The ins and outs of Game play
- Ball: A legally pitched ball that does not enter the strike zone (four balls equals a walk)
- Grounder: A ball that is hit on the ground
- Forced play: When the runner has to run to the next base to make room for the following runner.
- Fly ball: Ball hit up in the air to the outfield
- On deck: the next batter in the box
- In Field Fly: A ball hit up in the air to the infield
- Strike: Called used when a ball is swung at and missed or is called when the ball enters the strike zone and is not swung at all
- Strike zone: the ball passes the batter over the plate between their chest and knees
- Infield: The infield is that portion of the field in fair territory which includes areas normally covered by infielders
is farthest from the batsman
11. Foul Lines: Two lines (first and third base line) that distinguish fair territory from foul territory
12. Fair Territory: Fair territory is that part of the playing field within and including the first and
third base foul lines from home plate to the extreme playing field fence and perpendicularly
upward
13. Batter’s Box: Box marked with chalk near home plate that a batter must stay within while
batting
14. Bases: Home plate is one corner of a diamond with bases at each corner. The other bases are
called first base, second base, and third base
15. Pitcher’s Plate: Located near the center of the diamond it is the spot where the pitcher throws the
ball
16. Foul Poles: Poles stationed at the end of each foul line to distinguish fair territory from foul
territory. Not all diamonds use poles but they all have foul lines painted
17. Double play: A play in which the fielding team records two outs off one ball
18. Triple Play: A play during which the fielding team records three outs off one ball
19. Tag Out: A base runner that is not on a base when she or he is tagged by a player with the ball.
The fielding team must create three "outs" before it can switch to defense. Outs can be by strike
out, force out, caught ball or tag out
20. Hit: A batted ball that allows a batter to safely reach base
21. Automatic: Fair ball hit over the outfield fence between the two foul poles. This hit gets the batter
and any other base runners home safely
22. Run: A batting player safely tags home plate
23. Strike Out: Occurs during an at-bat when a batter gets three strikes and no hit, they are called
out
24. Umpires make the decisions about play in a softball game. The number of umpires in a game can
range from a minimum of one to a maximum of seven. There is never more than one "plate
umpire"; there can be up to three "base umpires", and up to a further three umpires positioned in
the outfield. Most games use a crew of two umpires (one plate umpire, one base umpire). The
umpire's decisions are usually indicated by both the use of hand signals, and by yelling the
call.
25. Safe: Called when a base runner reaches a base without getting tagged out or avoids a force out
26. Walk: Player advances to 1st base when 4 consecutive pitches were called as balls
27. Games last for 1 hour 25 minutes or until both teams have battered the same amount of innings