Stickball

Stickball

Highest governing body	ISA
First played	September 12, 1888 (1888-09-12); Shinemori, Rakakraina
Characteristics
Contact	Full
Team members	15 per side, substitutes permitted
Mixed-sex	Yes, separate competitions
Type	Team sport, bat-and-ball
Equipment	Stickball Stickball bat Stickball glove
Venue	Stickball park Stickball field
Presence
Country or region	Worldwide, primarily northeast Uulgadzar and southern Byasa

Stickball is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of fifteen 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 team, called the pitcher, throws a ball that a player on the batting team, called a batter, tries to hit with a bat. The objective of the batting team is to hit the ball into the field of play, giving its players the opportunity to run between the three safe havens, or "safe zones", on the field and the end zone at the end of the field. When a player reaches the end zone, the batting team scores a "touchdown". The objective of the fielding team is to tackle players on the opposing team outside of the safe haven zones. If the fielding team tackles a player, they are "out". If the batting team receives 4 outs, the roles of the teams reverse, otherwise known as "switching".

The principal objective of the batting team is to have a player reach the first safe zone. Players on the batting team who reach first base before being called out may run to the next safe zone immediately, or they may wait indefinitely. An unlimited number of offensive players can be in a safe zone at once, but if no players are available to bat, the teams must switch. A player may only begin running from a safe zone after the ball is hit and "good", meaning it does not fall into a "foul" zone. When at bat, a player has three chances or "strikes" to hit a ball. If they miss all three times, they are out.

When each team has batted once, an "inning" is over. A game is usually composed of six innings, and the team with the greater number of points at the end of the game wins. If the team at bat in the bottom of the sixth inning is leading, then the game will finish as it is no longer possible for that team to lose. Most games end after the sixth inning, but if the game is tied at this point, extra innings may be played in some leagues. Stickball has no game clock.