Softball In the Olympics? Big Vote Coming Up on Monday

On Monday October 16th, the International Olympic Committee will vote on five sports to be included in the 2028 Olympic Games that will take place in Los Angeles.

One of those five sports up for voting is the combo of baseball/softball with the others being cricket, flag football, lacrosse and squash.

Softball has had an up and down history when it comes to inclusion as a part of the Summer Olympic Games. The sport was first included in 1996 and stayed in the fold up until 2008.

However, in 2008 it was decided that softball would not be a part of the Olympics for what would the next the next three rounds of the Olympics.

That was the case up until 2020 when, with several key figures lobbying and petitioning for fastpitch to return, a vote was made to bring softball back onto the Olympic stage but, due to the pandemic, the 2020 Games in Japan wouldn’t be stated until the following year (2021)..

Unfortunately, the 2024 XXXIII Paris Olympic Summer Games will once again see softball watching from the sidelines.

That is why, for those hoping to see the return of the diamond sports, Monday October 16^th becomes such an important date as it will ultimately decide whether softball and baseball will once again return to the Olympic program when the games are on home soil.

Los Angeles has hosted the Olympics twice before—in 1932 and 1984— well before softball became the international game it is today.

In fact, the only time that the sport of softball has seen Olympic action in the U.S. was in the 1996 Atlanta Summer Games. Most in the sport believe having softball in the L.A. Olympic Games five years from now would bring huge exposure and great attention to the sport which is booming in popularity at the amateur level.

In the five times that softball has been in the Summer Olympic Games, Team USA has taken home the Gold Medal three times and the Silver Medal twice. In the 2020 Summer Games, Japan won the Gold on its home turf.

In the past, six to eight countries have typically competed in the Summer Olympic Games with the United State, Canada, Japan, and Australia being the mainstays. From 2000 to 2008, Team USA dominated including a 22-game winning streak in Olympic play at one point

When softball does return to Olympic competition, there would be several new faces included on the roster with one of the most experienced—should she make it—being Ally Carda who competed in the WBSC World Cup in 2016, 2018, and 2022.

— Neil Schaeflein/Extra Inning Softball