball. The Sandy Plains Softball Association of Marietta, Georgia has produced a document entitled Fastpitch 101 , which details the similarities and differences in the rules of the two sports. Here are some of my own observations from over the years: 1. Because the bases are considerably closer together in softball (60 feet) than in baseball (90 feet), softball infielders consistently must pick up ground balls and make their throws to first base quickly, in order to get the runner. In other words, many (if not most) softball grounders result in "bang-bang" plays at first base, necessitating a lot of close calls by first-base umpires, who must detect whether the thrown ball (to the first-baseperso...