In college sports the guys play baseball and the gals play softball. We have collegiate womens hoops, soccer and swimming…why don’t we have womens baseball?
More girls grew up playing softball I believe. Some girls do grow up playing baseball, but softball took hold in high schools and colleges quite a while ago.
And apparently, the vast majority of women athletes don’t seem to mind playing softball. I believe baseball and softball count as equals when it comes to Title IX funding.
I suspect that part of the reason that women’s softball is predominate is because it is soft. It is a “safer” sport for the “weaker sex.” Every year, a few boys are killed by being struck by a direct hit from a baseball, and I know I got knocked unconscious from a pop fly in Little League. But there’s no way to hurt anyone with a softball. A hard line drive to the chest with a baseball can stop your heart but a softball won’t hurt you a bit.
Anyway, I like softball, I’d rather play that (especially after being bonked on the head with a hardball) and I have a pretty fair fast-pitch if I do say so myself.
“Won’t hurt you a bit”?
Yeah, right.
'Soft’ball means not quite as hard as a baseball.
Hurts like hell, my friend. 
Peace,
mangeorge
Personally, I wouldn’t want to take a softball to the head thrown by one of the pitchers on the US Olympic team. Granted, fast pitch softball players wear helmets, but those women put some serious heat on their pitches.
But it is true that it most likely won’t kill you, which is a good thing.
Yeah, I saw that women’s softball exhibition team (forget their name) they can put on some serious heat. I adopted a few tricks from them and even a weakling like me can toss a pretty fair pitch, if you know the technique. But still, a softball won’t kill you, sure it can hurt like hell but it won’t actually hurt you.
I think baseball is far too risky. In Little League, I took a shot to the head from a bat swung by some idiot who suddenly decided he wanted to practice without looking to see if anyone was behind him. Fortunately he was on the backswing… Ouch! I finally quit competitive sports because I felt like I was always getting beaten up.
When I was in college there was a player in our residential complex who pitched softball. Her name said it all: Debbie Doom. That woman could sling a softball underhanded so fast and hard that Mike Tyson would have ducked.
Wow! A fellow UCLA student from the mid 1980s!
Debbie Doom tossed a ton of no-hitters during her time at UCLA.
If you like watching low-scoring games, watch softball. No 12-11 slugfests in that sport.
Class of '84 Bob. Debbie was one mean hurler. I only knew her to say hi in passing though. I read about the games in the Daily Bruin where I was the Viewpoint Editor for half a year before I graduated.
Chas, what is your definition of, won’t actually hurt you?
When I was 15, I happened to be in the way of an errant softball. At the end of a P.E. class, I was walking off the field, talking to a girl on the sideline, two other kids were throwing the ball around as they were walking in, one over threw the other, and, because my attention was not on them, the softball hit me square in the nose.
Hurt like hell? Yes.
Bled like hell? Yes.
Two black eyes? Yes.
Face swelled up like a pumpkin? Yes.
Actually hurt me? Yes.
I had to have reconstructive surgery to repair the damage that this softball, had done.
My mom had to bring in pictures to show the Dr what my nose used to look like, so he could try to mold the nose to as close to how it looked before the softball smashed it. Does having reconstructive surgery, count as actually hurting someone?
Chas, let me throw a softball at your head to see if it can actually hurt you.
[sub]I still lived in SoCal in the mid 80’s, and remember Debbie Doom, she was a hell of pitcher[/sub]
Probably because Girls can’t throw a baseball from Center field to home plate, or to 2nd base for that matter. The softball is bigger and easier to hit, although the damn pitchers are REALLY REALLY close to the batter, which makes it hard to judge the ball. Umm… Yeah…