# Why do girls play softball not baseball? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [October 23, 2014, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-girls-play-softball-not-baseball/702229 "2014-10-23T04:43:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2014, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-girls-play-softball-not-baseball/702229/21 "2014-10-24T14:30:26Z")
> [@Doctor\_Jackson](#): > > If you are talking about slow pitch softball, that observation is marginally correct. If you mean for it to include fast pitch softball it is utterly incorrect. This is the key observation in this thread. Slo-pitch absolutely is meant to be an equalizing form of baseball; while slo-pitch hitting and pitching are skills unto themselves, it’s one that can be learned by people who would not be able to keep up with baseball pitching and hitting against the same opponents. Fastpitch softball, however, is not an equalizing form of baseball. It’s the same thing but on a smaller diamond, except with a ball that’s harder to catch and throw. The simple answer to the OP is “because.” It’s always been done this way, so it continues to be done this way. There is no particular, logical reason why female players should play with a softball instead of a baseball, and in fact there are some compelling arguments that the baseball is the more logical choice. (Playing slo-pitch with a baseball, conversely, would turn many leagues, including my own, into a horrific carnival of laser-beam hits featuring thirty home runs and four cracked skulls per game. Actually maybe that would be cool.) Even if you elected to have women’s baseball played with bases at 75 or 80 feet, instead of 90, it would still make more sense to the game to be played otherwise the same as baseball. And for the hugher levels of adult skill, of course women could play on a regulation infield. The throws are longer, but _baseballs are easier to throw_. If you don’t believe me, try an experiment; go out and play catch with a friend, and bring a regulation softball and a regulation baseball. Spend 15 minutes playing catch with the softball, so you get lots of throws in after you’re warmed up and you know you’re throwing the softball as well as you can. Then switch to the baseball, and I swear to God you’ll feel like Nolan Ryan. The difference is amazing; you can fling the baseball effortlessly with incredible velocity. The whole point to a softball is they are harder to make go fast. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2014, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-girls-play-softball-not-baseball/702229/22 "2014-10-24T16:26:46Z")
FWIW I don’t feel marginalized for having played 12 years of softball. It never even occurred to me that I was doing anything less or different than boys were. I loved being on a team, getting dirty, playing hard, saving up money for new gear, hitting home runs, being an all star, getting old and being stuck in right field, getting injuries, being traded, etc. I still looked up to pro baseball players and became a lifetime baseball fan. My brother got hit with a ball when he was in his first year of kid-pitch (it starts out as coach-pitch) and that was it for him. I played like 10 years longer than he did, and got hit by the ball plenty of times. I’m grateful for my “slow” game - it never felt slow to me. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2014, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-girls-play-softball-not-baseball/702229/23 "2014-10-24T17:10:16Z")
> [@That\_Don\_Guy](#): > > It could also be a problem of resources. The vast majority of middle schools don’t have fields big enough for baseball (and besides, quite a few are in areas surrounded by houses, where baseball games become hazards for the people that live there); post-Little League baseball has to be played either on high school fields or city-maintained baseball fields. Softball, on the other hand, can be played at middle school level. This allows both to be played - something I doubt could happen if it was limited to just one or the other. If it really was a resource issue, I’d think you’d have both boys and girls playing softball in middle school, then both boys and girls graduating to baseball in high school. Because in order to have both baseball and softball at the high school, you’ve got to have two fields rather than just one. OK, the softball field is a little smaller than the baseball field, but still, the two fields will take up a good bit more room than just one. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2014, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-girls-play-softball-not-baseball/702229/24 "2014-10-24T17:17:27Z")
> [@BeeGee](#): > > Back in the 70’s, we had to play half court basketball because it wasn’t believed that girls could last a whole game running up and down the court. I remembered that from high school. Two forwards (who could only play in the forward zone), two defense (who had to stay to defend their own net), and two rovers (who, unlike the others, could cross the halfcourt line. I loved watching it and found it more interesting from a strategy standpoint than the regular game. They switched to the same setup as the boys a year or so after I graduated. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2014, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-girls-play-softball-not-baseball/702229/25 "2014-10-26T09:31:17Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > I remembered that from high school. Two forwards (who could only play in the forward zone), two defense (who had to stay to defend their own net), and two rovers (who, unlike the others, could cross the halfcourt line. I loved watching it and found it more interesting from a strategy standpoint than the regular game. > > They switched to the same setup as the boys a year or so after I graduated. That sounds similar to old" Iowa Girls 6 Man" basketball that they had up until the 90’s. Yes, it set up the game for new strategies. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-girls-play-softball-not-baseball/702229.md?page=1)