7 Best Softballs For Practice (#6 Will Stir Up Training)

There are various softball drills, practices, and training methods to spice up your softball efforts and one of the ways is to practice softballs.

In this article, you will find the best regular fastpitch and slowpitch training softballs, in addition to some more innovative, safe, advanced, and fun softballs to take your skills to the next level.

Before moving into the softballs themselves, I want to ensure that you know the answers to a couple of essential questions, so your choice will be the right one for your needs.

What Are Practice Softballs?

On the contrary to regulation game softballs, practice softballs can have various features so that the trainer can gain more from the time invested for practice. By using practice softballs, the team and players can have an advantage over others that doesen’t use as they provide more versatile training.

Some of the best practice softballs include:

• Weighted softballs
• Safety softballs
• Affordable softballs
• Technology softballs
• Pitch training softballs

Depending on the training balls and softball position, you can improve fielding, strength, velocity, pitching, or make training safer!

Game softballs are often more expensive, making it more cost-efficient to use practice softballs instead. Imagine training a whole team with game softballs instead of practice softballs; that could cost hundreds if not thousands of dollars.

Slowpitch Vs Fastpitch Softballs?

There are differences in fastpitch and slowpitch softballs as well. The main difference between the two is that a fastpitch ball has a harder and denser core made of different materials when compared to the softer one in slowpitch balls.

The reason behind this is that the pitching speed creates so much speed on its own when the ball makes contact with the bat, so the core is harder. Vice versa on softball, the pitch is slow, so the core is softer.

Other notable reasons are that fastpitch balls often have blue raised seams, so they are easier to grab as the sport pace is faster, and the balls are found in 11 inches. In addition, fastpitch softballs are always yellow whereas slowpitch ones can be white or other colors.

To recap, take a look at the table below to spot the features where fastpitch and slowpitch softballs vary. This way, you can choose the optimal ball for your practice.

Feature	Fastpitch Softball	Slowpitch Softball
Core	Hard (PU or Kapok)	Soft (Cork)
Size	11 & 12	12
Seams	Raised & Blue	Flat & Red

Best Softballs For Batting Practice

Below you’ll find the seven best practice softballs on the market for various purposes!

1. Best Overall Fastpitch: PHINIX Practice Fastpitch Softballs

• Softball type: Fastpitch
• Size: 11″ & 12″
• Core material: Polyurethane (Hard Core)
• Balls included: 12

If you’re looking for softballs meant for fastpitch practice, the Phinix Practice Balls are what you need! This set of dozen (12) softballs comes at surprisingly affordable prices and is regulation size and weight.

In fact, you can choose the ball size between 11″ and 12″. 11 inch balls are great for younger players, whereas the regulation 12 inch balls are good for teenagers and adults.

These balls are great for fastpitch because they have a hard polyurethane core, blue stitching, and raised seams. Those are the building blocks for great fastpitch balls.

2. Best Overall Slowpitch: Franklin Sports Practice Softballs

• Softball type: Slowpitch
• Size: 12″
• Core material: Natural Cork
• Balls included: 4

If you’re looking for slowpitch softballs for practice, I highly recommend the Franklin Sports Practice Softballs with incredible ratings and reviews. You can choose between one ball and a four-ball set, and I highly recommend getting the four-ball set as the price bell ball is more than two times lower.

These balls are for slowpitch because of the core material, which is made from natural cork. Natural cork is softer than the harder polyurethane or kapok, which you want for softball for ball speed and safety reasons. These balls will, of course, have red stitching, which is the standard for slowpitch balls, and the cover is made from synthetic syntax that is very durable.

3. Best Bulk Order: Rawlings Sporting Goods Softball Bucket

• Softball type: Fastpitch & Slowpitch
• Size: 12″ 
• Core material: Natural Cork
• Balls included: 18

To buy softballs in bulk, you should check out the Rawlings Softball Bucket. With this set, you will get 18 NCAA fastpitch practice softballs and a 5 gallon Rawlings plastic bucket with a cushioned snap-on lid!

These balls are marketed as fastpitch balls and can be used for it; however, they feature natural cork cores used in slowpitch, so that they will be great for that as well. In fact, many people report that these balls are quite soft for fastpitch, which is why they should be only used for fastpitch training.

The balls are covered with durable synthetic leather with raised seams to make them easier to grab on and red seams.

4. Best for Safety: MacGregor Safe/Soft Training Softballs

• Softball type: Fastpitch & Slowpitch
• Size: 11″ & 12″
• Core material: Tri-Flex Safety Core
• Balls included: 12

Sometimes you want to prioritize safety, especially when you are training. Let me introduce MacGregor Safety Training Softballs! This set is included with 12 balls and is fit for both fastpitch and slowpitch training, although as the core is softer, slowpitch is the better choice here.

These balls are so safe because the Tri-Flex safety core is softer than the standard cores often found inside softballs. This way, when you get struck by a softball, it won’t be nearly as dangerous. Also, they are great for indoors! Oh, and these balls are fit for all ages as you can choose both 11 and 12 inch balls.

5. Best Weighted Balls: Set of 4 Champro Training Softballs

• Softball type: Fastpitch & Slowpitch
• Size: 12″
• Balls included: 4 Balls included. 9, 10, 11 & 12oz

If you want to improve in throwing, pitching, and batting in terms of strength, the Weighted Sampro Softballs are what you should look into.

The standard softball weighs 6.6oz, but when you train with heavier balls, the softball will feel lighter on a game day, making you throw and bat harder.

When you get weighted softballs such as the Sampro Balls, you will get balls weighing 9, 10, 11, and 12oz, allowing you to overload train. This set is also included with a training program! Overload training means that you will progressively move on to heavier balls as you get stronger.

When it comes to the balls themselves, they come in green, yellow, blue, and black colors, raised seams, full-grain leather covers, inside of a carrying bag,

6. Best Technology for Pitching: Diamond Kinetics PitchTracker Softball

• Softball type: Fastpitch & Slowpitch
• Size: 12″
• Balls included: 1

If you want to bring your pitching training to the 2020 century, you should check out the Diamond Kinetics PitchTracker Softball.

This ball is more expensive than any of these balls, and the product isn’t a set but a singular ball. However, this ball is included with amazing technology that will take your game to the next level.

The Diamond Kinects Softball is included with a motion tracker that captures real-time data and sends it to the free PitchTracker iOS app by Bluetooth. You should know that the app isn’t available for Android devices.

Now, you can measure velocity, spin rate, spin direction, and much more with this ball and app that can be super valuable in your training as most people don’t have access to that kind of data.

You can also create different training programs with it and track your success. For example, you can see your accuracy consistency and adjust your training accordingly to gain the most skills from each minute spent in practice.

7. Best for Pitching Training: MacGregor Safe/Soft Training Softballs

• Softball type: Fastpitch & Slowpitch
• Size: 1×7″ & 5×12″
• Core material: Polyester
• Balls included: 6

If you are a pitcher looking for something special for training, the Bownet Pitch Kit Case is a great find. This set is included with a total of 6 balls. You will get one small 7-inch ball, and the other five are 12 inch balls. The set is also included with a molded kit case for easy and safe storage & transport.

About the balls themselves, there are three spinner trainer softballs and three strength & velocity training softballs.

The spinner trainer softballs vary so that one of them is the 7-inch ball and two others are 2 and 4 seam flat spinners. The strength & velocity balls are of different sizes, weighing 4, 9, and 10 ounces!

In conclusion, you can master your softball spin, strength, and velocity with this set and place yourself at an advantage over the other pitchers!