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There is little soft about Olympic softball. One pitch at Atlanta was clocked at 118 kilometres per hour (73.3 mph). Considering the pitcher stands 13.1 metres (43 feet) from the batter, and the hardest-throwing baseball pitchers throw 160 kilometres per hour (99.4 mph) from 18.4 metres (60 feet), softball batters have essentially the same time to react as their baseball counterparts.
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| History |
 Softball began in 1887 when George Hancock, a reporter for the Chicago Board of Trade, invented "indoor baseball". By the spring of 1888, the game had spread outdoors. It was originally called either mushball, kittenball or indoor baseball, but by the 1920s it had acquired the name of softball.
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| Equipment |
 Ball
The ball is made from a synthetic core covered in leather. The ball is larger than a baseball.
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| Glossary |
Batting order: The official list giving the order in which members of the team must come to
bat.
Home run: A hit by a batter, which usually goes over the outfield fence, that enables the
batter to run around all the bases safely.
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Hayley Wickenheiser had the unusual distinction of having represented her nation, Canada, in a team sport in both the Summer and Winter Olympics. A prodigy, she joined the Canadian national ice hockey team at the age of 15. |
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Multi-talented softball player Lisa Fernandez represented the United States both as a pitcher and at third base. At the 1996 Olympics, she batted .348 (8 for 23) and had an earned run average of only 0.33. |
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