More Difficult: Softball or Baseball

[BCClone]

This is so comical yet so true. I've seen huge mismatches at softball tournaments, teams matched up against each other that have no business playing. The underdog team throws its girl that can't even hit 50 mph, and the other team's hitters can't touch it for a few innings. Eventually they figure it out. But it's hard to slow down that much when you're used to mid 60s every game.

Two years ago, my daughter was thrown to the wolves in a tournament. She was an emergency pitcher and hadn't thrown since the season before. The first game they had the number one ranked team two classes bigger then them. After two innings, they were in the game. My daughter has a glitch in her pitching that allows her to handcuff the batters right at kneecaps to midthigh, with a natural curve ball, but not a fast pitcher by any means. The third inning, they had seen her and the bottom fell out of the game (along with about 6-7 errors). She was just slower than they were used to and it took them a time to see her to get adjusted.

 

[CYEATHAWK]

My dad played a skoosh of college baseball and then a lot of fast pitch softball in his 20s. After that he played competitive slow-pitch (state and national champion level success) until he was in his 50s. He was always the best power hitter on the team, despite being old enough to be the dad of most of the other players. He also coached HS girls softball for 10-15 years.

Anyway, he has opined on this topic in the past and I think the above qualifies him to have an educated opinion.

He would say fast pitch softball is actually harder to play.

The pitcher can spin the ball more and easier, and can throw faster because of the more natural motion (there is a reason a hs girl can throw 10,000 innings a month and not have her arm fly off into the 3rd row). The batter is closer to the pitcher and you have even less reaction time. As hard as hitting a baseball consistently is, softball is harder.

Take for what it's worth...


As an aside, I went to ISU with a gal who was all-state in softball, burly girl who was a great hitter. She could NOT hit a slow pitch softball to save her life. The timing was so different, she just couldn't figure it out.

What your dad said is what I have heard too many times over the years I played fastpitch. As for your aside.....that happened to me once when my buddy, knowing I played fastpitch thought I would be this "ringer" on his slowpitch team. So when one of the regulars on his team couldn't play...he invited me to fill in. Needless to say I was never asked to come back.

 

[SEIOWA CLONE]

We seem to have a lot of people that are comparing rec league softball to fast pitch softball that died out during the 80's. Not the same game at all.

Growing up watching and then playing fast pitch softball a few years before it died out, it was really something to see. In its heyday, almost every little town had a team.

I guess you just had to see it and try to hit against it to see how difficult it was.

 

[enisthemenace]

Two years ago, my daughter was thrown to the wolves in a tournament. She was an emergency pitcher and hadn't thrown since the season before. The first game they had the number one ranked team two classes bigger then them. After two innings, they were in the game. My daughter has a glitch in her pitching that allows her to handcuff the batters right at kneecaps to midthigh, with a natural curve ball, but not a fast pitcher by any means. The third inning, they had seen her and the bottom fell out of the game (along with about 6-7 errors). She was just slower than they were used to and it took them a time to see her to get adjusted.

Happens in baseball too. We faced Pete Blake (younger brother of Casey Blake, and at one time thought to be better than Casey until his arm fell off) a few times in HS. That guy threw gas (low to mid 90’s, and left handed to boot) and had a devastating curve (12-6). We were able to hit him though. We then faced this kid from Hoover who probably topped out in the mid 60’s. Couldn’t touch him for 4-5 innings. Timing was just way off.

 

[cyson]

Maybe, but the ball gets to the middle infielders faster, and they don't have to throw as far to first base. And a big softball is easier to field, handle and throw.

The softball being larger give pitchers more surface to work with resulting in considerably more movement at a shorter distance. A select few pitchers when my daughter played were essentially unhittable. Same could be said for baseball but probably easier to put something in play on a larger field. Both are great games.

 

[Cyforce]

I graduated HS with a softball pitcher that threw at Iowa state on scholarship. I personally was an all conference baseball player that hit around 500 my junior and senior year. As we saw in the video above crossing over is not a natural switch in either direction.

Having faced 90 mile/hr fastballs and 65 mph rise balls I thought the riser was much harder to catch up to. However the major difference between the sports is in softball you don't have to stand in the box and rake to be a successful hitter. Because of the close proximity of the bases there are more creative/finesse way to reach base.

 

[BCClone]

Happens in baseball too. We faced Pete Blake (younger brother of Casey Blake, and at one time thought to be better than Casey until his arm fell off) a few times in HS. That guy threw gas (low to mid 90’s, and left handed to boot) and had a devastating curve (12-6). We were able to hit him though. We then faced this kid from Hoover who probably topped out in the mid 60’s. Couldn’t touch him for 4-5 innings. Timing was just way off.

My oldest son was a catcher. Said the worst pitcher he caught was his cousin who threw midget league speed. Kid almost won a playoff game because he was so slow that the bottom dropped out at the plate. Son had to continually block dirt pitches but the opponent couldn’t hit him.

 

[CYEATHAWK]

Town team from Appanoose Co, fastpitch softball was really popular during the 70's and early 80's. Lots of talented players, just like in high school some pitchers were horrible, but some of those could make a hitter look like a fool.

Played against Van's out of Moravia a few times in substate back in the early 90's. They were tough.

 

[SEIOWA CLONE]

Played against Van's out of Moravia a few times in substate back in the early 90's. They were tough.

If I remember correctly, Van's was more of an all star team, made up of the best players in the area. They would come together to make a run at a state title and earn a trip to the national tournament out on the West coast.

 

[harimad]

However the major difference between the sports is in softball you don't have to stand in the box and rake to be a successful hitter. Because of the close proximity of the bases there are more creative/finesse way to reach base.

Well stated. The pressure on the defense in softball is higher. If you don't field the ball cleanly and have a great glove-to-hand transition, you're likely not getting the out at first. There's too much speed in softball and there's only 60 feet between the bases.

 

[Macloney]

In high school I saw The King and His Court (Eddie Feigner and 3 others) play an exhibition softball game at Harlan Rogers park. He struck out 20 of the 21 batters he faced, one batter managed a weak pop-up at the plate which the catcher caught. Eddie played with a catcher, shortstop, and first baseman. The reason for the two infielders was that they needed at least 4 batters in case the bases were loaded.

Eddie pitched from the mound, from second base, between his legs, behind his back, and blindfolded. According to Wikipedia:

How fast did Eddie Feigner throw?
At his peak, Mr. Feigner threw a softball harder than any major league pitcher has ever thrown a baseball. His underhand fastball was once timed at 104 mph -- or, according to some accounts, 114 mph. The fastest documented pitch ever thrown by a major league pitcher is 103 mph.

Great story Paul Harvey, but I gotta tell you something. Dude was throwing at an exhibition game against amateurs.

All MLB pitchers throw against the best players in the world, every day.

Also, MLB hitters would have no problem catching up to a 104 mph fastball if it was straight. Movement is the name of the game.

 

[SCyclone]

Great story Paul Harvey, but I gotta tell you something. Dude was throwing at an exhibition game against amateurs.

All MLB pitchers throw against the best players in the world, every day.

Also, MLB hitters would have no problem catching up to a 104 mph fastball if it was straight. Movement is the name of the game.

From the same Wikipedia article:
On February 18, 1967, Feigner appeared in a celebrity charity softball game against many Major League players. In the game Feigner struck out Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, Brooks Robinson, Roberto Clemente, Maury Wills, and Harmon Killebrew all in a row.
Incidentally, in 1967 all the above named MLB players were active and in their primes.