Over the weekend I was going through the guide on my TV and saw that college softball was on ESPN2. I tend to watch it from time to time and figured if its on, it must be getting close to the championship series. So I flipped it on and watched Arizona State against Baylor. At the same time on another one of the ESPN channels was showing college baseball. The game, Miami (FL) against Florida. So I decided to start flipping back and forth. Surprisingly that didn't last long. After maybe a half an hour or so of bouncing back and forth I found myself watching just the softball game. Now, one could argue that the reason I decided to not go back to the baseball game was due to the fact that the score was 11-0. But actually, that wasn't the reason at all!

The thing that stood out to me and kept me glued to softball over baseball was the difference between the games when it came to the atmosphere. While watching the baseball game, I got exactly what I expected. The crowd was pretty quiet, the players were relaxed and even the commentators were, well, they were there too. When I watched the softball game, I got a totally different feel. It was like a party atmosphere! The crowd was electric for both teams. The players were shouting and cheering and doing all types of chants like they were just as much cheerleaders as they were players. And even the commentators were into the game and you could tell they were excited to be there. What made it even more strange for me is that the commentators were female and I typically can't stand listening to them commentating on games. That was not the case here. I didn't mind them during this game and actually enjoyed listening to the former player that was part of it. She provided some really great insight to the game that someone like me that doesn't watch or follow softball much could absorb and understand.

Now, I couldn't tell you one name on any softball team. Granted, I couldn't tell you any of the names on any of the college baseball teams either. With that said, I am surprisingly looking more forward to watching the Women's College World Series than I am the men's this year! If this weekend was any indication of what the atmosphere will be like during the championship series, it should be great fun to watch! The riseball (softball's equivalent to baseball's sinker) will be front and center when it starts tonight on ESPN2 in a best-of-three series between No. 1 seed Arizona State and No. 4 seed Florida.

Just For Fun softball, womens college world series