Softball Subs

Support For Softball Substitutions

Softball uses substitution rules that differ from baseball. Both fast pitch and slow pitch softball have the concept of an offense-only player much like a designated hitter in baseball. In fast pitch, this player is typically named the "designated player" while in slow pitch there may be one or more "extra players" that only bat. It's A Hit! supports both of these player types using the abbreviations 'dp' and 'ep' in the position field in the lineup.

In fast pitch there is typically a player that only plays defense named the "DEFO". In It's A Hit! you handle DEFOs by simply not adding any at bat data for them. The usual convention is to list the DEFO last in the lineup but this is not a necessity.

You can see in the lineup for San Jose below that Boise is the DEFO and McGlauchlin is the DP.

It is easy to see that Boise is the DEFO because he has been skipped over and does not have any at bat data associated with him. Samuel made the second out of the second inning with a sacrifice while Alvin made the third out.

Extra players are simpler than designated players because there isn't a DEFO associated with them. They are simply players that bat but don't play defense. In the lineup below you can see that McGlauchlin is the extra player.

Note that the 'ep' is shown as the position for McGlauchlin in the scoresheet below as you would expect.

Finally, there are various rules associated with substituting for the designated player. In most cases, the player substituting for the designated player becomes the new designated player and scoring is a straightforward continuation. However, it is not uncommon to have the DEFO substitute for the designated player. In this case, the DEFO now bats in the DPs position in the batting order but still plays defense. You handle this situation in It's A Hit! by choosing the substitution type DEFO->DP in the substitution dialog. You then enter at bat data in the DP's lineup position as you normally would.

Going through an example should help illustrate this. Suppose McGlauchlin is the DP and Boise is the DEFO as we've used in the examples above. Let's say that McGlauchlin gets injured in the 5th inning and the Boise substitutes for him. When this happens Boise becomes both an offensive and defensive player. You enter Boise as a sub for McGlauchlin and choose a substitution type of DEFO->DP. Now as the game continues and you score the at bat data, when you get to the 5th position in the batting order where McGlauchlin was batting, you enter data for Boise. In the 10th position in the lineup where Boise is still listed, you continue to skip over it and don't enter any at bat data. The fact that you've entered a substitution type of DEFO->DP tells the It's A Hit! Stats software that there really isn't a 10th player in the lineup beginning in the 5th inning when Boise substituted for McGlauchlin.

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