Trexler 1 Heather Trexler Ms.

Fuentes English 1101 November 8, 2013 The Story of Softball Softball has been around for a very long time. Rather it be good or bad every generation has impacted the sport. This current generation has taken softball from a sport that was played only in the spring with a school team or a YMCA team to a sport that is played from March to November and practices year round. This generation also has made it to where the members on a team must travel all over the country to play with competitive teams and to potentially be recruited by college teams. Everyone is aware that baseball players work hard and are dedicated to their sport so it would seem natural that people know the same about softball players; but, that is not the case, no one has considered the amount of time and effort that female athletes put into the sport. This ethnography will clarify how hard girls work, the language that they use on the field as well as off the field, the misconceptions that follow girls in softball, and the lifelong friendships that are made when one is actively a part of a tournament softball team. During an interview a player, Diamond Suber was asked how long she practiced as well as how many days a week. I put in about twelve hours a week, that is, I practice with my team Monday through Thursday for three hours each day. If it happens to rain, there is no problem with practice, we have a indoor

Trexler 2 facility that we go to and we do cardio and endurance, you can never be too in shape. Following that statement Diamond also clarified by stating that that was just team practice time. I also practice at home with my dad about four hours a week. She went on saying On tournament weekends the whole team gets to the field two hours early for our first game. In that time we warm up by running and throwing; we also practice new plays and run through the simple ones just so we can quickly remember. It is clear that girls put in extreme amounts of time to play tournament softball and from what can be gathered from Diamond, they enjoy it and look forward to going everyday, even on the weekends when they can be out with other friends. I never want to miss practice, this is my passion, and all of these girls are my best friends who just happen to share the same passion as me, making use grow even closer together(Suber). Softball players use various types of communication off of the softball field, including texting, emails, and social media. We usually just text e ach other if times for practice or a game changes, but for our parents we use email. Our parents like email better because it might be frowned upon to check your phone at work for personal reasons, but no one knows if it is on email. For our team and individual statics for a tournament we use things like facebook and sometimes if we do extremely well, we will take a picture and post it to instagram. On the field communication is drastically different. Hand signals and code words are used. Some of the common words heard at a tournament softball game are down and pickle. Down can be said to the catcher or the runner. If we say it to the catcher it means that the runner is stealing a base and they need to throw to that person

Trexler 3 waiting to get the runner out quickly. If you are a runner and you hear your own team say down, you know that you need to slide or dive into the base because the ball is coming and it is going to be close as to rather or not you are out. Pickle is kind of hard to explain, it means that the runner is trapped in between two defenders and they are throwing the ball back and forth. The runner is trying to make it to a base without getting tagged and the defenders are trying to tag the runner out. Other words heard more commonly are drop third strike, on deck, in the hole, and full count. Drop third strike is usually shortened to drop third and that means that the catcher dropped the ball that was the batters third strike so the runner can run to first base and if they get there before the ball does, then they are safe. On deck and in the hole go together somewhat. On deck means that you are the next batter up when the person at bat is done and, in the hole means that you are after the person that is on deck. Full count is very easy, the batter has three ball and two strikes, so if the pitcher throws one more ball the batter gets to go to first, if the pitcher throws a strike and the batter does not swing or they swing and miss the ball the batter is out. It gets a little bit tricky when the pitcher throws a strike and the batter fowls it off because you may think that that means the batter is out but it does not, it only means that the count is still full and the pitcher must pitch the ball again. On the field there are also words that are specific to a particular team. We do have words that are used just inside our own team. If our coach were to call out twenty-seven, sixtyone, or fortythree it means that there is a runner on first and third, the catcher is going to throw the ball to the shortstop, which makes the runner on third think that the

Trexler 4 catcher is throwing the ball to second so they run home and the shortstop throws the ball to home to get the runner out. We have multiple words that mean the same thing because if we said the same number every time the other team would catch on. What our team goes by is, if the first number is even and the second is odd then you use the trick play. On the other hand, if the first is odd and the second is even then you do nothing special, it is to just throw the other teams off. Sometimes we ourselves get confused and make a wrong play, but if no one scores we do not get in trouble. Other times when we get confused it actually ends up helping us get someone out because everyone gets thrown off and confused(Suber). Several people believe that softball players are tomboys and do not like to get their nails done or fix their hair. Diamond renounced that allegation very quickly. I love getting my nails and hair done, look at my nails now, I have a game later today and I have my nails done; sure they may get messed up while playing, but all that means is I will get to go get them done again sooner than if I was not playing a sport at all. A more recent common belief about softball players is that they are all lesbians. When asked about this Diamond almost exploded with anger. We are not all lesbians and I am about sick and tired of hearing that! My whole organization has about ninety six girls in it, ranging from age seven to age seventeen and there is only one lesbian out of all of us. I believe that people think that because there are many girls that are very tomboyish, already people think that we all are tomboys, they start to play softball for their high school. High school is not at all an accurate representation of

Trexler 5 tournament softball though, many of us do not even play high school sports because tournament softball is such a huge commitment like I stated earlier and we simply do not have time to fully commitment to both. Several other softball players supported Diamonds claims that the allegations presented earlier were wrong(Suber). I love every single girl that I play with and all of the ones that I have ever played with! We are around each other for close to twenty hours a week so it is hard to not like them! Girls who play softball and have to be around the same girls day in and day out often choose to be around those same people even when they are not forced to. Diamond explains why that strange occurrence takes place; If we did not like each other we would find a different team to play for, one where we liked the players. I think we choose to be around each other because we share the same interest, the same hobby, and to a point we share the same families. Teammates also can just connect more than other friends. They know how to tell when you are sick, or if you are having relationship trouble, or if you just are not acting right at all (Suber). From this ethnography that came from a one on one personal interview one can see how hard members of tournament softball teams work, the language they use on and off the field, the misconceptions about them, and the friendships that are made between the teammates. The members of these teams put in about sixteen hours of practice a week. They have a discourse that is common to the whole organization as well as a discourse that is team specific; and both of the two discourses are used together on the field in an attempt to outsmart the

Trexler 6 opposing team and win the ball game. The common beliefs about softball players are not true. Players get to be around girls who share their same interest and passion. Above all else though, the girls who participate in tournament softball gain a friendship with several teammates that will last a lifetime(Suber).

Trexler 7 Work Cited Suber, Diamond. Personal Interview. 2 Nov. 2013.