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Slideshow about Baseball for Clueless Parents by Eric Tachibana
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I’ve got a 10-year old who started playing softball this year at her school in Singapore
Baseball’s not really a singaporean game. So there are lots of clueless kids & fogged parents
The softball field is made up of an Infield and an Outfield OUfield infield
The Infield is diamond shaped, and the 4 corners are marked with square bases. there are 4 bases: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, & home plate 2nd 1st 3rd home
The line from home plate out to the edge of the left outfield (left field) and from home plate out to the edge of the right outfield (right field) are foul lines
Everything from the foul lines inwards is “in bounds”, and everything outwards is “out of bounds”. inbounds inbounds Out of bounds Out of bounds
There are two teams in a softball game, each with 9 players. The two teams take turns playing offense & defence.
When a team is on offense, they try to score points. This is known as a run
A run is scored when someone from the offense touches all 4 bases: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, & home, in order
When a team is on defence, they try to stop the offense from scoring runs by collecting 3 outs
For now, just know that when the defence collects 3 outs, the teams switch places. The offense plays defence and vice versa
When both teams have had a chance to play offense & defence, we say that the teams have completed one inning
In a standard game, there are 9 innings. But, depending on the age & expertise of the kids, there may be fewer
When the innings are over, the team, with the most runs wins the game
We’ll start with defence. Since each team has 9 players, there are 9 defensive positions that roughly cover zones of the playing field
The Infield includes First Base,Second Base,Third Base, & Shortstop 2nd Short stop 1st 3rd
The Outfield includesRight Field, Center Field, & Left Field Center field Right field Left field
Finally, there is the pitcher & the catcher pitcher catcher
As we said, the defence’s goal is to collect 3 outs. There are several ways to do that
First, if a batter on the offense hits a ball in the air, a defensive player can catch it. If the player catches the ball before it hits the ground, it is an out
It is worth noting that this type of out will happen whether or not the ball is hit in-bounds or out of bounds. It’s out So long as it does not hit the ground before it is caught
Second, if a defensive player catches the ball, but the ball already hit the ground, the defensive player can tag an offensive player (the runner) if the runner is not touching a base (or throw the ball to a player who can tag). that too, is an out
Note that this case only applies if the ball was hit in-bounds. I’ll cover what happens if it went out of bounds later
By the way, if at any point, a runner is not touching a base, and is touched with the ball by a defensive player, it is an out
Check out this comical approach to that rule! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5wGxsxjmy0
Third, if the defensive player catches the ball, but the ball hits the ground first, the defensive player can touch the base (or throw to another player touching the base) that the runner is running to before the runner reaches it
But this is only allowed if there is another runner that is running to, or standing on, the preceding base, or it is the batter running from home plate to 1stbase
If these conditions are met, then it is an out. Note that just as in the last case, this applies only if the ball was hit in-bounds. I’ll cover what happens if it goes out of bounds later
Finally, the pitcher on the defence can “strike out” an offensive batter. But we’ll cover this case after we have spoken a bit more about the batter
As you recall, the team on offense is trying to score as many runs as they can before the defence gets 3 outs. and to get a run, a player must touch 3 bases and home plate (in that order)
First, the 9 players need to decide on an order (the batting order). The batting order stays the same throughout the game. So if you are the 4th player, you let the 1st, 2nd& 3rdplayers in the order bat before you get your turn
If the defence is able to get 3 outs before it is your turn, you need to wait until the next inning (the next time your team is on offense). So if you were 4th in the batting order and the defence got 3 outs, then you’ll be the 1st in the batting order for the next inning
Oh, and by the way, the batting queue replenishes itself. So in this example, the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd players will assume slots 7, 8, and 9 (at the end of the queue) and wait for their turn to bat again
When it is a player’s turn in the batting order, they become the batter. They will grab a bat (wooden or aluminium) and head over to home plate
At home plate, the batter will face the pitcher from the defence. Squatting right behind the batter, will be the defence’s catcher. When everyone is ready, the pitcher will throw the ball (pitch) to the catcher
Now here is where it starts getting tricky because there are again, a few options
First, if the batter hits the ball somewhere in-bounds they can run to 1st base. In fact, if they can make it to 2nd, 3rd, or all the way home, without a defender tagging them out, they can go for it
Of course, if you don’t think you can make it to the next base, you may stop at whatever base you made it to
A “Single” means that you made it to first base. A “Double” means that you made it to second base. A “Triple” means that you made it to third. And a “Home Run” means that you made it all the way around the diamond in one go
Oh, by the way, if you knock the ball beyond the outfield wall, but still inbounds (between the foul lines), you get a home run, and any runners already on the bases will score as well
There is also a second way to get on base, that does not involve hitting the ball
If the pitcher fails to throw accurately 4 times, and the batter does not swing the bat at those 4 balls, the batter gets to go to 1st base (called “a walk”)
