As you prepare for all of the gear, clothing, and equipment you will need in order to play some solid games of softball for the foreseeable future, you will run into the need for some high-quality softball gloves. You need to make sure that you have all of the right gear so that you can play your best game and protect your body at the same time. One does not mean having to sacrifice the other. In case you were curious about which brand of softball glove would be the best choice, we would of course make it clear that we stand by any of the options we offer at HB Sports. We try to ensure our customers that we only offer products that we believe are high quality. To find the best brand for you, we recommend looking over reviews and descriptions, but at least one brand that you will have a good experience with is Rawlings. Rawlings softball gloves are pretty superb quality. But before you pick up any kind of glove, let’s make sure we lay out some things you would want to know about your softball gloves.
What Are Softball Gloves?
You might be a little unsure of why you are expected to wear softball gloves in the first place, especially if you are new to the game entirely and did not have experience with baseball either. First off, in softball, gloves and mitts are often simply called gloves, but they are still two different types of gear as you wear them for different purposes. In softball, you can call the mitts gloves. You need them to help you catch the softball carefully, without harming your hand. This is especially important in games of fastpitch softball. Gloves are specialized to work for different positions in the field. Infielders and catchers, for example, would want different gloves. So keep in mind which position you intend to hold. Thankfully Rawlings softball gloves are available in different forms for the various positions you might play.
Baseball vs Softball
As you might imagine, baseball and softball are fairly similar games. They have a good amount in common and, at the surface, must seem pretty similar. Pitchers throw a ball at someone who hits it with a bat and runs the bases. However, when you look at them closer, you will notice some fundamental and critical differences between the two games that completely make it understandable that different gear is needed. For starters, the softball, one of the most important elements of the game, is different from the ball used in baseball. It is larger and heavier than the baseball and thus requires a larger glove to catch it securely. Because of this, the softball glove has to be larger with a deeper pocket than the baseball glove. The differences between the gloves from these two sports generally come down to addressing the needs of the different balls used. And no, they are not interchangeable.
Fastpitch vs Slowpitch
Even within the game of softball, you will find differences in the type of game you might want to play. You can go for slowpitch, which is typically the more casual way of playing and has an even larger ball, or fastpitch, which is more competitive and involves sending the ball flying at much higher speeds. While not as different from each other as baseball and softball, they are still different enough so that there are different kinds of gloves you would want to buy. If you normally play one or the other, then that is how you will choose which glove to get. The differences in gloves will be in size and support. In fastpitch, catchers will need more cushion and protection, while pitchers will need closed webbing to hide the ball when deciding what throw to make.
Finding Your Best Glove
It may have come as a surprise to you that there are so many variations of a softball glove, all designed to assist athletes with whichever position or type of game they play. To make this easier for you, we do our best to offer all different kinds of Rawlings softball gloves and gloves from other brands so that you can have what you need. We also like to keep our selection well labeled so that you can easily navigate the listings to find what glove works for which softball position. You can look at gloves for the exact position you plan to hold in either slowpitch or fastpitch. Just make sure that you find a good fit that feels comfortable like it’s a part of your own hand, once you break it in.
Now that you’ve got a better understanding of how softball gloves work and all the different kinds you can get, we hope you feel more prepared to pick out one for yourself from any of the brands we offer. Of course, Rawlings softball gloves are an easy recommendation for us to make since we know the brand so well, but the choice is yours to make. HB Sports is here to make sure you have what you need to play a good, safe game.
