Increased Utilization of Pitchers in NCAA Women’s Softball Compared to Men’s Baseball

BACKGROUND: Pitch count and rest time guidelines are widely employed in youth baseball to mitigate injury risk among pitchers. Similar recommendations are lacking in youth softball, despite evidence of potential overuse injuries from the underhand windmill pitching motion. This disparity in regulation may heighten injury susceptibility. Additionally, the composition of collegiate softball and baseball rosters differs significantly, with softball teams typically featuring fewer pitchers. This discrepancy may lead to increased pitching demands for individual softball pitchers, potentially exacerbating injury risks. Therefore, understanding the relationship between the number of pitchers, game appearances, and injury incidence is crucial for informing injury prevention strategies in both baseball and softball. We hypothesize that individual softball pitchers will have significantly more game appearances per season and pitch more innings per game and season as compared to baseball pitchers, and that softball rosters will average significantly fewer pitchers per team than baseball rosters. METHODS: A retrospective analysis was conducted of National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I softball and baseball College World Series teams from 2016 to 2021. Individual data consisting of game appearances and season innings pitched facilitated calculations for innings per game. Team data included the number of athletes and pitchers per team. Statistical analysis comparing baseball and softball team continuous variables utilized Student’s t-test. Individual data, characterized by non-normal distribution, was evaluated with the Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney Test. A significance level of p < 0.05 was applied to all analyses. RESULTS: Softball pitchers had a significantly greater number of innings pitched per season (median 84.1 (21.0-143.2) vs 29.2 (10.0-56.1) p<0.0001), game appearances per season (median 23.0 (10.0-32.0) vs 16.0 (9.0-21.0), p<0.0001), and innings pitched per game (median 3.6 (2.2-4.7) vs 1.6 (1.1-2.8), p<0.0001). Baseball rosters averaged significantly more total players (35.7 ± 3.9 vs 21.5 ± 2.8, p<0.0001), more pitchers (15.7 ± 2.3 vs 4.5 ± 1.1, p<0.0001), and a greater percentage of their roster was made up of pitchers (44.2% ± 6.4% vs 21.0% ± 4.4%, p<0.0001). CONCLUSION: This study highlights a notable difference in collegiate softball pitcher utilization compared to baseball pitchers. Fewer pitchers on softball teams led to a higher cumulative workload per pitcher, with increased innings pitched per season, per game, and more game appearances. While the relationship between pitch count and injury risk is established in baseball, further research is needed to understand its implications for softball pitchers.