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Softball is a variant of baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field.

Basic Equipment: Cleats, Gloves, Bats, batting gloves, & batting helmet. 

Accessories-You can usually tell a softball player by the scar just below one knee. It is from sliding in shorts and scrapping the heck out of your skin. Slide pads to protect the knees, or the newer long slide brace-knee pad.Slide pants that have padding on the hips and buttocks. Batting gloves are nice to keep your grip on the bat and also double as extra padding on your catching hand when worn in addition to your softball glove.

Softball consists of three main types: fast pitch, modified fast pitch, and slow pitch. Although the basics remain the same for each, there are some differences regarding field size, base runners, etc.

Understand the difference between slowpitch and fastpitch. There are two subtypes of softball, with slight differences between each. Both follow the same general rules though.

• Slowpitch is typically coed, and as the name insinuates, the ball is pitched by lobbing it slowly into the air.
• Fastpitch is played primarily by women, and has the main difference of the ball being pitched very quickly with a large wind-up.

Know the positions. When a team is fielding, each player will take a position on the field which they will not move from unless directed to by their coach. There are two parts of the field, infield and outfield.

• Infield is the dirt section of the field comprised of the catcher, pitcher, first base, second base, shortstop, and third base.
• Outfield is the grassy section of the field and has three primary positions: left field, center field, and right field. Depending on the league or specific game, center field may be divided into two positions: left center and right center.
• Although the catcher and pitcher are infielders, they are specialized positions that require extra practice off the field. Often they will practice together separate from the rest of the team.