The document provides an overview of the skills, terms, rules, and gameplay of softball. It discusses key softball skills like catching, fielding, throwing, and pitching. It defines common softball terms like base on balls, double play, error, fair ball, and fly ball. It outlines the rules for batting, base running, defense, offense, and how runs are scored. It provides descriptions of strikes, balls, fair balls, and foul balls. It lists ways a batter or base runner can be called out.

1. softball

2. Skills
Catching and Fielding- above
waist and below waist- ground
balls and fly balls
Throwing- Over arm or underarm
Pitching- basic offensive skill
includes grip, stance, stride, and
swing

3. Terms
Base on balls- batter to advance to first base by
the umpire calling four pitches outside the
strike zone
Defense team- team on the field
Double- two base hit
Double play- defensive play results in two outs
as a result of continuous action
Error- mishandling of the ball by the defense
team
Fair ball- ball hit within the area boundaries of
the field first, second, third base
Fly ball- any ball batted into the air

4. Foul tip- foul ball which goes directly from the bat, no
higher than the batter’s head, to the catcher’s hand an
legally caught
Force Out- runner is forced to move- may tag runner
touch base
Home run- ball batted into fair territory which
enable the batter to all four bases in one play
Infield- portion of the field which is included wi
the diamond made by the baseline
Infield Fly- fair fly ball which can be caught with
ordinary effort when first and second or first,
second, and third bases are occupied before tw
are out.
offensive team- team at bat
Foul Ball- ball hit outside of the baseline.
determined by:
◦ infield- where it rests
◦ outfield- where it first hits

5. The Game
The choice of the first or last bat in
the inning shall be decided by a toss
of a coin
The winner of the game shall be the
team that scores the most runs in
the allotted amount of innings
One run shall be scored each time a
base runner legally touches first,
second, third base and home plate
before the third out of the inning

6. STRIKE- CALLED WHEN ONE OF
THE FOLLOWING SITUATIONS
OCCURS
Batter swings at a pitched ball and
misses
Pitched ball is delivered over home
plate between the back shoulder and
knees
Fly ball goes foul and is not caught,
and the batter has less than two
strikes
Foul tip that remains lower than the
batter’s head is caught by the catcher
Batter with less than two strikes is

7. Ball- a ball is any of the
following:
a pitched ball that does not go
over the plate in the strike zone
and at which the batter does
not swing
a ball that touches the ground
before reaching home plate
illegally pitched ball

8. Fair ball- is a legally batted
ball that:
settles or is touched on fair ground
in the infield
is on fair ground going out of the
infield
touches first, second, or third base,
lands in the outfield in fair territory
between the extended lines from
home to first and home and third
ground ball that lands in the outfield
in foul territory but has passed over
the 1st and 3rd base bags.

9. Foul ball- batted ball is
foul if:
settles in foul territory
between home and first
base or between home and
third
first touches on foul ground
beyond first or third base
bounds past first or third on
or over foul ground

10. Batting
batter is out when:
third strike is committed
bunts foul after the second strike
a foul ball is legally caught
when a foul tip is caught at third strike
first, second, and third with less than 2
outs. Runner ay advance at own risk
the fielder intentionally drops a fair fly or
line drive with first, first and second, or
first, second and third occupied before 2
are out. Runner need not retouch and
may advance at their own risk

11. Defense
know the number of outs and the
positions of the base runners
know what will be done in the field for
all the different situations and have
someone call the number of outs and
the plays available
less than 2 outs, the play should be on
the lead, runner when possible.
more…….

12. Offense
anytime there are 2 outs with
runners on bas, the runner
should run on “anything/ any
hit”( fly ball included). If a fly ball
is hit and caught it would be the
third out and if dropped the
runners could have advanced or
possibly scored

13. Base runner
must ouch bases in legal order: first, second,
third and home plate. May over run first base
only. turns toward second, she may be tagged
batter become a base runner
◦ as soon as she hits a fair ball
◦ when four balls have been called by the umpire
◦ when the catcher interferes with or prevents
her from striking at a pitched ball
◦ she is hit by a pitched ball while she is in the
batter’s box. It does not matter if the ball
strikes the ground before hitting her.

14. a. catcher drops the third strike but the runner is
touched with the ball by a fielder before touching first
base
b. ball reaches first base and is caught and held before
the runner reaches base
c. tagged with the ball before reaching first base or at
any time when not in contact with a base
d. her fly ball is caught
e. interferes with a fielder trying to field a ball
f. running to any base, she runs more than 3 feet outside
a baseline
g. she is forced out at base
h. she passes a base runner
i. fails to return to her base before the ball reaches the
baseman following a fair fly that is caught
j. leaves her base before the ball leaves the pitcher’s hand
k. she is hit by a fair batted ball while off base before it is
touches by or passes a fielder

15. Advance for base runner
On a fair ball with chance of being put out
after fair of foul fly is caught
base runner must advance to make room
on base for a batter who has walked
one base when fielder interferes with
runner
advance one base on an overthrow into
foul territory
advance any number of bases when ball is
overthrown into fair territory