Both sports, as you know, are extremely hard to play. They both require physical as well as mental training in order to achieve success. But which sport attains the most challenges or in simpler terms which sport is harder to play?
HITTING A SOFTBALL
With the softball pitchers on flat ground and having an underhand throwing motion it allows the ball to rise which means for the batter they must fight against gravity to bring their hand upwards to hit a rising softball pitch. Softball has a bigger ball which is significantly important in this discussion because it definitely makes it easier to hit a a bigger target. But, with the ball being bigger than a baseball, the bats are much skinnier than a baseball bat.
HITTING A BASEBALL
For baseball, since the pitcher throws from the top of a mound, it is impossible for a pitcher to throw a rising fastball. This is key because the batter can bring his/her hands down to adjust to the pitch without having to fight against gravity. (YouTube Sport Science: Hitting a Softball 2:00). Also with the ball being smaller than a softball it makes it harder for a batter to locate the ball and swing at a smaller target.
COMPARING HITTING
Without comparing the distances and speeds of throwing a softball and baseball, hitting a smaller ball would most likely be the harder task to accomplish. But before we make our decision on which sport has the more challenging hitting let’s look in on reaction times of each.
REACTION TIMES: SOFTBALL
For softball with your average fastball released 37 ft from home base it takes about .35 seconds to reach the plate. Which is a significantly lower reaction time needed to hit a moving ball. In softball it takes .025 seconds to locate and decide to swing, According to ESPN Sport Science: the Speed Needed in Softball.
REACTION TIMES: BASEBALL
As in baseball, with your average fastball released 55 ft from home base it takes about .44 seconds to reach the plate, it takes about .055 seconds to locate the pitch and decide to swing. This gives softball players about 55% percent less time than baseball players.
COMPARING REACTION TIMES
Comparing the average major league pitch to the average collegiate softball pitch a softball batter would have 20% less reaction time than the average major leaguer. With these two comparisons it is fair to say that softball wins this category.
COMPARING FIELDS
The softball field in comparison to baseball; the field is smaller, the bases are closer together, the mound is closer to the plate. These aspects about the softball field could make it harder or easier than baseball. For example with the distance of the plates being smaller than the baseball field, it forces the fielders to make a faster throw to the bases. But in baseball with the bases being further apart the fielder would have more time to throw since the runner has a further distance to run. That is what you would think. But since the field is larger, the defensive players would have to make a further throw to get a runner out. meaning the baseball players would have to throw the ball much harder to make up for the longer distances.
COMPARING TIME TO GET A RUNNER OUT
With the bases being smaller, on the softball field, the players would, on average, reach first base from a hit in about 3.5 seconds. As in major league baseball, the player would reach the base in about 4.6 seconds. But in softball the batters have the option to slap hit. Meaning the batter can make a running head start towards the base giving softball runners an average time of home-to-first of 2.6 seconds. Which is a whole 2 seconds less time than a major leaguer. (ESPN Sport Science: The Speed of a Softball)
CONCLUSION
Although both sports are extremely tough to play, the softball players will be the victor in this debate. With the fields being smaller, the pitching quicker, and the batters having less reaction time, these aspects undoubtedly make softball the harder sport to play. I have played baseball my whole life and I was very biased when starting my blog. But after looking at the evidence, my opinion had to change.
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