The ball whizzes past junior Katie Benisch, who stands by the softball field, clapping enthusiastically along with the players’ parents.  Though there are barely any fans in attendance, Katie is not discouraged and cheers on her friends.  If this were a baseball game, however, there would be more students in the bleachers along with the parents.  Why such a difference?

According to Benisch, “baseball is more focused on because there are players who are drafted for their sport, while at the same time I don’t know of any who play professional softball.”

“[The] softball team’s only fans are usually parents, so I believe more people watch baseball. This might be because most people have never been exposed to softball at a professional level like they have been with baseball through the MLB,” varsity softball pitcher Ally Goheen, a junior, said.

Softball coach Jack Westermeyer agrees that baseball is more popular in general. “Major league baseball is well-established and millions of viewers tune in and attend the games. Womens fastpitch softball is a seasonal event with the NCAA May Super regionals and Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City,” Westermeyer said.

“They’re different games,” junior and varsity softball player Amanda Nastalski said. “We can’t throw as far because it’s a bigger ball, and [baseball’s] pitch time is faster [because of the smaller ball size].”

“There’s a difference in the ball size, there’s a difference in the bat size, [and] there’s a difference in the field size,” baseball coach Steven Teter said.

Additionally, “bases are 60 feet from home plate in softball, whereas they are 90 feet [from home plate] in baseball.”

However, when the distance of bases is combined with the amount of innings, the length of both softball and baseball is roughly the same.

Even though the both sports are about the same length of time, players of both sports agree that baseball is watched more than softball.

Junior Anthony Leppert “[does] not believe there is much of a conflict, if any, between baseball and softball.”

“Baseball came before softball,” Nastalski said, explaining why she believes baseball is more popular. “Even in other sports, men’s [teams] seem to be more important.”

Elizabeth Driver is a Sports Editor for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.