Softball

Venezuela's big leaguers join Chavez, Cabinet members in softball game. President Hugo Chavez and several members of his Cabinet took to the field on Thursday for slow-pitch softball game with some of Venezuela's past and present major leaguers.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - High school baseball players are somewhat more likely to suffer a shoulder injury than their female counterparts in softball -- with pitchers being at particular risk, a new study shows.

HAVANA - They burst into the hush of the four-star Hotel Telegrafo like old friends into a neighborhood pub, wearing baseball pants and slapping one another on the back. Shoving together white-linened tables, they beckoned waiters to bring cans of cold beer and seafood salads. The group of aging amateur softball players - half of them Cuban residents, half visitors from Massachusetts - had met just a few hours before, standing nervously along the base lines of a children's baseball field flanked by palm trees while a band played ``El Himno de Bayamo'' and ``The Star Spangled Banner.'' Separated by language and culture and a half-century political divide, at first they had hardly known what to make of one another. But by the time they got to lunch, guys like Gary Buxton, a cigar-chomping insurance appraiser from Holliston, and Les Gore, a retired corporate recruiter from Newton, were trading barbs - through an interpreter - with Cubans like 57-year-old Sixto Elias Coury del Castillo. ``

HAVANA - They burst into the hush of the four-star Hotel Telegrafo like old friends into a neighborhood pub, wearing baseball pants and slapping one another on the back. Shoving together white-linened tables, they beckoned waiters to bring cans of cold beer and seafood salads. The group of aging amateur softball players - half of them Cuban residents, half visitors from Massachusetts - had met just a few hours before, standing nervously along the base lines of a children's baseball field flanked by palm trees while a band played ``El Himno de Bayamo'' and ``The Star Spangled Banner.'' Separated by language and culture and a half-century political divide, at first they had hardly known what to make of one another. But by the time they got to lunch, guys like Gary Buxton, a cigar-chomping insurance appraiser from Holliston, and Les Gore, a retired corporate recruiter from Newton, were trading barbs - through an interpreter - with Cubans like 57-year-old Sixto Elias Coury del Castillo. ``

HAVANA (Reuters) - There were hugs and handshakes all around on Friday as teams of older U.S. and Cuban softball players ended a "friendship" tournament they hope will set an example for their respective governments.

Final autopsy reports show 3 ND college students who drowned had no alcohol, drugs in system. Authorities say final autopsy results show that three college softball players who drowned when their sport utility vehicle went into a North Dakota pond had not been drinking or using drugs.

American softball players find friendly reception as sports diplomats in Cuba. Softball has been a passion for Michael Eizenberg since he was a child, but the 63-year-old has never been as excited about a game as the one played Monday on a children's ball field at a faded sports complex under Havana's warm Caribbean sun.

American softball players find friendly reception as sports diplomats in Cuba. Softball has been a passion for Michael Eizenberg since he was a child, but the 63-year-old has never been as excited about a game as the one played Monday on a children's ball field at a faded sports complex under Havana's warm Caribbean sun.

Teammates and family members threw roses and softballs Wednesday into the farm pond where three North Dakota college softball players were found dead inside their sunken sport utility vehicle.

Family members visit pond where 3 North Dakota college softball players found dead in Jeep. Family members and teammates of three North Dakota college softball players have thrown roses and softballs into a pond where the students were found dead inside their Jeep.

Seventh-inning stretch? Baseball, slowpitch among reasons for drop in men's fastpitch softball. It was family ties that got Kevin Leick of Marshfield, Wis., into the game he loves 35 years ago.

2 Honolulu police officers arrested on marijuana possession charges after chase in Las Vegas. Two Honolulu law enforcers in Las Vegas to play in a softball tournament for police and firefighters were arrested on marijuana charges after leading authorities on a short chase.

Struck out, still swinging: Softball, baseball lose bid to return to Olympic, vow to fight on. On a day when her sport lost another bid to get back into the Olympics, U.S. softball star Jennie Finch vowed to fight on.

Bus with Special Olympics athletes hits Wis. guardrail and tips over, seriously injures 2. Wisconsin authorities say a bus with about 20 adult Special Olympics athletes crashed while returning from Nebraska, leaving two people with serious injuries.

Finch leads US to 2-0 win over Japan in softball's Japan Cup final. Jennie Finch has thrown a one-hitter and driven in two runs to lead the United States to a 2-0 victory over Japan in the final of the Japan Cup softball tournament.

Player in NY softball rec game sentenced up to 4 years in death of opponent. A softball player who cried during his sentencing Thursday was given a two-to-four year prison term for dealing a deadly punch to a rival team member at a recreational league game in a Rochester suburb.

The white police sergeant accused of racial profiling after he arrested renowned black scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. in his home was hand-picked by a black police commissioner to teach recruits about avoiding racial profiling.

Stanford teammates Hansen and Haber help US crush Australia 8-0 at World Cup of Softball. The retirement of seven gold-medal winning Olympic veterans hasn't slowed the U.S. softball team one bit.

Rookie-laden US roster prepares for World Cup of Softball, rematch of gold medal game. The U.S. softball team's first chance for some gold-medal game revenge may not be so sweet.

Thousands of Jewish athletes converge on Israel for 18th Maccabiah Games. Thousands of athletes paraded through a packed Israeli stadium Monday at the opening ceremony of the 18th Maccabiah Games, known as the Jewish Olympics, which bring together Jewish sportsmen from around the world.