Ever hear of stealing bases in a 6-12 foot arc slow pitch softball leage? This rule was proposed in our organizational meeting tonight. Personally, I think it’s dumb. Why not just make anything not hit over the fence a triple, since the runner should be on third after two pitches anyway.
Do you have this rule in your league? How’s it working out for you? We vote on it in two weeks.
No, I’ve never heard of that.
I there any purpose for the proposed rule? Are scores not high enough in your league? Are games too short?
As far as I remember, you can lead-off and be picked-off, but no stealing. I think it’s a good rule, it’s too easy for someone to get injured stealing a base. It can cause a major collision of bodies at the target base. It’s just a bad idea for athletes that aren’t in prime condition.
Now, if the pitcher or catcher (or any other fielder for that matter) tries to “pick you off”, you are free to steal as many bases as you can.
I think you should leave them in the ground. Somebody has to buy new ones if you steal them.
I don’t know why the rule was proposed. Scores against our team are plenty high. The biggest problem I see is that the catcher, trying to get a little jump on the stealing runner, will lean in to catch the pitch, and take an aluminum bat to the back of the skull.
In our league, no leading, stealing, or early breaks. Hold the base until the batter makes contact with the ball.
IF that rule is voted in, I predict an emergency meeting will be called after the first night of games to revote.
Bases in softball are 60ft. Any reasonably athletic person will be able to cover that distance in 3.5 seconds(and probably much less). Think about how long it takes the ball to hit the catcher from the pitcher’s initial move home. You would be standing on second, or third, before the catcher has the ball.
It depends on how “recreational” your league is. Unless you’ve got really good players all over every team, and your goal is something other than “to have fun”, I wouldn’t like it.
If you allow leading off, the pitcher will be somewhat distracted by the position of the baserunners, resulting in more bad pitches.
There will be more throws between the pitcher and the bases, to hold a runner on. This will lengthen the game, with no real increase in the action. Also, it will increase the chance of an overthrow (dramatically so, in some leagues I’ve been in).
Scores will be higher. Nearly every hit will be an automatic triple (provided bases are open to advance that far).
Games will not be as close. The recreational leagues I’ve been in are often vulnerable to “one big inning”, where a team just can’t seem to get a third out. With base stealing, those big innings will be a little bigger.
I don’t think it will be as fun. This is subjective, but it just seems annoying to me.
Casey1505, I would ask the question: why? Is there some problem with your games in past season that this rule change specifically addresses?
Maybe you can’t leave the base until the ball hits the ground?
I play alot of softball. A couple months ago I played in a league where that was the rule. You steal once the ball hit the ground or on the throw back to the pitcher. It was hard to steal. Only chance you had is if you caught the catcher off guard.
What’s Slow Pitch Softball? Is that anything like Dirty Look Football?
Slo-pitch softball is softball in which the ball is lobbed towards home plate; under conventional ASA rules, the pitch must reach a height of at least six feet. The pitch is called a ball or a strike based either on striking a target on the ground - usually a rubber mat placed around and behind the plate - or on its height when it reaches the plate (either method usually accomplishes the same thing.) Different leagues modify the rules slightly; for instance, in the league I’m in, the pitch has to hit the strike mat but NOT the plate. In the previous league I was in the plate itself was also part of the strike zone. Most leagues also consider a foul ball to count as a third strike. Bunting is generally disallowed. In most leagues, players do not touch home plate to score but merely must cross a line between home plate and the backstop (to prevent collisions at home.) Most leagues do not permit leading off.
Standard rules place the bases 65 feet apart and the pitcher throws from a position fifty feet from the plate. Safety base used at first base (a double base, half inside the baseline and half out, to prevent collisions.) Ten fielders are used, rather than nine; most teams place the tenth fielder in the outfield, either as a rover (a short outfielder) or in a four-outfielders-abreast formation.
Slo-pitch enables people of very different athletic abilities to play baseball together, which is why it’s popular for co-ed play, though you do get men’s only teams (and let me tell you, some of those guys can play.)
It may sound easy to hit with such rules, but it can be a little trickier than it looks. The ball is coming in vertically as much as horizontally and you have to generate all the power yourself. And if, like me, you had long experience playing baseball, it’s hard to WAIT for the pitch; you find yourself getting ahead, swining too early, and topping the ball. You get used to it though; I actually count in my head to time my swing.
As to the rule change the OP describes, it’s the most retarded thing I’ve ever heard. It could not possibly work; only the fattest, least mobile players could fail to steal a base at every opportunity.
Our recreational league has instituted stealing bases. This just means that our team will lose by much larger margins than before. (we’re 2-28… one was a forfeit when the other team didn’t show).
We can’t lead off, and there are only two strikes and two outs. It’s a coed league, but the girls have to hit a smaller ball (supposedly because it goes further… but it’s harder to hit so that kind of negates the whole point). We’re not allowed ANY over the fence homeruns… they’re automatic outs.
That said, we have a ton of fun… a dirty team song, dirty nicknames and a very naughty team name that no one in the community seems to know is naughty.
See this article for proof. 
We’re the first team mentioned. http://www.ljworld.com/section/recleagues/story/93578
I think the stolen base rule won’t last more than one season.
(I’ll post the lyrics to the song if anyone is really curious… )
IF the stolen base rule is like Little League’s—you can leave once the ball reaches the plate, and you cannot lead off, it may work.
I don’t see how a pitcher could “hold” a runner on…I’ve never seen a slow-pitch softball motion that would be the equivalens of pitching from the stretch.
I have seen slow-pitch pitchers that can go through their motion and toss the ball quickly behind their back to first base.