Is softball sexist?

There has been a 10-second rule in HS girls hoops for a long long time (30+ years), although I suppose individual states may have had exceptions.

NCAA women's hoops just put it in last year, I believe.

It was always stupid because NCAA women's hoops has always had a shot clock, back to the AIAW days I believe, and once you have a shot clock, combined with the over-and-back rule, ultimately the 10-second rule becomes meaningless.

Although I had seen, once in a great while, college women's teams burn up 25 seconds in the backcourt. It certainly isn't anything most teams worked very much on, and if you were good enough to burn up 25 seconds in the backcourt, you were usually good enough to score easily once you brought the ball into the frontcourt, too.

 

My dream:

Find a big-time D1 school with a softball program but no baseball team.

Find a guy who wants to play and see him try out for the softball team.

Will he be allowed to try out? If so and he makes the team and plays how will other softball coaches/players respond?

 

Some years back, a guy (don't recall the name) attempted to qualify for the Women's British Open in protest of a woman (Annika Sorenstam?) being allowed to play in a men's tournament. Request was denied, but made some headlines at the time. It's an interesting quandary: if women are allowed to play on men's teams/events, don't you have to allow the opposite as well?

 

He truly may be depriving someone else of a scholarship.

Which would also.create a Title IX conundrum. The scholarship numbers are supposed to be equal. But what if a guy goes out for a softball team because there is no baseball team and is so good, he takes away a woman's scholarship? The numbers wouldn't be even then. Would the school be violating Title IX, or would the Feds say that they're offering opportunities and it's not the school's fault a guy took a woman's scholarship?

 

Yes, my alma mater. Was there when they shut down baseball. People tried to act all upset but, really, the program was a money loser. Not enough talent for a nationally-competitive team due to weather and facilities (at least Minnesota had a dome to use for decades). The school had to trim five sports.

I don't think that softball vs. baseball is sexist but I do that the strategy WITHIN softball is incredibly condescending to female athletes.

Batter with fewer than two outs walks.

Coach orders next batter to bunt, essentially delivering the message that "I don't think my hitter is strong enough to earn her way on and, also, I don't think your catcher is an automatic cinch to make the elementary throw from where the bunt is fielded to first base."

Rinse.

Repeat.

When I was stuck covering high school softball in the early stages of my career, I hated watching this crap. Let the batters swing away until you're in a late-inning situation where you need a run or two.

 

For the most part, although the five-set vs. three-set thing in majors is a pretty big difference.

 

1. College baseball (softball too for that matter), as currently run, is a guaranteed money-loser for any team north of the Mason-Dixon line.

2. "Conventional" softball coaching strategy is utterly cowardly. When you repeatedly drum into your players you believe they cannot get a hit, they will not get a hit.

 

I always thought that stemmed from the fact that runs are at such a premium in high-level fast-pitch softball. It's a game dominated by pitching and defense. You might only get one or two chances to score, so you'd better make the most of them.
Not saying it doesn't suck -- it does -- but I think there is a logic and a strategy behind it.

 

It's hard to make the crossover from softball to baseball if women are only given an opportunity to play softball -- just as top MLB sluggers have a nearly impossible time trying to hit a pitch from an Olympic softball player. See except from "The Sports Gene" below.

http://www.realclearscience.com/blog/2013/11/why-barry-bonds-strikes-out-to-jennie-finch.html

Also, interestingly, in other countries, men DO play softball at the highest level (Australia, for example). So this softball-as-a-women's-version-of-baseball is really kind of an American construct.

 

Separate leagues is not sexist any more than separate bathrooms are. What is sexist, or at least I've never heard a compelling reason why it's not, is best actor / actress at all the awards. Is the a best directress? Best Producetress? I think people are concerned that the women won't get enough nominations & wins if mixed in with the men, and that truly is sexist. Nothing about acting depends on the natural biological differences between men and women.

 

Most, not all, movies have a male and female lead so it makes some sense.