奥运比赛项目－垒球 Softball

There is little soft about Olympic softball. One pitch at Atlanta was clocked at 118 kilometres per hour (73.3 mph). Considering the pitcher¹ stands 13.1 metres (43 feet) from the batter², and the hardest-throwing baseball pitchers³ throw 160 kilometres per hour (99.4 mph) from 18.4 metres (60 feet), softball batters⁴ have essentially⁵ the same time to react as their baseball counterparts.

　　亚特兰大奥运会女子垒球场上的奋力一掷曾达到时速118公里——事实证明奥运女子垒球并不比男子棒球更“温柔”。考虑到垒球投手与击球手之间的距离为13.1米（43英尺），而即使是一名竭尽全力的棒球投手从18.4米（60英尺）开外的距离投掷也只能投出时速160公里的一掷。 由此来看，垒球击球手需要做出正确反应的时间与她的棒球同行所需要的时间在本质上是一样的。

　　In addition, a softball is as hard as a baseball. The only difference being the size; a softball is 30.4cm (12 inches) in circumference⁶ and a baseball is 22.8cm (9 inches).

　　此外，垒球与棒球的硬度也是一样的。这两种球类唯一的区别仅是尺寸大小。一个垒球的周长是30.4厘米（12英寸），而棒球是22.8厘米（9英寸）。