The Ontario Amateur Softball Association (OASA), a member association of Softball Ontario. The OASA is the governing body for male competitive fast-pitch softball in Ontario. The association organizes qualifying tournaments and provincial championships. Each year the association inducts one or more members who have contributed to the development of amateur softball in Ontario into its Hall of Fame. The OASA conducts "elimination tournaments" which qualify teams for Softball Canada men's and boys' national championships at the Masters, Senior, U23, U20, U17 and U15 levels.

History

Beginning in the early 1890s,

softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

, a derivative of

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

, extended into Canada as a popular

summer Summer is the hottest of the four temperate seasons, occurring after spring and before autumn. At or centred on the summer solstice, the earliest sunrise and latest sunset occurs, daylight hours are longest and dark hours are shortest, wit ...

activity. While initially only played indoors, in 1908, softball was played outdoors at Burlington Beach, Ontario. Two years later in 1910, an informal public-school league was formed in

Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Hamilton has a population of 569,353, and its census metropolitan area, which includes Burlington and Grimsby, has a population of 785,184. The city is approximately southwest of T ...

. At the time of its formation in 1923, the OASA was the world's first amateur softball organization. The association standardized the rules for softball throughout Ontario. The association began organizing local softball teams into leagues and organizing games and tournaments. The OASA will be celebrating its 100th anniversary on April 22, 2023 with a celebration in

Cambridge, Ontario Cambridge is a city in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, located at the confluence of the Grand River (Ontario), Grand and Speed River, Speed rivers. The city had a population of 138,479 as of the 2021 Canadian census, 202 ...

. The game is now played in many places around the world. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Canadians introduced the sport to the

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. in fact, the Netherlands acquired and published the official OASA rules in 1946. Softball was an

Olympic sport Olympic sports are contested in the Summer Olympic Games and Winter Olympic Games. The 2020 Summer Olympics included 33 sports; the 2022 Winter Olympics included seven sports. Each Olympic sport is represented by an international governing b ...

for women starting in 1996, but was dropped by the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

for the 2012 and 2016 Olympics. Women's softball was added to the program for the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

. The highest level of play for male softball is the Men's Softball World Cup, organized by the

World Baseball Softball Confederation World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC; french: Confédération internationale de baseball et softball) is the world governing body for the sports of baseball, softball, and Baseball5. It was established in 2013 by the merger of the Inter ...

, at which various nations compete for the title of World Champion.

Activities

The OASA is one of four member associations within the provincial organization Softball Ontario, which is, in turn, a member of Softball Canada. The OASA has three votes at the annual general meeting of Softball Canada. Each year OASA nominates several athletes for the Quest for Gold Ontario Athlete Assistance Program, an initiative set forth by the Ministry of Health Promotion and Sport of Ontario to promote and assist exceptional athletes in

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

. The OASA also conducts "Softball in Schools" clinics as well as "Springboard" events to promote softball to young athletes in Ontario.

Game Play

The OASA follows Softball Canada rules, with some modifications. The seven-inning game consists of two teams competing against each other with the end goal of attaining more runs than the opposing team. Each team is permitted to have nine players on the field in

fastpitch Fastpitch softball, also known as fastpitch or fastball, is a form of softball played by both women and men. While the teams are most often segregated by sex, coed fast-pitch leagues also exist. Fast pitch is considered the most competitive for ...

softball. In fastpitch softball, a "windmill" style of pitching is utilized, as the pitcher's arm makes a complete backward rotation before completing the pitch. With this style of pitching, elite male pitchers have been known to reach around 70 mph.

Players

Each player on the team must belong to the appropriate age category for their division. Each player must wear a uniform of the same colour, style and trim as that of the rest of the team. Ball caps are permitted but all players must wear the same colour. All participating players in any single game must be included in the lineup card submitted to the official umpires prior to the beginning of the game.

The Field

The OASA requires field dimensions to follow those as directed by Softball Canada. Pitching distances depend on age classification and range from 30 feet for players aged nine and under, up to 46 feet for adult men. The distances between bases also depend on age classification and range from 45 feet for players nine and under, up to 60 feet for adult men.

Age and Divisions

The following table lists the age classification for the OASA. Ages are as of January 1 of the year of competition.

Executive

The association is run by an elected executive and appointed committee members. "Contacts - OASA website"

References

External links

Softball Ontario website
*{{cite web , url=http://www.questforgold.ca/athletes/Default.aspx , title=Quest for Gold Program Soft Softball in Canada