ESPN.com has an amazing preview of the 2024 Women's College World Series (link). The article contains in-depth analyses of all eight teams, plus every kind of statistical graphic you can imagine. One set of statistics stood out to me: Oklahoma's offensive output this year is almost identical to what it was last year, but the Sooners' pitching has come down a notch since last year. For example, OU has allowed 1.8 runs per game this season compared to 1.0 a year ago, and has struck out 23.4% of opposing batters this year as opposed to 31.3% last year.
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...