Softball Continues to Heat Up as UIL Sport
By Stephanie Ramirez, Communications Officer | Thursday, June 02, 2011 3:06 PM
The Celina Bobcats celebrate as shortstop Shelby Carter runs home after hitting a game-winning homerun at the bottom of the 11th inning. The Bobcats beat the Huntington Devilettes 4-3 in the semifinal game at the UIL State Softball Tournament. Carter's homerun was the first of the 2011 State Tournament.
Photo by Jeanne Acton
In the UIL’s 101-year history, an activity that’s been around for less than 20 years is relatively young. For an event that has only been around since the 1993 season, softball has had several noteworthy changes throughout its history, including which conferences have participated at the state championship level, significant increases in participation numbers, and most recently, an additional three feet in distance from the pitcher’s mound to home plate.
When Softball began as a UIL event in 1993, the only conference to participate in the UIL State Softball Tournament was 5A, where Pasadena Dobie High School beat Tomball High School 1-0 in the state championship game. By 1995, conference 2A-5A schools were participating at the state level. Conference 1A was added to the State Softball Tournament in 2001.
The rationale for conferences being added to the State Tournament at different times is connected to participation numbers. At its inception, there were only 188 schools and just over 3,800 students participating in softball. Almost 20 years later, the number of schools participating has increased by almost 500 percent with more than 1,000 schools. The number of student participants has increased by almost 750 percent with more than 31,000 students now participating.
“The explosive growth in softball over the last 20 years is a testament not only to the great student athletes in Texas, but also to the schools and coaches whose dedication has made it possible,” said Dr. Mark Cousins, UIL Director of Athletics. “The talent level and work ethic displayed by our high school student athletes is impressive.”
For the last 19 years, high school softball has been dominated by the defense, and more specifically by the pitcher. Under a new National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) rule, which governs UIL softball, three additional feet were added between the pitcher and the batter. According to a press release issued by the NFHS, the new rule was added in an effort to create a better balance between the offense and defense. In theory, the three extra feet allows for more balls to be hit into play.
The NFHS discussed this rule change for more than 10 years prior to implementing it, and used feedback from Florida and Oregon, both of which had already extended their pitching distance the three extra feet in previous seasons.
“Results from both Florida and Oregon support the theory that hitting will increase with the three extra feet,” said Sheila Henderson, UIL Assistant Athletic Director and State Softball Tournament Director. “With the increased offense, which is evident based on scores from the preseason, regular season and play-offs, games have become more interesting. Our coaches and students have made great adjustments to the new pitching distance with very few problems.”
As can be seen by some of the older UIL-sanctioned sports, the evolution of a sport is inevitable. With such notable changes as these few already having taken place in just 20 years, there is bound to be many more in the years to come as this sport continues to evolve.