Certain equipment is needed to play softball. You can’t play softball without a bat, ball, or glove. Helmets are used to protect batters heads. They use batting gloves too. The uniform is matching shirts, pants, and socks. The only position you play were u don’t need equipment is bench warmer.

The catcher plays a hard position. The catcher stands behind the plate to receive the pitch. The catcher wears a protective chest plate. They also wear shin pads that cover their knees and ankles. The catchers wear a helmet with a face mask and throat guard to protect their throat and face.

You must take care of your equipment, especially your glove. To wear your glove in rub some shaving cream on the inside and leave it there for 24 hours. Then place a in the pocket of the glove and tie a rubber band around it and leave it like that for 24 hours. This forms a good round pocket for the ball. Never sit on your glove, it can flatten it out, or fold it up it can break it in the wrong way.

Most softball bats look the same, they just vary in size and color. All bats have three basic parts: the knob, the round metal or wood thing at the bottom. The reach is where you grip the bat, and the barrel. The barrel is the part of the bat used to hit the ball. The reach is often wrapped with tape for a better grip. Bats can be made of graphite, whit-ash wood, or aluminum alloy. The most common type of bat it aluminum alloy.

Softballs differ in hardness and core size. A higher core size means a bigger and harder ball. The center of the ball is made of kapok, which is a mixture of cork and rubber. Balls are usually 11 and seven eights to twelve and one eighth inches around and 6-7 ounces. To play an outdoor game you must use a leather ball. Rubber softballs are used for indoor games, or when space is a problem. They use rubber balls because they can not be hit as far.

Most beginning players do not have to wear cleats or spikes. Any running shoe that support the foot in motion, is fine. Once the player’s softball skills improve a certain shoe is made.  Rubber cleats help running and turning on the filed quickly. Cleats do not injury other players. Spikes, however, are only sometime aloud in adult games. Spikes have pointed metal spikes on the bottom and could injury someone. That is why they are not allowed to wear them in kid games.

Bases must be a certain size and distance apart in order to have a proper game. Home plate and the pitchers mound are usually made of rubber. Home plate is five sided with a 17 in. long front edge. The pitchers plate is 24 inches long. The other three bases are made of canvas and are 15 inch squares. They are no more than 5 inches thick. Some fields have a double first base, so the first baseman and the runner do not collide.

A softball field’s size depends on who is playing on it. The bases are 55 feet apart for players ten and under. The pitching distance is 35 feet, and the fence is 135 feet away from home plate. As the players get older the field gets bigger. By age 15-18, the bases are 60 feet apart. The pitchers mound is 40 feet away form home plate and the fence is 200 feet away form home plate. Everything on the field has a proper measurement.

In some slow-pitch leagues catchers do not have to wear equipment, but in fast-pitch they always have to. Helmets protect on deck batters and runners from injuries, though not all softball players wear them. A score book is a necessity at a game. Rule books and measuring tape are handy too. Most teams use their own equipment, bats, balls, helmets, and gloves.