America has always been one of the most innovative and inventive nations of the world when it comes to sports. Softball is one of the finest innovations in the history of American sports. Softball is another close relative of baseball, but with slight and significant alterations.

However, softball is basically a team sport where, like baseball, the ball is thrown by a player to another player on the opposing team. The player who is throwing the ball is better known as the pitcher. The player to whom the ball is thrown is known as the batter, who holds the bat (the round smooth stick like thing made of wood). The game gets its name after the ball with which it is played – the softball. Just like the game of baseball, where the score depends on the player who holds the bat and hits the ball, the game of softball also depends on the batter. Nonetheless, scoring is accomplished through hitting the softball and by running and touching a series of four markers on the ground, called bases.

It is very worthwhile to throw light on certain differences between baseball and softball:

A. the first and foremost point one might put forward is the difference between the balls; baseball is played with a hardball and the game of softball is played with a relatively softer ball.

B. the ball is always thrown or pitched to the batter in an underarm fashion. It is released when the hand is below the hip and no further from the body than the elbow. But in baseball games, the ball is pitched over arm or sidearm.

C. usually the playing field for softball is much smaller in comparison to baseball.

D. the game of softball is much shorter than baseball. Baseball is played for nine innings (the number of times the whole team gets the opportunity to bat), but in softball a game is only seven innings long.