What Is Softball Essay

“Softball player, a girl who once steps on the field is transformed from daddy’s little girl into a fierce, unrelenting competitor who will stop at nothing to win a game. Characteristically with dirt stained socks and uniform, ratty hair, bloody knees, and dirt across her face” (Softball).

“Four bases, three strikes, two teams, one winner” (Four). Each year thousands of female athletes lace up their cleats, pull on a glove, and slide through dirt to play the sport that has become known as softball. Title IX makes it a girls right to play sports such as softball, but before chants were made up, skills perfected, and teams were formed, the game had to be invented and Title IX created. Even so, the creation of softball was actually an interesting one.

It was Thanksgiving Day in 1887, and just like men would today, they were watching football. The alumni of Harvard and Yale got together to cheer on their former schools. After the game, a man from Yale, in celebration, picked up a boxing glove and tossed it across the room at the Harvard graduates. Using a broom handle one of the Harvard men hit the glove away. This gave George Hancock, one of the men who was gathered there for the game, an idea. He took two boxing gloves tied them together and made a large ball. Then he chalked out a small diamond, like the ones in baseball, and broke a broom handle to use as a bat (History). The group of twenty played the first game of what would become known as softball. After an hour, the game ended with a score of 41-40 (History). At the time the game was called indoor baseball, and became a popular sport in the city of it’s creation, Chicago (History).

As the popularity of the game continued to spread throughout the states, a fire department lie...

... middle of paper ...

...e, and the coaches have pushed you, and the teammates who have believed in you, and the fans who cheer for you is, a little girl who first picked up the ball, who fell in love with the game, and never looked back. Play for her” (Do). Title IX gave that little girl the chance to play the sport she loved. Softball became that sport. Making it a players’ right, male or female to play, compete, and learn without any discrimination because of their gender. Although softball was first played by boys, girls quickly made the game theirs. From its creation in 1887 and every game since then, the rules of softball have changed. For many of those athletes who lace up their cleats, pull on a glove, and slide though dirt each year, softball has become more than a sport but a way of life, each one of them knowing that “When you step on the field, nothing else matters.”