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Softball is a popular variation of baseball, the difference being that it is played with a larger ball, on a smaller field, and with only underhand pitches (where the ball is released while the hand is primarily below the ball) permitted. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level.
USA Softball publishes an updated rule book for softball each year which is widely used by adult and youth recreational leagues in the United States and abroad. The USA Softball rules were also used for the softball competition when it was an Olympic sport between 1996 and 2008. The most recent Olympics to feature softball, in 2021, used the ...
In 1981 the APSPL merged with NASL to create the United Professional Softball League (UPSL), but only the Milwaukee franchise came from the NASL to the new league as the other NASL teams folded. [ 17 ] [ 18 ] The merged league competed for two seasons, before disbanding after the 1982 season, ending the pro era of men's softball.
Softball was on the Olympic program from 1996 to 2008. It was introduced at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and was removed from the program for 2012 and 2016, but was added for a one-off appearance, along with baseball, for the 2020 Summer Olympics (which was postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic).
The history of sports in the United States reveals that American football, baseball, softball, and indoor soccer evolved from older British sports—rugby football, British baseball, rounders, and association football, respectively. Over time, these sports diverged significantly from their European origins, developing into distinctly American ...
Born Myrle Vernon King in Walla Walla, Washington, he played softball for much of his early life, and turned his attention to the sport full-time following an enlistment in the U.S. Marine Corps. He first assembled his four-man touring team , known as "The King and His Court", in 1946 and took on all comers, first in the Pacific Northwest and ...
Laura Berg, with three gold and one silver medals, is the most successful Olympic athlete in softball. Australian player Natalie Ward won bronze in 1996, 2000, and 2008 and silver in 2004, one of four players to medal in four tournaments. United States athlete Lisa Fernandez won gold medals in the first three Olympic softball tournaments.
The Men's Softball World Cup, known through 2015 as the ISF Men's World Championship, is a softball tournament for the best national men's teams in the world. From 1966 to 2013 it was held every four years, first by the International Softball Federation (ISF) and from 2019 an onward it is held every two years by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), the 16 best teams in the world ...