How tall are softball players?

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Dec 11, 2010
4,713
113
Everyone has two heights: their basketball height and their actual height.

DD takes lessons from a former SEC shortstop who started as a college freshman. FFS posted a gif of her in model swings. She was a beast of a ball player that trained relentlessly. She is listed as 5'4" on her college website. I would describe her as almost petite.

A BEAST I tell you! Left one of our lessons bleeding steadily from her forearm because she dove for a ball. The only reason she cared she was bleeding was the mess.

Edited to add- she is also one of the nicest, polite and positive people I have ever met. But a beast on the field! Can you tell I love that word, lol!
 
Last edited:
Jun 12, 2015
3,848
83
I can see how height would help with pitching. Not sure it would be a huge advantage elsewhere. I know it's just 10U but we've got a couple of tiny little girls and they're both solid players. One primarily plays SS and one plays 2B though IMO she's made to be an outfielder. She's lightning fast and catches everything. She's so tiny, but I've seen her make some catches I was 100% sure were going clear over her head. Plus both of them can hit deep into the outfield when they're having a good day. They are TINY.
 
Apr 26, 2015
704
43
Well for DD's sake I hope coaches aren't too hung up on size. She is *maybe* 5 ft tall (with cleats on). She is only 13 - so hopefully will grow more. She is by far the smallest girl on her team. (Probably by 4-5 inches and 30-40 lbs) She is tough as nails though. She has been playing catcher since her first yr in TB (my guess is she will eventually end up in the OF - but for now she is by far the team's best catcher). Many times she is underestimated because of her size. She has a cannon for an arm and is afraid of nothing. She got cleated in one of her last tournaments of the fall and bled thru 4 bandages. She finished her current game, played another full game and then left to get 7 stitiches in her shin. Played the tollowing weekend with a soccer shin guard in her sock.
 
Jun 27, 2011
5,089
0
North Carolina
Because at 14 some knuckleheaded coaches started paying less attention to the shorter girls because the tall ones "look" like ball players.

That might explain some of it.

In 2013, I researched the rosters of the SEC, not for height, but did gather that data. There were 231 players (not counting Kentucky, which didn't list heights).

Of those 231:

192 were taller than 5'4
23 were listed as 5'4 (average height of u.s. woman)
16 were shorter than 5'4

If it's just the knucklehead coaches, then dozens of shorter girls have lost their chance of playing in the SEC just because of this prejudice.
 
Jun 19, 2016
858
63
I was listed in my high school football program 2" taller and 20# heavier than I actually was. So I am not sure if I would put to much stock in listed heights.
 

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