I was just a little girl that loved the game. I never thought playing baseball was something girls didn’t do. I didn’t think it was out of the ordinary until the day my parents got a call saying, “Your daughter will not be able to play baseball anymore after this season, after that she will have to switch over to softball.” I was wondering why this was happening to me and wondering if I was the only girl that had to stop playing which wasn’t true. Any girl that played at the ballpark that played baseball had to stop and switch over to softball after the season was over.
I didn’t know what to think. When I heard I wouldn’t be able to play the sport that I adored I remembered thinking, “What am I doing to do? I’ve never played a day of softball in my life.” Then I just remember thinking, “I’m just going to be done after this season and not play softball, I’ll just find another sport or I will just stop playing sports.” You have to remember I was young and I was scared that I would suck and other girls would make fun of me for playing baseball and not playing softball.

I remember going to my first softball practice. I remember that whole season being a bad season for me and I was ready to just give up everything I learned and play a different sport or no sport at all. That didn’t sound like a very good idea but I thought that was the only choice I could turn to. But then spring ball came around the next year and my parents and the coach of the team talked me into playing softball because they said they saw something in me that they couldn’t see in other players. They said, “I see that you will work hard to get what you want strive for your goals and not give up and you want to do it yourself and not let someone else do it for you.”
Hearing that pushed me to no limits. It pushed me to learn all the fundamentals of softball. How to throw a softball, how to hit a softball, and also I had to pick a new position. Catcher really interested me and I learned how to catch. That was a big difference for me considering when I played baseball I was shortstop and second base. I remember when I was in baseball always admiring the catcher and all the work and effort they put in to keep the team together and help the team know where plays are and when and how to do things, so when I had the opportunity to play that position that I had wanted that pushed me do to better than any other girl on the team that wanted that position. I made it seem like I wanted it more and I would push myself for it. Ever since I pushed myself for that catcher position, I have become a permanent catcher. I love that position and I will keep pushing myself to be better and better at it.

This all happening to me has taught me a life lesson I will never forget, “Just because something gets hard, you cant give up because if you do it will just get harder. If you try to succeed you will progress and do better and its okay if you don’t get it right or perfect because you are putting 110% into it and that’s all the matters.” This isn’t just for sports. This is for everything and anything. School, sports, jobs, anything you do in life. You don’t have to do it completely right or anywhere perfect as long as you put more effort than what you already have, that’s all that matters.

Switching from baseball to softball taught me that not all change it bad. Usually when you hear people talking about how they have to change something they are upset about and they don’t like it. I was upset about the change at first but then learned that it would help me for the better and it would show me that some things happen for a reason and not everything happens to make you upset or to change you for the worse. Switching from baseball to softball was probably one of the best changes that had ever came into my life. If softball wouldn’t have came into my life, I wouldn’t be in love with the game like I am now.

Lastly, I have learned why I had to switch from baseball to softball when I had to. There are many different rules for each game. I understand why girls can’t play baseball and why boys can’t play softball. I’m not saying it’s fair but I understand why it can’t happen. Baseball has things that only boys can do, that why it’s called baseball and they don’t have something called girls baseball. Boys have to pitch over hand so they can see the ball easier and girls pitch underhand so they see and can hit the ball easier because if you pitched a baseball underhand it would not be easy to hit. Secondly, boys have a bigger bat so it’s easier to hit a smaller ball. Girls use a smaller bat to hit a bigger ball. If you tried to use a softball bat to hit a baseball you would strike out same goes for if you tried to hit a softball with a baseball bat, it would be very difficult but it wouldn’t be impossible to do. There are just little things that make softball and baseball very different from each other. Base stealing, hitting, catching, out fielding, pitching, base separation, innings in each game, tie breaking, run ruling, and a lot of other things that most people aren’t able to see when just watching a regular baseball or softball game. 

If you were wondering what the difference between a softball
and baseball this is it. The softball is clearly much bigger than the baseball. 

 A softball player pitches the ball in a circular motion and releases the ball at her hip in a singular motion. A baseball player pitches the ball over hand and ends at his knee and it's two motions. You can clearly see there is a big difference between the two balls and that leads me onto my next topic to help show you guys the big difference between the two sports.

Batting is the next big thing I want to focus on. Since there are different size balls and they pitch different ways, this means the two players have to bat in different stances and have to use different bats. A baseball player has to have a bigger barrel bat and has to stand differently in the batter box. He usually has the bat resting on his shoulder and has his feet more spread apart, also he is farther back in the batter box. The softball player on the other hand has her bat right above her shoulder, has her arms in a “V” shape, is father back in the box and she has her arms already half way to the ball. The reason for this is a softball player has less time to react to the ball so they have to be ready to swing the bat almost as soon as the pitcher releases the ball from her hip. Baseball players on the other hand have more reaction time to the ball so they have time move the bat off of their shoulder and swing.

These are the mostly all the differences between baseball and softball and why girls cant play baseball and why guys cant play softball. I hope this article teaches you something and is helpful to you if you are wanting to know the differences and why the different genders dont play the other sport.