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I no longer feel comfortable commenting on any "first woman" posts. Enjoy!

And yet...

Anyone watch the game? How'd she play?

She only pinch hit for one plate appearance and it was a ground out to first base. Hard to take much positive or negative from it yet.

Respectable enough. Glad it wasn't an intentional walk or some other "message". They let her play, and she played. I'm curious to see how it plays out.

It’s the first “ real” woman to do so(I’m sure there’s a better way to phrase it but I mean a woman who was born a woman and has a female body). Transgender women should be treated fair, but someone born a woman had to do A LOT to get to this point to compete against men.

I'm not too worried about who's competing in "men's" leagues. If you're good enough, I don't care about your private parts. It's cool to see the skill gap narrowing, and I'm excited to see more of it.

The point of my reply was that "Im uncomfortable commenting" is not only a comment (making the entire statement laughably untrue), but still some half assed attempt to make a point. It's just overall a stupid thing to type.

Ah, yes I see what you’re saying with regards to his comment.

And I don’t think anyone’s worrying about men’s leagues anyway, it’s more the women’s leagues that concern people.

Agreed. Strange time to be alive.

The fact that she even put bat to ball against a D-1 pitcher is something, though. I'm not sure I could do that.

I'm hoping she gets at least a few more at-bats. It'll be interesting to see what she can do in the future.

The term you're looking for is 'cis' fyi.

I’m at the game today. I’ll let everyone know if she gets in the game what I see from her. So far I’ve just seen her warm up with the team.

ok but with a last name like that she's gotta be on the mound right

I remember in highschool a soft ball player came to play with us in baseball. She was a cool person and good at softball but tbh didn’t translate well to baseball.

I was impressed she got anything on it. First at bats make you nervous enough, let alone with media covering.

Oddly enough, goes both ways. mlb players have been struck out by softball players, something to do with the distance to the mound and what your accustomed to and whatnot

"you are not sure you could do that?"

Why did women’s baseball die but fast pitch softball grow

For some reason I read the last name as "pitch-hard-oh"

Is she sponsored by Bean Bay Beans?

Softball is on a smaller field. Pitcher is closer. Game is faster and more exciting.

I don’t know about women’s baseball though. Was it on the same field the men played on? Might have been a slower game.

Disappointingly did not get to see her play despite Brown being up 11-3. Got to see her warm up though and her friends in the stands were certainly cheering for her and trying to get the manager to put her in.

Angle at which the ball comes in as well

That and the underhand release is really difficult to adjust to if you're used to overhand. Baseballs always have a downhill trajectory, whereas a softball can go uphill or downhill depending on the location and pitch type.

So much of it is just having to change what you’re used to. Stanford’s gymnasts have a series of funny videos of the men and women’s teams trying and failing on each other’s events.

Yeah, El Pichardo is The Pitcher in Spanish.

They're ruining men's sport!!

I hear they are the beaniest

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Title IX, ironically. It allowed schools to ban girls from baseball if they offered them softball instead

Wow didn’t know that

Seems like a smaller ball would help

Women's baseball is pretty much dead, but there are some leagues whose mission is to support it, and there was a Women's Baseball World Cup a few years ago. I think it is done every year, but I don't know any details.

Help with what? How?

This isn't basketball.

A smaller baseball would make it harder to hit, harder to catch, harder to throw.

Generally women have smaller hands so you would think that using a smaller ball would be better

You put a one and two zeros in front of that comment or we walk.

I’m just making stuff up here but you’ve got 8 year olds girls throwing a softball just fine. Granted it is smaller at that age but still bigger than a baseball. So I’m guessing the softball isn’t so big that it would really impact the ability to throw it.

The smaller field makes plays closer and throws shorter. Plays happen faster. The larger ball travels off the bat slower and keep more hits playable than if the ball were smaller.

Women's reaction time in softball is faster (less overall time) than men's professional baseball due to the shorter distance from mound to plate.

"ESPN's Sport Science broke down the speed of both games, pointing out that a 70 mph softball pitch -- from its shorter distance -- reaches home plate faster than a 100 mph baseball pitch. That means a softball player has less than half the time (.025 seconds) to decide to swing compared to a baseball player (.055 seconds). Now imagine trying to decipher whether or not that pitch headed your way is in the strike zone or not."

Source: https://fanbuzz.com/college-sports/college-baseball/softball-vs-baseball/amp/

The reaction time in softball is almost half as much as baseball.

https://fanbuzz.com/college-sports/college-baseball/softball-vs-baseball/amp/

The simple solution is to allow men to compete in women’s softball. That would remove the sexism and allow the best to compete regardless of genitalia.

I would assume if she is a college baseball player that she hasn't really played softball though. So I don't really think this applies.

The ball is also much bigger and don't they use enlarged barrel aluminum bats?

The above also doesn't discuss the size of the ball. Even if the reaction time needs to be quicker, the movement based on the reaction doesn't need to be as accurate. I think the .03 difference would be offset by the size of the ball.

An issue is they are usually playing with the others rules on their own equipment. Women aren't using heavy wood bats to hit a baseball and men aren't using aluminum bats to hit a softball. You also have to change bat rotation speeds.

Aluminum yes, large barrel, no.

You're correct on enlarged barrel

More exciting?!? Sure…

r/unexpectedfuturama

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Softball pants enlarge some barrels

Worst outcomes for an at bat are as follows:

1. Strike out looking
2. Strike out swinging
3. Hit a little dinker that the C or P picks up and throws you out 4. Ground out to 1st/2nd

So hell yea it’s a W for her. Infield pop ups can go in there somewhere too.

For all you know that comment was made by Barry Bonds. For what it’s worth I am 100% sure I could not put a baseball in play in D1 ball.

What about hitting into a double play?

Professor baseball players have been struck out by women's softball pitchers.

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Okay? Baseball players get struck out playing baseball too. Your comment doesn't change anything I said about the ball size not being accounted for.

Also, I bet softball players would be struck out by baseball pitchers. So again, your comment doesn't really address anything....

I was just pointing out that "sports science" usually does a shifty job at actual science and constantly doesn't account for important factors.

So she was benched the entire game?

That sucks

Odds are women softball players would be struck out by professional baseball players. Both are hard in different ways. Both hitters rely heavily on release points and timing. Baseball hitters don't have the timing to hit softball, and vice versa. Give both of them time and they'd be able to figure each other out and adapt their swings and timing.

If men and women are physically equal, then what is the significance of this achievement?

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They aren't equal.. I don't think anyone of sound mind with any basic biological understanding would disagree.

The coach plays the best players. If a woman can get up to the level of the top 9 players, they'll deserve playing time

The issue with this is that 70 MPH softball pitches are rare, it's much more common to face pitches in the mid 60s. Average D1 is around 64 MPH or 93.87 Feet per second meaning from a mound which from 43 feet away means you have .458 seconds until it crosses the plate. vs baseball and a 91 MPH fastball on a 60.5 foot mound you have .453 seconds until it crosses the plate. Part of the assumption is on release point etc. But time until impact is basically the same. Which is the more common issue.

But what about gender equality? I thought women could do everything that men could do better than men could do it. I find it hard to believe that the media has been lying to me. You wouldn't be suggesting that, would you?

That kind of thinking is dangerous and misogynistic.

Lol only braindeads would say anything of the sort

Okay. That wasn’t my question.

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I'm basically 100% you couldn't do that.

I also couldn't do that, and I'm naturally athletic and hit airborn rocks with sticks pretty effortlessly. Still, I have no doubt that I couldn't hit a 90mph slider while under more pressure than I've ever experienced in my life by a long shot.

Yes, like most of the team

Still a groundout. Just adding more variables. But yes still an emotional toll. Good thing it didn’t happen

Not at all true and you know it lmao, don't act like subbing in players isn't a thing in every sport, especially for developing players in garbage time. Just say what you really mean dude.

You don't sub players in in tennis.

Yeah I'm sure that will be their response lol. BuT wAiT ThEy DonT SuB iN PlaYeRs iN SCotTiSh FlaG waTeR RUgbY sO yOU'rE wrOnG ActUaLly.

Do you play collegiate baseball? Or are you talking out of your ass?

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it's baseball, it's normal for teams to only make a couple of subs because you can't put players back into the game after they leave. even MLB teams will carry players who only play once every few games.

A real woman, with a womb?

As a non baseball fan this is quite funny to read. It’s like that family guy cricket sketch

No but I bet you could eat a slider while doing 90mph down the highway, so you do have that going for you :D

Interesting that they are using numbers that are higher than the average by a good margin for softball.

Weird.

If it was men’s then why is a woman playing? Seems like you missed the boat on this one.

We want a Pitchardo, not a belly itchardo!

Dont let state legislatures see this

The pitchers already strike out like 90% of the batters they face. There would be no scoring with a smaller ball.

Watched the game, was not impressed. Next .

Baseball is a sport with data that can pretty much verify your talent level.

Olivia would be a below average Division 3 baseball player.

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Yea I understand how sports work. My question was if she was benched the entire game or not

Baseball doesn’t sub as many people in, as a rule.

Imagine they had subbed her in when up so much, would it then be viewed as a stunt because she’d have no real impact on the game?

Equity only works in some situations, she’s playing for equality and equality looks like riding the bench for a lot of the players. Good enough to sit on the bench but maybe not good enough for this game right here right now in this moment.

Even if it is virtue signaling … sometimes that’s necessary just to get the narrative moving.

The two sports are comparable by the eye test but otherwise the different dynamics of the ball make it wildly different.

Pro baseball players would struggle more against a softball pitch because they don’t train for that. Same the other way around. Doing something you’re not used to inherently means you’re not going to be as good as something you train for. It doesn’t necessarily correlate with difficulty or skill levels.

Not trying to be a dick. Just curious, why is this a big deal?

This isn’t a smartass question, but if a guy wanted to play softball could he play for the women’s teams?

>Imagine they had subbed her in when up so much, would it then be viewed as a stunt because she’d have no real impact on the game?

I mean yeah, that's kinda the point. That's when a lot of subs happen, and it's generally viewed as a way to develop younger talent. It's really not that much different from any other freshman bench riders on the team.

I’m not saying you’re wrong, I’m saying that the same story could be spun from both directions if that’s how people want to spin it.

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Si

Can you pls elaborate?

I'm sure you could do way better 😂

Tell that to every sports fan. I'm not interested in charity in sports. If she earned her spot she'll get criticized like all the other athletes. Don't do het a disservice by treating her different, she's just one of the guys.

Title 9 is an ncaa rule that basically says schools have to have an equal number of women's and men's sports teams. So to legally kick women off the baseball team regardless of how good they are schools just added softball and put them there.

You never saw A League of Their Own with Tom Hanks? It's a classic

I’ve seen it. Great show. I don’t remember if the fields were same size or anything else that would have helped answer this question though.

Softball has different dimensions because the sport gets played a little bit differently. I'm pretty certain the old school women's baseball leagues just brought the fences in closer and that was it.

Found this in Wikipedia

In the first season, the league played a game that was a hybrid of baseball and softball. The ball was 12 inches in circumference, the size of a regulation softball (regulation baseballs are 9 to 91⁄4 inches). The pitcher's mound was only forty feet from home plate, closer even than in regulation softball and much closer than the baseball distance of 60 feet, 6 inches. Pitchers threw underhand windmill, like in softball, and the distance between bases was 65 feet, five feet longer than in softball, but 25 feet shorter than in baseball. Major similarities between the AAGPBL and baseball included nine player teams and the use of a pitcher's mound (softball pitchers throw from flat ground). By 1948, the ball had shrunk to 103⁄8 inches, overhand pitching was allowed, and the mound was moved back to 50 feet. Over the history of the league, the rules continued to gradually approach those of baseball. By the final season in 1954, the ball was regulation baseball size, the mound was moved back to 60 feet, and the basepaths were extended to 85 feet (still five feet shorter than in regulation baseball).