Church League Softball Rules

The BBQ Pit
21

Yeah, but the rules you have here are nowhere near as lame as the ones discussed in the OP. One fucking pitch? What the hell is that about? Really, if you don’t have more than 20 spare minutes for a game of softball, why bother playing?

Actually, the rules you quote above are quite similar to those in the league that i play in, and our games usually take less than 90 minutes. The main difference is that we have no home-run rule, because the field we play on is so big that it’s very rare for someone to hit it out (or, actually, into the creek, which is the home-run marker). Although, if you get the ball over or past the outfielders, you can often run the bases before the ball gets thrown to home plate.

I do think the OP’s reference to women was rather gratuitous. Some of the women in our league are among the better players, especially in the field, and the only gender-related rule is that each team must have at least two women in the field. (Admittedly, we are all university grad students–not collectively known as the world’s most athletic demographic :)) The woman who plays third base for us has a great eye and a good throw to first. Also, while some women may not be able to hit the ball as far as some men, this can be an advantage. This week, for example, quite a few of the guys launched good shots to the outfield, but were caught out. Some of the women got equally good hits, but because they can’t hit the ball quite as far, it dropped between the infield and the outfield, leading to a base hit. Other times, they just found the gaps between the fielders.

I’m a guy who’s 6’ and about 190lbs, and i can get the ball well into the outfield on a good hit, sometimes clearing the heads of the outfielders. But i often find that my best percentage play is to back off the power a bit and go for the gaps. This can be especially productive with a good ground ball, as our field is so uneven that it’s a nightmare trying to snag a grounder cleanly. It’s not all about who can hit the ball the furthest.

22

Please excuse my ignorance, as i’ve only been in the US a few years and didn’t grow up with softball, but what does the “16 inch” refer to?

23

I played CLSB growing up and we played 7 inning real softball. I think that’s been covered so a quick story.

I was fairly athletic in high school (football and wrestling) but not that great at baseball/softball. One Saturday our local softball hero took me out and showed me how to hit home runs. The next game, we were down 20-0. I stepped up to the plate and nailed one out of the park. (I almost hit the lights! :puffs chest out: ) The asshole second baseman said I didn’t touch 2nd and the umpire agreed and called me out. I mean come on, it was the last inning!

24

mhendo - 16" is the circumferance of the ball. Meant to be played without gloves. This sport of kings is played everywhere significant - namely in the Chicago area.

I’ve heard little girls play kittenball, using gloves and smaller balls.

25

Agh… must… resist… urge…

Real ball player checking in here. Started playing adult co-ed softball by the age of 13. Serious shit. Practice started the weekend before the Super Bowl, every Saturday, for a mandatory 4 hours. Our first tournaments usually begin around mid-March and we routinely played up until December (with one memorable year lasting until the weekend before Christmas). Oh, and this was every. freaking. weekend. That included, mostly, two day tournaments within about a two-hour drive of where we lived.

On top of that, most all of us on this particular team played league as well. Not just one night a week, but more likely four. Spring, Summer and Fall. In addition to leagues and tournaments, there was still practice on whatever off night that we didn’t play. So, to some of us, this was beyond serious business. I met my husband on a softball field and then, since it had been my life-long dream, we married on one as well – with our first game starting at 2:00 after our 10:00 AM nuptials. We won that tourney at a womping 3:00 in the morning. And that experience was typical. I never attended a Prom in high school that I didn’t leave a game from before hand. Any special occasion that I needed to be at, was handled in much the same way.

And, about what prompted me to share all this in the first place, I’ve never EVER been a wimpy little girl who needed special consideration to play. AAMOF, I do not play women’s ball (although there’s absolutely nothing wrong with it and maybe I just was never around those that were truly competitive enough) because I don’t feel challenged by it. Therefore, I’ve spent the majority of my 20+ career playing co-ed. However, if I had my druthers, it would be for men’s ball (haha, I see that joke coming now) and have had, thankfully, many an opportunity to play it whenever we couldn’t find anything co-ed. We’d take our team and the 1 or 2 women who’d want to play, add a couple of extra guys and go play in a men’s tournament. We won our fair share too. :smiley: And those were my happiest times ever.

If I could, I’d do that always. In a heartbeat. So, in conclusion, just wanted some of y’all to know that there are plenty of women who can hold their own and don’t need to be given special privileges. Just sayin’, is all.

Now everyone can go back to denigrating the travesty (YUCK!) that is one-pitch. Oh, the humanity. May the gods abolish it from the face of the earth.

26

Interesting. That means the ball must be just over 5" in diameter, if i remember my basic geometry right.

As someone who grew up playing cricket, the idea of fielding without a glove doesn’t seem too strange. Only the wicket-keeper (i.e. the catcher) in cricket gets to wear gloves when in the field.

The ball in cricket is slightly smaller, slightly heavier, and seems (purely subjective judgement here) to be somewhat harder than a standard baseball. For those who are interested, here are the figures:

From the Major League Baseball website:

And from the Lord’s Cricket Ground website:

27

See! It is a recruitment tool. I knew it!

And on preview, hopefool, you are not a “real ball player.” Sorry. :frowning:

Baseball is the true game. All softball is for kiddies. Period.

28

Spiff, honey, I also made the cut on our high school’s boy’s baseball team. You know, with the real boys, like Pinnochio wanted to be. And, if that’s not good enough, we ever end up anywhere near each other, I’d be more than happy to take my wimpy-ass softball playin’ self up against your manly-man baseball playin’ self and see who’s tops.

You in? :smiley:

29

Yep. I have one right here; I haven’t played with it much since I was in high school, however.

My particular model has inside stiching, which makes for a interesting zig-zag pattern on the seams and for a longer-living ball in the case that it hits concrete often. They are hard like new baseballs when they are new, but an inning of play renders it to a soft, almost pillow-like durometer – it sounds almost like a tennis ball when you hit it. This is due to the fact that they have an inner core of kapok as opposed to a bowling-ball sounding hard pellet in the center.

As to the OP: The part that irked me most was that the first pitch hit before the home plate and was basically un-hittable – however, they still called it out. I can understand the home-run rule, I suppose, but you know someone’s going to take advantage of the ‘any pitch legal’ rule. There should be a rule stating that all pitches must pass home plate in the air, if not directly over it.

30

mhendo - you can google “deBeer’s clincher sixteen inch softball” if you wish to see one. I did a search earlier, and was amused at the messed up descriptions. Most common was 16" diameter, followed closely by 16’.

But deBeers also makes 14" clinchers, so the picture alone does not really let you know the size of it. Maybe a real big grapefruit? I wasn’t able to find a side-by-side comparisn photo on-line.

An adult with average-sized hands could catch a softly thrown 16" ball with one hand. But most often you catch with both hands, with the thumbs together and fingers splayed to avoid getting tem jammed or broken - probably the most common softball injury.

They are pretty light, but very hard when new. And you use a new ball every game, so you want to know what you are doing if you are fielding a shaprly hit ball in the early innings. Depending on how much hitting goes on, they soften up a bit by the 4th inning or so.

31

Ever hear of Fastpitch Softball?

32

Read the OP again, it was a member of his own team, that’s how they justify the pitch counting even if it would be a ball.

I just started playing co-ed again, in TX and it’s been fun. One park we play at has a rule that you start with a ball and a strike. (This is their version of speeding things up.) If you hit a foul tip on the 3rd strike, you are out. And for tournaments (and some league play) they decide at the beginning of the game how many homeruns a team is allowed. PER GAME. Usually 2, occasionally three, and sometimes only 1. After the quota of homeruns is met, any out of the park ball is considered an out.

Standard rules would be great, but the rules as they stand are better than one pitch!!

~J

33

Most certainly.

What of it?

34

That rule may be, but nowhere in the OP did I see such justification.

[quote]
Originally posted by Spiff
**Most certainly[; I’ve heard of Fast-Pitch Softball].

What of it?**

I think he’s implying that it’s just as ballsy a game to play as baseball, and he’s right.

As to this One-Pitch Softball thing, I’d just as soon play kickball or something – it’s a waste of resources as far as I’m concerned. More power to those who dig it, I suppose.

Heh – now watch me go hunt up a game of this one-pitch.

35

Originally posted by Spiff
Most certainly[; I’ve heard of Fast-Pitch Softball].

What of it?

If not ballsier.

36

Watch it . . .

World Kickball

I assure you that it’s a lot more fun than this one pitch abomination.

37

The OP is suggesting that the women can’t “handle” real softball, and it needs to be easier for them. This is totally different from suggesting that women aren’t on an athletic par with men, it’s like saying that women should run only 15 miles for an Olympic marathon, to make it “easier on them”. Actually, it’s like saying that all Olympic marathons should be 15 miles, to make it easier on women. It’s fucking patronizing as hell, is what it is. I feel like the OP is suggesting that only he and his churchgoing man-gang are tough enough to play real slo-pitch.

Actually, I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that the church has those rules specifically to make it easier on women who can’t handle real softball, but you’d hardly expect a church softball league to be a bastion of respect for women in sports.

38

Aw hell, Spiff is probably feelin’ just a little sore about not being taken seriously playing ball. You know the kind. They watch enough TWIB and have their official MLB stamped underoos, that they hate it when they can’t go out there and play with the girls. Shoot, we can all giggle at 'em. There the ones that if they actually get a decent hit into the grass, don’t hussle and then wonder why in the hell they got thrown out going to second. Well, see, unlike what they show on TV in a game between the Rangers and the Yanks, you can’t just coast to the next base and expect your buddy not to gun for ya just 'cause that’s how it’s done in the show. I bet you where you’re uniform the same too, huh? :wink:

And while we’re at it, do you play in the American or National league? Would we have heard of you or are you still AAA?

signed
~A Real Ball Player (who’d VERY happily take my Nakona out just for you babe!)

39

Hell yes! Thanks for the link.

In which case, I stand corrected; there’s got to be a woese game, but I’m not going to waste time thinking of it. :wink:

40

To get back to the point I assume the point is to have a game fun for people who aren’t very good at it to play. (Who IMHE is, apart from children, often women, not because they necessarily can’t play sports, but because a larger proportion of them didn’t think it was worth learning.)

Their mistakes were: 1. Not warning you beforehand and 2. Possibly choosing the rules so badly it’s not worth playing.

I’ve almost never played (BTW I’m in the UK) so I don’t know if my guess is correct.