Behind a Mask

I drove by a girls’ softball game the other day and caught a glance of the right fielder.  She was nine, maybe, and a little tall for her age.  What really stood out, though, was her mask.  It was the first time I ever saw an outfielder wearing one.  Maybe she’d seen a friend without one take a ball to the face in a game.  

Softball players often wear masks playing the infield or pitching.  Two years ago, when I was scoring games for Elmhurst College, I saw the same pitcher get hit in the face twice; when she came back, it was with a mask, and who could blame her?  But an outfielder wearing one struck me as odd.

So, I called the resident softball expert in the family, and she agreed.  Clare and I both felt this was someone who really didn’t want to be playing softball; the mask was probably the only way her parents could get her to do it, and the odds for a shift to the infield were somewhere between slim and none, with slim just having walked out the door.  My advice would be for a family conference to see if there were another sport that might work out better.

I also think everything in softball should be lengthened.  Forty-three feet from the pitching rubber to the plate in college?   C’mon.  You put somebody 6-feet tall or more in the circle, and her stride almost puts her within striking range of the hitter’s bat.  Anyone lucky enough to get a bat on the ball, and that ball just may be headed for the pitcher’s head.  And with base paths only measuring 60 feet (versus 90 for baseball), any third baseman charging in for a bunt better be wearing a mask; the batter hits away instead, and that third baseman could be toast.

If they’re not going to switch over to baseball, can’t the softball powers that be at least consider changing the dimensions?  Schedule exhibition or non-conference games with baseball pitching and base path dimensions.  It can’t hurt, unlike the game that requires so many masks for its young players.