History of Softball:

Softball is a variant of baseball and a popular participant sport.It is played by men as well as women.In November 1887 in Chicago, George Hancock, a reporter for Chicago Board of Trade, invented softball. He invented the game as a form of indoor baseball. Hancock appended 19 special rules to adapt the outdoor game to the indoor game. The rules were officially adopted by the Mid Winter Indoor Baseball League of Chicago in 1889. The softball was earlier known as Kitten ball. The name softball came out in 1926. Softball was finally accepted as an Olympic sport in 1991.

Types of Softball:

There are two forms of softball which are described below:
»Slow pitch
»Fast pitch
When speaking about Slow Pitch Softball, a familiar name comes to mind, Jerome Earnest. Without him, there wasn't much softball history.In slow pitch softball, a pitched ball must describe an arc with an apogee at least above the batter's head. In order for a strike to be called, the ball still must cross the plate between the batter's shoulder and knees, or land in a small area directly behind home plate. The strike zone can vary from league to league and umpire to umpire. Because of the requirement for an arc, the pitcher must throw the ball relatively slowly. There is no such restriction in fast pitch softball.

Requirements:

Softball Field is defined by two baselines. The baselines will be 65 feet. The distance from pitcher's mound to home plate will be 50 feet. A team must have 9 players to start or to continue a game with the maximum of 10 players. In international play size of the play can range from 30 cm to 28 cm in circumference. All players may wear fielding gloves, made of leather or similar material, but only the catcher and first baseman may wear mitts. The bat used by the batter is made of hardwood, metal, or any of several other approved materials. It may be no more than 86 cmin length, 6 cm in diameter, or 38 oz. (1kg) in weight.