College Softball Rules

There are roughly 600 colleges that field softball teams each year. The sport has grown in popularity for decades, as more and more high school players strive to play at the college level. A good collegiate softball game can be an exciting event to watch. While the college game follows many of the same rules as high school and professional fast-pitch softball, there are some small changes that should be noted.

  1. Field of Play

    • The softball diamond is set up with three bases and a home plate, each 60 feet part. Each base must be made of white canvas and no more than 3 inches thick. A backstop must be located at least 25 feet behind home plate. The pitcher's circle is located 43 feet from home plate and has a diameter of 8 feet. The maximum distance from home plate to the center field wall is 235 feet, but the NCAA recommends 220 feet. Left and right fields measure 190 feet from home plate. The field should be marked with clear white lines.

    Basic Equipment

    • The college softball's exterior must be made of yellow-dyed cowhide with 88 raised red-seam stitches. It must weight between 6.5 and 7 ounces. The ball must also have a minimum circumference of 11.875 inches and a maximum of 12.25 inches. Bats should be one piece and made of metal, plastic, graphite, titanium or carbon. Wooden bats are not permitted. Bats cannot be longer than 34 inches or weigh more than 38 ounces. All gloves must be made of leather.

    Regulation Game

    • An official collegiate game must last seven innings. Exceptions are if one of the teams leads by eight or more runs against the other after five innings, the umpire calls the game as over because of weather, or extra innings are played. Each team receives three outs per inning.

    Teams

    • A team must consist of nine players on the field: a pitcher, catcher, four infielders and three outfielders. College softball also uses a designated player rule, which allows a team to use a different hitter in the line-up in place of a regular player. The replaced player is called the flex.

    Pitching Rules

    • There are myriad pitching rules in college softball. These include a limit of five warm-up pitches each inning, the pitcher keeping both feet on the mound when receiving the catcher's signals, throwing the ball within 10 seconds of the umpire giving notice, and rules on windups.