Softball was created in 1887 by a young man named George Hancock. It was originally played with a boxing glove tied in the shape of a ball, while another person broke a broom stick to serve as a bat. On the other hand, softball today is played differently. The softball is a large yellow ball and there are a variety of different bats to hit the ball with. The game has many rules that must be followed or, it could give the other team a higher chance to win. 

The sport has the following positions: the pitcher where the player pitches the ball to the batter to try to strike them out and gain outs; the catcher; first basemen; second basemen; shortstop third basemen; and left, right and center outfield. The batters job is to try to hit the ball so they can run bases and possibly gain points for their team. Softball can be confusing to people who don’t know much about it, but it is a fun competitive sport anyone can learn about. 

Softball, a very similar sport to baseball, is a competitive sport where one team fields to gain outs while an opponent from the other team steps up to bat to gain ins. Here at Pahrump Valley High School, our  JV Softball team works extremely hard to try and bring us to State!

I interviewed Sunday Colon in regard to being on the team. Colon is very experienced in softball due to playing the sport her whole life. While interviewing her, she explained to me why she joined the team and the goals she hopes to achieve. Colon explained that she hopes to be better with her attitude and overall a better team player. Due to softball being so physically demanding, it’s easy to get frustrated, and playing with a frustrated attitude could affect how you play negatively. 

I also interviewed Natalie Soto on this same topic. She talked about why she joined softball. Soto saw her friends in softball and how they enjoyed it so she decided to give it a shot. She talked about things that she likes about softball and some of the things she struggles with. She loves having good hairstyles for game days but also said how she doesn’t like early practice. Soto enlightened me about her hair, she said, “My strong suit would have to be my hair. Gameday hair go crazy!!!”. 

With that being said, softball can be very difficult. So many young girls work to perfect their skills. Our girls here at our school practice from 2:30 through 4:50.Soto explained to me how practice usually feels like three to four hours! Although softball can be physically demanding, mentally it’s just as difficult. It takes an experienced, confident, girl who has great preparation to be tough in this sport. Through resources from the web and my peers I found that softball involves so much luck. 

Softball is extremely tough! Remember to hype up your fellow softball athletes! They’re doing the best they can. Next time you’re passing a fellow softball player, tell them they’re doing amazing! Maybe even support their fundraisers!