The best stretches before playing softball prepare your body for the practice or game ahead and help you prevent injury. You’ll be doing fancy stepping to get your lower body stretched with dynamic movements that increase your range of motion.

A softball player doesn't have to run long distances or bench press 300 pounds to play successfully, but she does need to prepare her body for the rigors of the game. Softball involves sprinting and throwing, both of which require intense muscle contractions and a certain level of anaerobic fitness.

Fastpitch softball is a game that is dominated by pitching. Pitchers can throw the ball at speeds up to 70 mph and they can also throw drops, risers, curves and changeups. A fastball that reaches 70 mph thrown from a distance of 46 feet corresponds to a baseball thrown at better than 90 mph.

Softball rules for pitchers in 10-and-under, or 10U, leagues reflect the fact that players are relatively new to pitching at this level. Rules of the American Softball Association, or ASA, allow 10U pitchers to throw the softball from a shorter distance and use a smaller ball for an easier grip.

Though pitches in softball and baseball are similar, softball pitchers employ different techniques to throw their pitches. Because softballs are pitched underhand rather than overhand, pitchers grip and release the softball differently.

Slow pitch softball gets its name from the fact that pitchers must put a 6-foot arc on their pitches, slowing the speed of incoming pitches. The Amateur Softball Association of America is the governing body of softball in the U.S. and sets the rules for most recreational and all Olympics-sanctioned leagues.

Youth and beginner softball players may benefit from drills that teach them not to fear the ball. Many of these drills substitute a lighter ball for a traditional softball to make catching and throwing less hazardous. In addition, many such practice sessions focus on building a player's confidence.

You have several options if you want to improve your softball pitching speed. Strengthening your body is one obvious method, but improving your pitching mechanics can be equally as effective.

Some may argue this point, but the catcher might just have the most dynamic position on a softball team. She has more jobs than any other player -- giving signals, catching pitched balls, blocking bad pitches, throwing out base runners, catching foul balls, tagging players at home plate and fielding bunts.

Softball, while similar to baseball, has many crucial differences, including its substitution rules. In baseball, when a player is taken out of the game, he can't re-enter. This is partially due to the high number of active players on a baseball roster, which can be 24 or more.

Softball pitchers need unique workouts to strengthen their arms and improve performance. However, simply concentrating on the throwing arm and shoulder won’t translate into increased pitch velocity.

If you play baseball or fast pitch softball, you are all too familiar with the difficulty of hitting a well thrown fastball. It takes less than a half second for a fastball to travel from the pitcher’s hand to home plate. That is all the time you have to react to the pitch.