HOW MANY YEARS, the evolution of SOFTBALL

[RADcatcher]

How many years have you been involved in fastpitch softball?
( As a player or parent or spectator or coach any of these things)

In those years, what rules and equipment changes/upgrades have you seen implemented in the sport??

Are you aware there have been many changes and upgrades to rules and equipment in the sport, if so what are these things?

Perhaps This Thread can bring together a collection of how softball has evolved.

ENJOY THE JOURNEY

 

[GunnerShotgun]

The biggest equipment changes are the bats. If you go back and look at what they were swinging 30 years ago you would laugh.

They still hit the ball hard with those bats which begs the question of why we need the current bats that we have. To me, this is why the pitching/leaping conversations are silly as any advantage from leaping (if any) is drowned out by bat technology.

While we understand hitting and pitching mechanics better it hasn't translated to better hitters, there are just more of them. Fielding and throwing have some marginal improvement.

All of the protective gear has cut down on injuries in my opinion.

 

[Rolling Hard]

Back in the day, your head coach was your hitting and fielding coach. Everyone has their own hitting instructor. Now HC are reluctant to make swing mechanics advice or suggestion because Jenny parents pay her hitting instructor that played cillege ball in 1970s. Nevermind she still hitting .193 with 18 K.
I agree the bats are the biggest change and homeruns come a lot easier.

 

[_MIA_]

Go watch a game from the 80’s and come back and tell me most of today’s hitters are not better (if the goal isn’t to pound the ball into the ground)..gimme a break.

 

[RADcatcher]

Here's a few things that stand out.

When pitching was moved back 3 ft there was an obvious result in better batting averages!

When the ball was changed to the yellow rocketball there was an obvious result in better batting averages!

When the rule changed and batters didn't have to make an attempt to get out of the way of being hit by a pitch and then being awarded first base there was an obvious result in better batting averages/ and on base averages.
Definitely took away pitchers locations being able to throw in the river or closer to batters more often.
And the batters lean in/turn into pitches became more obvious.

 

[chinamigarden]

Well it’s been 19 years since my dd first played machine pitch softball. Moving to 10u kid pitch as an 8 year old. the next year.

It didn’t affect us at the time. It soon after she started we saw the pitchers plate moved to 43 feet for 14u and up.

We saw the beginning of the pitchers mask. From very few pitchers to where we are now where whole teams wear them. Plus now chest protection, elbow guards. Sliding mitts…

Improvement in bats and the adoption of a baseball swing changed the game from a 2-1 normal score to higher scores and more home runs. We also always had team bats. Do they still have that or does every kid have their own?

I remember moms keeping score with rocks. This pile by her right foot was our runs and the pile next to Her left foot was the other teams runs. I remember moms tracking her dds pitches on paper. Counting pitches, strikes, balls…And then my wife discovered game changer and told everyone we knew about this great new tech.

Now that my dd retired from her playing career at 20, I tell her that pitchers can start the pitch with a foot off the plate and they can have both feet in the air… she is amazed.

 

[Vertigo]

How many years have you been involved in fastpitch softball?
( As a player or parent or spectator or coach any of these things) I played softball from the age of 7 up until about my mid-30’s. I played rec, HS, fast-pitch and slow pitch. Coached Little League, high school, travel ball, and regional showcase team. Spectator now that dd is in college. So that’s about 40 years. Damn.

In those years, what rules and equipment changes/upgrades have you seen implemented in the sport??
White ball to optic yellow, aluminum to composite bats, helmets with face masks, fielding face masks, pants-shorts-pants again, pitching rubber moved back, slappers cannot step over the BB line. Elbow guards, sliding shorts, lower leg guards, heart guards. Probably many more that I can’t think of off the top of my head right now.

Are you aware there have been many changes and upgrades to rules and equipment in the sport, if so what are these things? See above.

Perhaps This Thread can bring together a collection of how softball has evolved.

ENJOY THE JOURNEY

My answers are above right after each question. I think the biggest impacts have been all of the available lessons/instructors for each facet of the game. Also, the explosion of TB. It barely existed when I played and if it did, it wasn’t necessarily local (definitely was not for me).

 

[CoachJD]

This will be my ninth(!) school year coaching, eighth as head coach. My prior fastpitch softball experience was just watching my younger sisters play when they were growing up. I spent a lot of time being super critical back then because I compared everything to my baseball experience.

One thing I've learned is that I was exceptionally well coached, especially when it came to the mental side of the game, and I actually think softball is in many ways still playing catch-up there. When I was a teenager, I thought the girls were just not that good. I've realized since I've been coaching that many of them just don't get the coaching (from a team coach or at home) that they deserve. 15-20 years ago when my sisters were playing, the coaching was even worse.

That's not a rule change, but I think it's more important to the evolution of the sport than rules changes. Why has the game exploded in popularity? Because adults are actually investing (time, money, all of it) in little girls' athletic pursuits. Why are there so many more girls who are great ballplayers now? Opportunity, representation, support (and probably a bunch of dads without sons who decided to live vicariously through their daughters instead).

 

[RADcatcher]

Article that included the time frame of pitching distance moved back.

The Evolution of High School Softball Pitching Distance

It wasn’t too long ago that high school softball pitching mounds were secured at 40 feet. I graduated from high school in 2010 and pitched all four years for my school team from the 40 ft. distance. This was a high advantage as a pitcher because it decreased the batter’s reaction time. My...

fastpitchnews.com

 

[RADcatcher]

NCAA Division I softball career strikeouts list - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

(Pardon the double post did put this in pitching as well)
Adding this here also as the post is regarding evolution of softball. Interesting to see who is on the strikeout leader list, check out the years these stats were compiled
majority are from about 10+ years ago.

Previous Rule, pitching distance and Equipment changes