If I remember correctly, there is no "black" on a softball home plate. I don't remember where I read that. I'm looking for it now.
Look closely.
?? your wisdom and insight is over my head grasshopper. I know not what you speak of.
As someone pointed out, there is no black. Just white, 6 inches of clay, and a 2 inch white chalk line. The ball is about 4 inches wide so it fits easily within the 6 inches of clay. Some umpires will give a strike in those 6 inches meaning you could have the ball 2 inches off the plate and get a called strike. An umpire doing this is said to be "calling the river". This is fairly common except at the higher levels of play. My DD is her second year of JUCO and can pretty much count on getting a call on the river when playing other JUCO's. But when she throws against an ACC or especially an SEC team the zone will be called tighter and force her to come in 2" and get some ball over the plate. Typically she will not get a call on the river. Sometimes she will get some of the river out and nothing in. All depends on the umpire. As long as it is consistent she is a happy pitcher.
Baseball rules are not different than softball in this regard. I've seen people from both sports post the black is part of the strike zone for various reasons, however none of them were based on the rules.Still have not found where I saw this, but in baseball the black is part of the strike zone, but in softball it is not. I'm assuming that it's because of the ball size differences.
Still have not found where I saw this, but in baseball the black is part of the strike zone, but in softball it is not. I'm assuming that it's because of the ball size differences. And, as stated already, "on the river" is between the white edge of the plate and the batters box, usually on the opposite side of the batter.
All of our home plates on every softball field I have seen, TB, rec, HS, next to my house have black on them. When you have played on poorly maintained or weatherworn fields, you see the black regularly before you have to fix the field and cover it up.
College is more likely to call balls out in the river. The rules there allow the ball to touch the edge of the plate and they don't have to cross that edge. It may be a minimal physical difference but in application, you get a wider zone. Since people complained about Nelson, Fowler and Lagenfeld's screwball, they have pulled their calls in but not by much.