Any softball (fastpitch) fans?

[Cynomys]

The Women's College World Series (WCWS) is coming up later this month (May 28 - June 3, I believe) in Oklahoma City. University of Washington is the defending champion.

I'm from Seattle area and over the past few years have done a lot of videography at local high school sports events, including fastpitch softball (misnamed because there is nothing soft about it). Kimi Pohlman, currently playing right field for U.W. and batting around .380, was playing center field for Eastlake H.S. just two years ago. Awesome player.

 

[knlgskr]

I've played and watched Fastpitch Softball most of my life; my high school may have been the last to play it as a competitive sport for men. There was a time when almost every town regardless of size fielded a team during the Summer months. Some pitchers made a lot of money at one time but due to the difficulty in hitting them; Slowpitch beginning about 1985 became more popular and Fastpitch (for men) is mostly confined to the elite players most of who are from New Zealand and to a lesser extent Canada. It is a much different game than Baseball and a good male pitcher is about as dominent an individual in a team sport as I have seen.

 

[Wendy]

I love fast pitch. I still wonder how the pitchers shoulders stay intact though. I played softball most of my life.