Make the fields bigger

[Joe Dirt]

Amen

[Demonboy]

I just want everyone's opinion on what they think about the size of softball fields. Should they make softball fields bigger? Move the pitching rubber back, stretch out the bases, add some distance to the fence. What do you guys think about this and how much will it effect the game? When I see girls at 10U ASA national hitting home runs over a fence on a field that is close to the same size as the fence that Bustos is hitting them out of I think their is a problem. I know a girl in So Cal that plays 12U, I think she has around 8 HR's this year. Is 200 feet way to close for a college fence?

Moving the fence back a few might be a good idea. More extra base hits.

I see no reason to move the pitching rubber back or lengthen the bases. This would take away
the short/speed game and badly hurt steals (runners can't lead off) turning Fastpitch into a weak version of baseball.

[Demonboy]

Last year we had a pretty good (by our standards) local HS pitcher. She was good from 40 feet. She played a couple of exposure tournaments from 43 feet. She said it just gave her breaking stuff a couple extra feet to break. She liked pitching from 43, it was an advantage for her. We see the hitting gurus on here talking about the good hitters hitting speed for lunch. My opinion is that speed at 40 feet is an advantage to the hitter. An extra 3 feet of movement is an advantage to the pitcher.

The scores in 18u Gold since the change do not support your claim. Look at the scores of the championship game the last two years.

[Joe Dirt]

Moving the fence back? That doesn't sound bad but to my knowledge there are only minimums. The UCLA fence is 190' to the corners. There isn't a torrent of homeruns there. Of course they get their share but... I think the problem is that if you were to standardize the dimensions a lot of places will simply run out of room or be unable to use fields for multi purposes. Then there goes softball. A lot of the fields we play on don't even have fences. (I am not talking college)

[Sam]

Hard for me to imagine that enlarging the playing field would ever add more offense to a game which is begging for more offense....When MLB wants to add more offense, they don't move the fences back, move the mound back and move the bases back...they move fences in towards the batter.

[softballdad]

If you change the fields,bases and the pitchers rubber. then change the name to baseball instead of softball.
softball is fun the way it is baseball needs to change is boring.

[anonlooker]

Hard for me to imagine that enlarging the playing field would ever add more offense to a game which is begging for more offense....When MLB wants to add more offense, they don't move the fences back, move the mound back and move the bases back...they move fences in towards the batter.

All MLB did was make it easier to hit more home runs. While you could argue that added more offense (in terms of runs scored), it didn't add much excitement. How boring is Sportscenter when they show balls sailing over the wall and hitters jogging the bases.

Take your typical home run - long drive, over the wall, everybody jumps up, cheers, high fives their neighbor, then sits and reaches for their beer.

Now take a triple - long drive, just over OF head, runner around first (on a HR, by now we're about to sit down), OF chases ball, runner rounds second, ball coming in, relay to 3rd, the slide, the tag, the call... drama and excitement.

Give me deeper fences, more outfield, more doubles and triples... that's exciting offense!

[cinnaman]

Move the fences to 240 feet, move base paths to 80 feet, pitching mound to 45 feet and reduce the ball to 11 inches. This would be for 14u and up. The girls are bigger, stronger, and faster. The dimensions of the field should change to accomodate their atheleticism

[NoNothin]

JMHO I think anyone that has seen their dd on the ground after a hard hit shot would consider this. It would definately slow the game down to move them back.

No No

[Travel Ball]

A quick search through the stat leaders in every major college conference and most major cities' high school scene debunks the idea that hitters are blowing up HRs on any regular basis.

The depth of quality hitters today at the younger ages is better than 5 years ago, but I haven't seen a significant increse in the number of HRs at any age level. A few more here and there and certainly it's not limited to just one or two girls in an area like years past, but it certainly isn't like the ball is flying out of the park in every other game at any age level.

The argument that girls are bigger, faster, etc.today is silly. Anyone who is a baseball fan knows that the same is true in high school, college, and MLB, and NOBODY is arguing to tinker with a baseball field dimensions.