College Softball History (NCAA)
The first NCAA (women’s College World Series) was held in 1982. Field Hockey and softball are the only 2 sports that are only played by women. 32 teams from 8 different regions compete in a double elimination round to start off the championship. Eight winners then enter a double elimination tournament to determine which team is the national champion. From 1982 until 1987, the NCAA championship was held in Omaha, Nebraska, where the Men’s College World Series originated. Then, for two years, it was held in Sunnyvale, California. The finals have been played at the Amateur Softball Association’s Hall of Fame Field in Oklahoma City since 1990.
600 NCAA member colleges are sponsors of women’s softball programs. The women’s softball championships are held in divisions I-III. At the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia, fast-pitch softball was first played as a medal sport.
The Softball World Championships in 1965 helped women’s softball develop by making it an international game. Women softball players were given the closest thing to MLB with the formation of the International Women’s Professional Softball league in 1976. Contracts were anywhere from $1000-$3000 per year, but in 1980 the league faced financial ruin and disbanded.
Another professional league, the NPF, (National Pro Fast-pitch League), also exists. The ASA “annually registers over 260,000 teams combining to form a membership of more than 4.5 million”. These numbers are not all fast-pitch, but it is consistently growing along with slow-pitch.
