Mass. and Fla. @ 43' in High School

43' Feet , I agree.

2 feet on the rubber also. Some of these girls look crazy the way they are come off the mound. Why not just do a walk through.

 

enforce

and ump's need to enforce the violation of crow-hopping. see it often.

 

Im a TB coach and face masks are mandatory for our pitchers and 3rd basemen. With these new bats, and 3rd having to play in it is a no brainer. I do not want to go through the rest of my life saying to myself "I should have made her wear a mask"

 

Moving the bases back would give the 3B more time to react to those hard shots. You might think it would encourage more bunting, but those extra 10' would discourage the slower runners from trying it. My concerns for softball are two-fold...safety for the players without putting them all in catcher's gear, and increasing the appeal of the game. Certainly the better, more committed athlete will rise to the top. But there is a certain frustration level that sets in for alot of players as the games get dominated by pitchers. You can tell a hitter "work harder", but a 14-18 yo is always going to struggle hitting a major league fastball, especially if it is moving, too. I just think the way the game is currently designed could use some tweaks to help with safety and with "playability". What almost develops is a two-class system, the pitchers and everybody else. And also, the average sports fan is bored with the college game because of the lack of action (too much pitching). I'd move them back to 45'. I just don't want the sport to die from lack of appeal, to the girls or to the fans.

 

well-said

very well said. agree.

 

Mass. and Fla. @43' in High School

Baseball is 90' bases and 63ft pitching . It is one of the borings sports around. Takes twice as long to play a game than softball. Baseball has probably as many injuries as softball. I have seen alot of pitchers line drived in baseball. Moving the distance back will not necessarily make it safer for the pitchers. My DD pitches college softball. I did not see a single pitcher lined in the face this year and believe me I saw alot of games. Now in the colleges it seemed that the umpires strike zones were tighter this year as in the past. Did see more hitting and walks as a result. I do agree that 43' should be in high school. College baseball and high school has the same distance so why should softball not. It will help the transition from high school to college.

 

agreed.

 

Do not agree

We played in a tournament this past weekend and it was 0-0 thru 6 we won 3-0 in the 7th, verrrry good defense and very good pitching on both teams and everybody I talked to talked about how exciting the game was! Pitchers, hitters, and fielders that excell in this game work 10-12 mths a year and it takes that to be one of the best at there position. I dont here one of those dds complaning about not getting enough hits! I dont think we need to try and change a very good thing just to accomodate the ones that dont work as hard. I have watched baseball and it is boring!!! why do we want to make something that is as exciting as girls softball the same

 

Sure a 0-0 game is exciting, just like a 0-0 baseball game is exciting, once in awhile. But it happens way too often in softball, or one team dominates and no-hits another team. Read the box scores in the paper, and you'll see it. Just last night, another perfect game, double digit K's in a 7-inning (or less) game. I'm not saying turn it into baseball...and again, I'm not saying to cater to the weaker player. Let's face it, the ones that don't want to work at it will be out-played in any sport, and they'll get frustrated and quit. I'd just like to give the pitcher more of a challenge, add some safety, bring the other 8 players into the game more (and the coaches, outside of the pitching coach), and make it a more watchable and playable game. The extra 3-5' feet for the pitcher, along with the extra base distance (5-10'), I think would do that.

 

Still dont agree

Watch 2 good teams and you will see good pitching good hitting and good fielding as far as watching one team dominate the other soly because of pitching goes back to practice practice practice, all this would do is help the lesser talented teams have a better chance in a game, again accomodating the ones that dont work as hard!!!!!