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BEIJING, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- The International Softball Federation (ISF) changed a few rules in international softball competition released on its website ahead of the World Softball Championship to be held in the Fengtai Softball Center of Beijing on Sunday.
ISF move the pitching distance back to 43 feet from 40 feet and the outfield fence is also moved back to 220 feet from 200 feet.
The tiebreaker now takes effect at the top of the eighth inning instead of the top of the tenth.
A yellow optic, red-stitched ball is now used replacing the white-stitched ball of white cover.
An intentional walk can now be done via communication with the home plate umpire instead of throwing four "ball" pitches practiced in the past.
The number of warm-up pitches has been reduced.
There are 16 teams vying in the Championship, which will last 10 days from Aug. 27 to Sept. 5. The teams are bracketed into two pools with U.S., Canada, Italy, New Zealand, South Africa, DPR Korea and Britain playing in Pool A along with China, while Australia, Japan, Chinese Taipei, Greece, Venezuela, Netherlands, Botswana and Colombia in Pool B.
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