Softball is a team sport for two teams in which the object is to score runs by advancing around a circuit of four bases. It is similar to baseball, (sometimes referred to as "hardball" to differentiate the two) but differs from it in several ways, of which the chief three are:

1.) the ball is always pitched (thrown to the batter) underarm - that is, it is released when the hand is below the hip and no further from the body than the elbow - while in baseball the ball may be released in any position and is usually thrown overarm or sidearm ,br>
2.) the ball is larger, softer, and less dense than a baseball

3.) the playing field is smaller.

Softball is the most popular participant sport in the United States. An estimated 56 million Americans will play at least one game of softball during a year.

It is played by both genders socially as well as competitively, and is an Olympic sport for women since 1996.