Tennessee, the nation's No. 1-ranked team, completed a three-game sweep against Georgia in Athens today, in a game televised nationally across various Fox Sports Net cable channels. As noted in this article from the Tennessee athletics website, this was the first time UGA had been swept in a three-game SEC series at home since 2001. The first two Lady Vol wins came in a Saturday doubleheader, which included a perfect game in the opener by Tennessee's Monica Abbott, albeit in a five-inning run-rule situation, as the Vols prevailed 10-0.
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...