Softball...

Today’s Inter-house Softball match between Crest and Sultan sparked controversy over the rules of softball. And I really think slight disambiguates with the rules used is what caused some members of the Sultan Softball Team grief. So this blogger has been hard at work to clarify them for you.


Source: Wikipedia
“Home plate is made of rubber. It is a five-sided figure, a combination of a rectangle and triangle, 17 in (43 cm) wide. The sides are 8.5 in (22 cm) long. The triangle fits into the right angle formed by the baselines.”



Official Softball Home Base Plate


So the plate wasn’t exactly the same shape, but it was close enough in terms of area, which I estimated to be a rectangle around 6 inches by 20 inches in our game. Although according to an auntie who was playing in the other game for 3rd and 4th play off, the size of their base was two square softball mats next to each other with no over lapping. This would make the area for the ball to land on huge and the potential for the bowler to miss bowl substantial less. Unless of course the bowler hadn’t any limbs, had not the gift of sight or suffered from multiple sclerosis.
Noted some individuals might see this as a blatant infringement of their “human rights” of softball or what not. But really there were two different games, so the rules might vary slightly between each one. But the two teams that played each other played on the same pitch, with the same home base that had the same area as the team they were playing against. This in my opinion is fairly fair.


The field


Those of you who did not participate in softball would wonder why such hysteria is being broadcast about the size of one base. Well the answer is simple although not obvious. Because the bowlers were bowling from, I would say about 10 meters away, would have to bowl the ball such that it went above 6 feet in height and then land on the home base. And if it didn’t it was a “ball” and as you softball fans out there know, if the bowler bowls four “balls” the batter can just walk to first base. Which is exactly what I did four times in a row and as a result I scored four runs. Now some of you Sultan readers might call this tactic unfair, or call me a cheat, deceptive, sly, underhand, scheming, even surreptitious, a feeder by some (namely one who got caught out on their first bat), bug abuser by others or any number of adjectives that portray me as being your delusion of an unsporting character. For those people who dwell on the above names I have two words for you…………











We Won.


Before I give you my point of view of today’s more traumatic events I would like to present a second opinion first…. If that makes sense. The person interviewed would wish to remain anonymous to protect himself from his house captain and further shame.




Now Chris Ho who is house captain for Sultan really was the heart and soul of the game and fought gallantly against us. He soon spotted this tactic I was employing and was quick to alert the entire sultan team by exclaiming at the top of his lungs my apparent strategy, right after bowling me another “ball” and consequently I walked to first base… again, which I later converted to a home run with the help of my fellow house mates.

Now Chris Ho had a multi-role duty as house captain. This included responsibilities like scolding such people as Ian (who went to the length of brining in his own glove), whenever they decided to feed. Such as not catch a ball or the outfielders throwing the ball a grand distance of 9 feet towards a person on a base.


By the end of the game Sultan managed to scrap a fair number of runs after a brief comeback lead by their house captain Chris, but Crest managed to walk away with around 20-odd runs, making us the winners of inter-house softball this year. At the end of the game I went shook a few hands of the valiant Sultan team. But to my disgust the house captain of Sultan refused to shake my hand. Chris Ho just walked off in a strop and fumbled a few negative comments towards my direction. In all fairness while I was batting I did make a few taunting remarks in reply to accusations of being called a cheat. But tell me in what game that doesn’t happen? Maybe chess…. Professional chess I mean, DEFINITELY not chess in the common room. But anyway you could say I played today’s game kind of like chess, competing on the mental level as well. Which obviously paid off and to be fair tactics of some description are generally used in most other sporting games/competitions/ world wars.






Feeders Identity Hidden



In my opinion at the end of the day, God has given us the gift the think logically (with a few exceptions), which is what I did. I played by the rules that were presented to me at the time, I may have exploited a few lapses in them… but come on…it’s just a game... so if you have a problem with this, don’t go off and sulk, why not grow some balls and have some courage to lose graciously…


K thx BB.