Transcript The History of Softball.

Stephanie Mulder
Haley Williams
History
• Softball was started in 1887 when two colleges played
baseball indoors with boxing gloves and “soft balls.”
• In 1926 it was officially named softball.
• Minor changes have been made since then in the field
size and base spacing.
• The biggest changes that were made were the
advancement of equipment and the philosophy of
softball. It really depends on how aggressive the team is.
• The Atlanta, Georgia Olympics in 1996 was the first
year softball was in the Olympics.
Motion
•Bat
•Ball
•Athlete
• People move around a lot in softball.
• They move in straight lines and change directions.
• The ball is the focal point of the game.
D
S
T
Speed
• To measure the speed of a person running from first to
second base, many people use a radar gun.
• A person can also measure the speed by using a stop
watch to see how long it took the runner to run from first
to second. With that information they can take the
distance from first to second and divide it by the time it
took them to travel the distance for the speed.
•Speed = Distance / Time
•Speed = 60 feet / 3.5 seconds
•Speed = 17.14 ft./sec.
Acceleration
A = Vf – Vo
time
• Acceleration is important in softball because runners
need to advance to the next base and fielders need to
charge the ball.
• It can be increased by exerting more force as the runner
leaves the base or the how quick the fielder gets to the
ball.
The acceleration from the runner going from first to
second was 4.91 ft./sec./sec.
Momentum
Momentum = mass x velocity
• The momentum of the person running from first
to second is 235.6 kg/ft./sec.
P
M V
Newton’s 1st Law
• Once a ball is hit, it will eventually stop because of the
friction of the ground, it hitting a fielder’s glove, or air
resistance will gradually slow it down.
Newton’s 2nd Law
F
Ma
• The softball will always have the same amount of mass in the same
age group, so the only variable that will change the acceleration of
the object is the force applied.
• Increasing the force will obviously increase the acceleration.
Newton’s 3rd Law
• When batting, the bat applies more force than the ball
coming towards the plate so the ball goes in the
opposite direction.
Forces
• Batting is an unbalanced force. You intend to apply a
greater force in the opposite direction of the pitch to
send the ball into the field of play.
Pitched Ball
50 N
Bat
100 N
Weight
• There are no weight classes in softball.
• Differences in weight do not really affect the game very
much.
• The only thing it might change is if a catcher has more
weight and can resist a larger force coming at her when
the runner is sliding into her for a play at home.
Friction
• Friction plays a huge part in sliding.
• The greater the amount of friction, the shorter distance
the athlete will slide.
• A moderate amount of friction is needed when running
to give the runner traction to advance to the next base.
Work
• Batting is an example of work because the batter swings
and when the ball hits the bat it goes in the same
direction as the bat.
• Throwing is an example of doing work because the
fielder takes back her hand and then moves it in a
forward direction and the ball goes in that same
direction.
Power
• When throwing, the power is usually around 15 watts.
• When batting, the power can be around 60 watts.
Machines
Fulcrum
Resistance
Effort
• A softball bat is an example of a simple machine. It is a
third class lever.
• There are many different types of pitching machines,
but each pitching machine combines different simple
machines to make a compound machine.
Energy Conversions
• A batter goes from potential energy to kinetic
energy when swinging.
• A fielder charging a ball hit to them goes from
potential energy to kinetic energy once they charge
the ball.
Calories
• During a one hour of softball, a
person typically burns about
calories.
342
Gravity
• Playing on the moon would be very difficult. The pitcher
could throw it and the batter could hit it, but it would
take a longer time for the ball to come down. The ball
would be suspended in the air for very long periods of
time. All of this is due to the reduced amount of gravity
on the moon compared to Earth.
Improving Performance
• Physical strength is a major key because all of the forces
are provided by the player and the stronger the athlete
is, the more force they can apply.
• Improved bat technology helps in the rebound effect.
Newer bats will absorb energy from the pitch and
release it into the batter ball, which results in greater
distance.
• Improved cleats added friction between the player and
the ground which results in improved acceleration.
Works Cited
• Bella Online. The History of Softball. 18 December
2004. <http://www.bellaonline.com>.
• Calories Burned. Health Status. 28 December 2004.
<http://www.healthstatus.com>.
• Hatch, Carlson Named to Big West’s Softball AllConference Team. Utah State Today. 17 December
2004. <http://www.google.com>.