Softball(A History)
By Walker McKnight
Softball was invented in a very interesting way! The story starts Thanksgiving Day of 1887. Some Yale and Harvard alums were eagerly awaiting the outcome of a football game between the two schools, when the news came out that Yale had won the game, a Yale alum threw a boxing glove (underhand) into the Harvard crowd, and a Harvard alum hit it with a broom. Jokingly, George Hancock, a man that was in the crowd, said “Play ball,” and the first Softball game started. Softball was originally a multi-gender sport, where there were men and women on the same team. Once it evolved from boxing gloves and brooms, Softball became very popular.
As I said, Softball was originally a multi-gender sport. But it soon became a women's sport. It was one of the only sports that women were allowed to play. There are many things that women have been excluded from in history, but Softball is not one of them. Before this newfound sport was called softball, it was called indoor baseball, diamond ball, mush ball, and a couple other names. Finally, in 1926, Walter Hakanson came up with the term Softball, which is what we use today!
If I could spotlight any softball player, it would be Kiki Malloy, who just graduated from Tennessee last year. Some of the bright spots in her career were:
2023 World Cup Stage Event - Tallied one home run, 4 RBI and 5 runs scored
2022 Japan All-Star Series - Hit .222 (2 for 9)
2022 Canada Cup Champion - Hit .346 (9 for 26) with 2 HR, 7 RBI, and 10 runs earned
2023 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Top 10 Finalist, NFCA First Team All-America, WCWS All-Tournament Team, All-SEC First Team, University of Tennessee Torchbearer Award
2022 NFCA All-Southeast Region Second Team, SEC All-Tournament Team, All-SEC Second Team, CoSIDA Academic All-District 3 First Team, D1 Softball Preseason First Team All-America, USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Top 50 Watch List, Softball America Preseason Top 100, Extra Innings Softball Elite 100
2021 Easton/NFCA Scholar Athlete, Spring SEC Academic Honor Roll, NFCA First Team All-Southeast Region, NFCA Second Team All-America, All-SEC First Team, SEC All-Newcomer Team
2019 SEC First-Year Academic Honor Roll
All of this goes to show what an amazing softball player Kiki Malloy is, and how we should celebrate the sport forever because it gives little girls a chance to do what they love.
