In softball, 7 innings is the most common in every game. However, some game can last from 3 to 7 innings. The teams take turns batting in each innings and bats until three batter have been put out. It depends on each league how to decide which team that will bats first, but the most common rule is that the home team bats second which also can be called as "last at-bat".

If the game is tie, there will be extra innings played until the tie is broken, but only in certain tournaments. In some tournaments or championship, if the home team is leading and the road team has just finished its half of the seventh inning, the game will end. In all forms of softball, the defensive team is the fielding team and the offensive team is batting and is trying to score runs.

Pitching

The pitcher stands at the pitching plate and attempts to throw the ball past the batter to the catcher behind home plate. The pitch must be made with an underarm motion which is the ball must be released below the hip when the hand is no farther from the hip than the elbow to get it in the strike zone.

There is two types of pitch :

Fast pitch - played primarily by woman and features very quick pitches with large wind-ups.

Slow pitch - typically coed and as the name suggest, the ball is pitched by lobbing it in a high, slow arc toward home plate.

Batters

The batting order which is the order the player bat in must stay the same throughout the game. Substitutes must bat in the same position as the player they are replacing. The offensive team sends one batter at a time.

There is two batter's box each on the both sides of home plate. The batter can choose which side of the plate to hit from, but both of batter feet must be inside the box. They attempts to score runs by hitting the ball. The batter may continue to hit until they hit the ball in fair territory, get 3 strikes, or get 4 balls.

A bunt is also another form of batting. There are two types of bunt which sacrifice bunt and slap bunt.

Getting the batter out

The batter is out if :

1. Three strike

2. A ball hit by the batter is caught before touching the ground

3. The batter goes to a base that is already tagged

4. A fielder holding the ball touches a base which is the only base the batter may run before the batter reach there

5. The batter has two strikes and swings at strike three. If the catcher doesn't catch the ball, the batter has the chance to run to first base

Scoring runs

A run is scored when a base runner rounds all of the bases by stepping on all the four bases in order. If the ball is hit over the outfield fence in fair territory, it is considered a home run and the batter has a free trip all the way around the bases until she crosses home plate.