Softball Word Search

Fifteen softball words hidden in one grid, from Pitcher to Riseball, with the answer key on a second page.

Name Date

Find every word hidden in the grid. Words go across and down.

0 of 15 words found

HDSMALOSWQNAITH

SHORTSTOPIHKFPB

LAOPHCATCHERMOD

USWINDMILLVAZRN

NZSTILFSEUMPIRE

DDRCNSALZRVAEXG

EOOHNFSADMRHNFF

REYEIRTPUOANTAI

HTGRNPPNGCIRCLE

AFTKGXIRODYRHJN

NIBXLATBUNTESVY

DIDGOBCETXDIIFO

HROUVSHIDIAMOND

MQEUETLSYRDFDQT

DEMRISEBALLNHNU

This grid is wider and taller than its box. Slide it to see every letter.To drag, hold the first letter for a moment, then slide.Keyboard: Tab to the grid, arrow keys to move, Enter on the first and last letter.

PitcherPITCHER
CatcherCATCHER
ShortstopSHORTSTOP
UmpireUMPIRE
DiamondDIAMOND
DugoutDUGOUT
CircleCIRCLE
GloveGLOVE
FastpitchFASTPITCH
UnderhandUNDERHAND
WindmillWINDMILL
RiseballRISEBALL
SlapSLAP
BuntBUNT
InningINNING

15 of 24 words from the Softball list.

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Answer key: Softball Word Search

HDSMALOSWQNAITH

SHORTSTOPIHKFPB

LAOPHCATCHERMOD

USWINDMILLVAZRN

NZSTILFSEUMPIRE

DDRCNSALZRVAEXG

EOOHNFSADMRHNFF

REYEIRTPUOANTAI

HTGRNPPNGCIRCLE

AFTKGXIRODYRHJN

NIBXLATBUNTESVY

DIDGOBCETXDIIFO

HROUVSHIDIAMOND

MQEUETLSYRDFDQT

DEMRISEBALLNHNU

PITCHER, CATCHER, SHORTSTOP, UMPIRE, DIAMOND, DUGOUT, CIRCLE, GLOVE, FASTPITCH, UNDERHAND, WINDMILL, RISEBALL, SLAP, BUNT, INNING

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All 178 words

The Field 29

Asphalt A hard, dry surface that a field may be laid out on.
Batter's box The marked space beside home plate where the hitter must stand.
Brick dust Some infields are surfaced with this in place of plain dirt.
Canvas The cloth that base cushions are often made of.
Circle In fastpitch, the ring marked on the dirt around the pitching plate.
Coach's box One of two marked spaces in foul ground, outside the baselines.
Corner The diamond has four, each with a base on it.
Diamond The infield square, with a base at each of its four corners.
Dirt What a skinned infield is made of.
Double base A first bag in two colors, built to keep runner and fielder apart.
Dugout Where the rest of the team waits while a teammate bats.
Fair territory The part of the field where a batted ball is in play.
Fence It marks the far edge of the field. A fair ball hit over it is a home run.
Foul line One of two boundaries that meet at home plate and mark the edges of fair ground.

Show all 178 words (164 more)

The Field, continued

Foul pole It stands where the line meets the fence. A ball that hits it is a home run.
Foul territory The ground outside the two lines that run out from home plate.
Grass What the outfield is covered with on a regulation field.
Home plate Where the batter stands, and the last base a runner touches to score.
Infield The inner part of the field, around the four bases.
Outfield The far part of the field, between the bases and the fence.
Pitching plate Where a pitch starts. It lies level with the dirt, not up on a mound.
Rubber The players' name for the flat plate a pitcher starts on.
Safety base The colored half of the bag at first, in foul ground, that the batter runs to.
Second base The shortstop usually covers this bag when a runner tries to steal it.
Skinned Said of an infield that is bare, with no grass.
Square The shape the four bases make.
Third base Nicknamed the hot corner: a batted ball reaches the fielder here very fast.
Turf The artificial kind is one surface a field may have.
Well In slow pitch, the small area behind the plate where a strike must land.

Players and Positions 22

Batter The player at home plate who tries to hit the pitch.
Blue A nickname for the umpire, from the color of the uniform.
Catcher The player crouched behind home plate, who calls the pitches with hand signs.
Center fielder Traditionally the fastest outfielder, placed straight behind second base.
Coach The person who writes the batting order before the game.
First baseman The fielder who takes most throws for force plays, often in a longer mitt.
Flex The fielder whose turn at bat the designated player takes.
Hitter Another word for the player at bat.
Infielder Any of the fielders stationed around the bases.
Left fielder The outfielder who backs up plays at third base.
Outfielder Any of the players who cover the grassy area far from home plate.
Pitcher The player who starts each play by throwing underhand toward home plate.
Right fielder The outfielder who traditionally has the strongest throwing arm.
Roamer Another name for the extra outfielder in slow pitch.
Rover The extra outfielder that slow pitch adds.
Runner What a hitter becomes after reaching first base safely.
Second baseman The infielder who covers first when a bunt pulls its usual fielder away.
Short fielder A fourth outfielder who plays close in, somewhere behind second base.
Shortstop The infielder who covers the ground between second and third base.
Substitute A player who comes into the game in place of another.
Third baseman The infielder who fields more bunts than anyone else.
Umpire The official who rules on balls and strikes, safe and out.

Ball and Gear 25

Aluminum A metal that many bats are made of.
Ball In spite of the sport's name, it is not actually soft.
Bat A long, round, smooth stick of metal or composite, swung at the pitch.
Carpet In some slow pitch games a strike is a pitch that lands on this, behind the plate.
Cleats Shoes with studs under the sole for grip.
Composite Said of a bat made of a material such as carbon fiber.
Cork Mixed with rubber, it can form the middle of the ball.
Cover Two pieces shaped like a figure eight, sewn round the ball.
Face mask A cage that guards the front of the head, on a helmet or worn alone by a fielder.
Glove Leather hand wear with webbing between thumb and forefinger.
Headband A band worn round the head. It is optional, like a visor.
Helmet Head protection that batters and runners wear.
Kapok A long fiber that can fill the middle of the ball.
Leather The usual covering of the ball, and what gloves are made of.
Mitt The bigger, more padded hand wear of a catcher or first baseman.
Number It is shown on the back of every player, from 0 to 99.
Seam The one continuous line of stitching that joins the two pieces of the ball's cover.
Shin guards A catcher wears these on the lower legs. They cover the kneecap too.
Sliders Padded guards from ankle to knee, worn for sliding into a base.
Sliding shorts Snug wear under the uniform that helps protect the upper thigh on a slide.
Spikes The points under a player's shoes. Metal ones are often banned in youth games.
Uniform What every member of a team is required to wear the same.
Visor A brim worn without a cap. It is optional, like a headband.
Wood Bats made of this are not allowed in every league.
Yellow The bright color of the standard ball at every level of play.

Pitching 29

Arc The high curve of a slow pitch. Too flat, and the umpire calls it illegal.
Backswing The first of the five parts of the windmill motion.
Breaking ball Any pitch that moves late in its flight to fool the batter.
Changeup A slow pitch made to look like a fast one, so the batter swings too early.
Count How many balls and how many strikes a batter has, with balls always said first.
Crow hop An illegal move: the pitcher pushes off from somewhere other than the plate.
Dropball A pitch that breaks downward.
Fastpitch The form of the game with hard throwing, bunting and stolen bases.
Figure eight A pitching style named for the shape the ball traces behind the body.
Floater A slow pitch held in the fingertips and sent high before it comes down.
Follow through The last of the five parts of the windmill motion, after the ball has gone.
Hip The ball is let go as the hand passes this part of the body.
Illegal pitch A delivery that breaks the rules, such as a crow hop. It adds a ball to the batter's count.
Leaping A jump with the pivot foot where most rules ask for a drag. Some leagues allow it.
Lob To send the ball high and slow, as a slow pitch pitcher does.
Modified A style between fast and slow: the arm may not swing over the head.
Offspeed Said of a pitch, such as a changeup, that is slower than a fastball.
Release The moment the ball leaves the hand, at about hip level in fastpitch.
Riseball A pitch that breaks upward, often ending above the strike zone.
Signal A sign made with the catcher's fingers to pick the next pitch.
Slow pitch The form of the game with a high, lobbed throw, common in recreational play.
Snap What the pitcher's hand does at the end of the windmill circle.
Spin What a flick of the wrist changes on a pitched ball.
Stride The pitcher's step toward home plate, between windup and release.
Strike A pitch through the zone, a swing and a miss, or a ball hit foul.
Underhand How every pitch must be thrown, with the hand passing below the waist.
Walk A free trip to first base after four balls.
Windmill The full-circle arm swing of a fastpitch pitcher.
Wrist The pitcher flicks it as the arm comes through.

Batting and Base Running 20

Advance To move up to the next base.
Base hit Getting on safely with a batted ball, with no error and no out made.
Batting order The fixed sequence in which a team's players come to the plate.
Bunt A ball met with a still bat and tapped softly into the infield.
Contact The meeting of bat and ball. The batter must be inside the box when it happens.
Double A hit that takes the batter to second base.
Flyout An out made when a batted ball is caught before it touches the ground.
Foul ball A hit that lands outside fair ground. It counts as a strike.
Ground ball A hit that strikes the dirt inside the diamond.
Hit by pitch When the ball strikes the batter, play stops and the batter is given first base.
Home run A hit that brings the batter all the way round, most often over the fence.
Leading off Not allowed in fastpitch: a runner stays on the base until the pitch is let go.
Overthrow A wild throw that leaves the playing area. Each runner is given two bases.
Pop fly A batted ball that goes high in the air but not far.
Sacrifice Making an out on purpose so that a runner can move up.
Slap A hit made on the run by a batter standing on the plate's left side.
Steal To run to the next base as the pitch is thrown and get there before the tag.
Switch hit To bat from either side of the plate.
Tag up To go back and touch the base after a fly ball is caught, before running on.
Touch A runner must do this to each base in turn.

Fielding and Outs 22

Backup An outfielder acts as this for an infielder, in case the ball gets past.
Barehanded How the first game was fielded, and how the sixteen-inch game still is: with no gloves.
Block What a catcher does to a pitch that hits the dirt, so that runners cannot move up.
Catch To take a batted ball out of the air before it touches the ground.
Dead ball The umpire's ruling when play stops, as when a pitch hits the batter.
Double play Two outs made in one go.
Fielding Stopping a batted ball and getting it to a teammate.
Fist The umpire's raised right hand is clenched into this to show an out.
Force play An out made by touching the base a runner has no choice but to run to.
Frame What a catcher does by pulling a caught pitch toward the center of the plate.
Gap The open space between two outfielders.
Infield fly A rule that stops fielders from dropping an easy catch on purpose to get extra outs.
Judgment call A ruling on a ball, a strike or a foul. A coach may never protest one.
Out The fielding team must record three of these to end a half inning.
Play ball The umpire's words that often start the game.
Reflexes A third baseman needs great ones, standing so close to the batter.
Safe The umpire's call when a runner beats the play, shown with flat hands moving apart.
Shallow Close in. An outfielder plays this way against a slap hitter.
Squat The catcher's usual low position behind the plate.
Tag play An out made by reaching a runner and touching them with the ball or the glove it sits in.
Throw Fielders may do this freely to one another to beat a runner to a base.
Triple play Three outs made in one go, a very rare thing.

The Game and Its History 31

Arena The indoor form of the sport is sometimes called by this word.
Bottom The second half of an inning, when the home team bats.
Boxing glove Rolled up tight, it was the ball in the earliest known game, in 1887.
Broom handle It served as the bat in the earliest known game.
Cabbage ball What the sixteen-inch game is called in New Orleans.
Chicago The city where the earliest known game was played, at a boat club.
Coed Said of a team that mixes men and women.
Coin toss The official way to decide which team bats first.
Defense The team that is in the field.
Diamond ball One of the names the game went by before it was called what it is today.
Firefighters The outdoor game began in 1895 as exercise for them.
Forfeit A game lost without being played out, as when one side fails to turn up.
Home team The side that most often bats second.
Indoor baseball The sport's first name, from where it was played to keep players sharp in winter.
Inning One turn at bat for each team. A full game usually has seven.
Kitten ball The first name of the outdoor game that began in Minneapolis in 1895.
Mercy rule It ends a game early once one side is far enough ahead.
Mush ball A sixteen-inch sphere that has gone soft with use, and a name for the game played with it.
Offense The team that is at bat and trying to score.
Protest A coach's objection to an umpire's ruling.
Pumpkin ball Another of the names the game went by before 1926.
Recreational The kind of play, for fun more than for winning, where slow pitch is most common.
Regulation Said of a game that has gone enough innings to count.
Run A point. A player scores it by touching all four bases in order.
Score The number of runs each team has.
Thanksgiving The holiday on which the earliest known game was played, in 1887.
Tiebreaker A rule that starts each extra inning with a runner already on second base.
Time out A short stop that players and umpires may ask for while play is dead.
Top The first half of an inning, when the away team bats.
Wheelchair A form of the sport that uses the sixteen-inch ball.
Winter The season the indoor game was first meant for.

How this list was compiled: Softball words chosen and defined for this site in seven themed lists (the field; players and positions; ball and gear; pitching; batting and base running; fielding and outs; the game and its history), with a favorites list, an easy list and a hard list. Terms, rules and history were checked on 2026-10-16 against the English Wikipedia articles Softball, Fastpitch softball, Pitch (softball), Bunt (baseball) and Baseball field, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Softball (CC BY-SA 4.0), and spellings against Wiktionary, https://en.wiktionary.org/. Every meaning is in our own words. No league, team, tournament, player or brand is named, and field sizes, pitching distances and run margins that change with the level of play are left out. Licence: own work

How it works

This softball word search opens on Pitcher, Catcher, Shortstop and Umpire, then Diamond, Dugout and Circle, and four words from the pitching circle: Fastpitch, Underhand, Windmill and Riseball. Every word has a one-line meaning.

Read the full guide

Seven lists, from the pitching circle to the first game

Start from a list has The Field (Double base, Well, Foul pole), Players and Positions (Rover, Flex, Short fielder), Ball and Gear (Mitt, Kapok, Sliders), Pitching (Dropball, Changeup, Crow hop), Batting and Base Running (Tag up, Pop fly), Fielding and Outs (Force play, Infield fly) and The Game and Its History (Kitten ball, Mush ball, Tiebreaker).

An easy list and a hard one

Easy Softball keeps to 45 words of 3 to 5 letters, such as Bat, Mitt, Lob, Steal and Safe. Hard Softball has 17 long ones, Barehanded, Tiebreaker and Thanksgiving among them.

Tick Show clues, not words in More options: "The extra outfielder that slow pitch adds." then stands for Rover.
Two-word terms are hidden as one run of letters: CROWHOP, TAGUP, MUSHBALL and FOULPOLE.

Questions and answers

Why is it called softball if the ball is hard?

The name dates from 1926. Before that the game went by indoor baseball, kitten ball, diamond ball, mush ball and pumpkin ball. The ball is not actually soft: it is only less dense than a baseball.

What is the difference between fastpitch and slow pitch softball?

A fastpitch pitcher swings the arm in a full windmill circle and throws hard. Slow pitch is lobbed in a high arc, puts ten fielders out instead of nine, and is the usual recreational game.

How many innings are in a softball game?

A softball game usually lasts seven innings. Each inning has a top half, when the away team bats, and a bottom half for the home team. A tied game goes to extra innings, and a mercy rule can end a one-sided game early.

What is a crow hop in softball?

A crow hop is an illegal pitch. The pitcher pushes off from somewhere other than the pitching plate, often by jumping forward and planting the pivot foot again. The batter is awarded a ball.

Where was softball invented?

In Chicago. The earliest known game was played at a boat club on Thanksgiving Day 1887, with a rolled-up boxing glove for a ball and a broom handle for a bat. An outdoor form began in Minneapolis in 1895.

All 178 words

The Field 29

The Field, continued

Players and Positions 22

Ball and Gear 25

Pitching 29

Batting and Base Running 20

Fielding and Outs 22

The Game and Its History 31

How it works

Seven lists, from the pitching circle to the first game

An easy list and a hard one

Questions and answers

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