Today, the game is generally played in areas that baseball is also popular, especially in North America, Australia and in the Far East countries of Japan, China and the Philippines. The International Softball Federation has 113 member countries.
Softball is the most popular participant sport in the United States, with an estimated 40 million Americans playing the game at least once a year, most playing the slow-pitch variety. It is played by both genders socially as well as competitively.
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