Softball schedule and results »

Softball

Overview Format Contenders The Team The Basics Venue Media

Softball has been dropped from the Olympic program for London in 2012, meaning Beijing could be the last hurrah for a sport that was only welcomed to the Olympic fold in 1996.

In that time Australia has performed creditably, winning bronze in Atlanta and Sydney and silver in Athens.

They don't call it fast-pitch softball for nothing.

When softball made its Olympic debut in Atlanta in 1996, the tournament's fastest pitch was clocked at 118 kilometres per hour.

This white missile was propelled at a batter standing just 12.2 metres away, leaving a reaction time registered in the tenths of a second.

Such pitches are not out of the ordinary, with most world-class pitchers averaging speeds of 105-115 kph.

Softball has had a far lower profile than its cousin, baseball. But because of the shorter pitching distance (baseball pitchers stand 18.4 metres from home plate) and the shorter distances between bases, softball is generally a faster game.

The game closely resembles baseball, the main differences being that pitchers have to pitch the ball underarm, and the ball is larger and slightly softer than a baseball.

Most of the other rules remain - there are three bases plus home plate, three outfielders and four infielders plus a catcher and each team is allowed three outs per innings.

Like baseball, matches take place over seven innings, with tied matches requiring extra innings to decide them.

Although fast-pitch softball is the Olympic version of the sport, slow-pitch softball, in which the ball has to be pitched in an arc, is also played.

It is thought that softball began as an indoor version of baseball in Chicago in the late 1800s.

The sport's first league was organised in 1900, but it wasn't officially named "softball" until 1926.

By 1933 the game's rules had been standardised, and it spread internationally largely thanks to US servicemen who played it when they were stationed around the world during World War II.

The sport's history in Australia began in 1939 when it was promoted in schools and colleges in New South Wales.

The first interstate championships was held in 1947 and the Australian Softball Federation was formed two years later.

Australia joined the International Softball Federation in 1953 and was instrumental in establishing the first World Championship, held here in 1965 and won by the host country.

Even in those early days the push was on for softball to be admitted to the Olympic fold, but it took until Atlanta for that dream to be realised.

The Olympic Games in 1996 was the crowning moment in softball's history, and the tournament did not disappoint.

It was a tight three-way tussle between red-hot favourites the United States, China and the underdog Australians.

The US had won 106 consecutive games until 1995 when that winning streak was broken by the Chinese.

Despite looking formidable, the host nation faltered again against the Australians in Atlanta, in controversial circumstances.

A US runner was tagged by the Australians after she jumped over home plate on completing what she thought was a run. The rules require runners to touch home plate to score a run and the runner was ruled out.

This gave Australia a chance, and it was taken by Joanne Brown.

In the bottom of the 10th innings with two batters out and facing two strikes, Brown cracked a two-run homer to give Australia its first victory over the US in more years than anyone cared to remember.

Although the Australians were beaten by China for the silver - the US won gold - that defeat of the United States was the defining moment for Australian softball and the beginning of an intense rivalry.