Two-time Olympic medallist Monica Abbott explains why you should watch softball at LA28

Imagine a packed-out softball stadium with thousands of fans right behind home plate and the outfield cheering on the world's best players at the Olympic Games.

In four years, that becomes reality, as baseball-softball makes its return to the Olympics at Los Angeles 2028.

There, softball players will get to compete at a specific facility made for their sport instead of a converted baseball field with smaller dimensions, after LA28 announced that the USA Softball Hall of Fame Complex in Oklahoma City will be the host venue for the tournament.

And that's a prospect that excites two-time Olympic silver medallist Monica Abbott, who competed at Beijing 2008 and Tokyo 2020.

"I think Oklahoma City having the opportunity to host is incredible – it's a state of the art facility," she tells Olympics.com in a recent interview. "It's the home of USA Softball; it's double decker seating; it's a true softball field, whereas in times in the past we've had to play in baseball stadiums."

And, of course, that means exciting up-close-and-personal gameplay for fans in the stands as well as for those watching around the world. "I would expect to see really fast, intense, high-level action," Abbott adds.

"So think about home runs, people running three seconds and under to first base, 70 miles an hour from the pitcher's mound, all of those things.

"Just great excitement and atmosphere that makes you want to not turn away from the screen."

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What the Olympic Games return of softball means

Softball has had a stop-and-start history at the Olympic Games, having been dropped after Beijing 2008 before being selected as an additional sport at Tokyo 2020 in 2021. Abbott took part in each of the last two appearances for the sport, 13 years apart.

"It was devastating for a lot of people," Abbott says of the sport's exclusion after Beijing. "I almost say like there's a lost generation of softball players out there that weren't able to have that Olympic experience and really show the world what their talent was.

"In some ways, I was one of those people because no one saw me perform in the prime of my career. They saw me at the very beginning when I was raw and a rookie, and they saw me one of the last years I played."

But with baseball-softball having a strong presence in the United States, Abbott is confident that the sport will experience a big boost from having packed-out stands at the Olympic Games.

"We've proven time and time again that we're international, and we draw good crowds, so seeing it get into LA 2028 and knowing the strength of softball in the United States, it just made sense, right?

"It continues to build that dream and continues to build that opportunity for the sport of softball. When you're young and you're excited about the Olympic Games and you're watching it on TV, and then you see a sport on there and you get excited about it. So it creates this dream for you to be able to play."

The benefits of softball being played in OKC in 2028

The fact that Oklahoma City, site of the Women's College World Series softball tournament in the United States, will play host to the teams provides a change from previous Olympic Games as well as for any players who were also in Tokyo, where softball games were played in converted baseball stadiums.

"Softball is a very intimate sport in some ways – the fans are very close to you, so the stadium is very close to you," Abbott explains. "Your dugout is almost on the field, you're very close to the action (when you're in the dugout). So that creates an intensity level for you as an athlete."

Abbott adds that having stadiums designed to hold a softball game, with an appropriate size, makes all the difference for players.

"Just visually, dimensionally, when you're looking at home plate, or you're looking at the outfield from the batter's box, you're not seeing a bunch of dead space. You're seeing the actual edge of the stadium where the stands begin.

"There's not there's not, you know, 20 yards (60ft, 18m) behind home plate of just emptiness until the first round of seats. The seats are right there behind home plate, and that makes a big difference visually and just the feel of the game."

And even the small details, like the infield surface, will make a difference. In a baseball stadium, the softball infield often requires turf overlaid on the baseball field due to the smaller size of the field of play. That won't be an issue in Oklahoma City.

"Oklahoma City has a dirt infield; in Tokyo, we played on turf," Abbott says. "Softball traditionally has a dirt infield, so that's a big difference as well, just as far as the way the ball plays off of ground balls, fly balls, (even) how fast athletes are able to run off on turf versus on dirt."

The growth of softball – and baseball's role

Which teams are likely to mount a challenge in 2028? The last two Olympic Games finals in 2008 featured the USA and Japan, with Japan winning both times.

But Abbott says softball is growing around the world, with the World Baseball Softball Confederation – the sport's global governing body – focussed on Europe.

"I do think there's an opportunity for another rematch of the Japan versus USA, which would be really cool to see because it's a fun rivalry. But there's some other countries that are really stepping up their game and have done really well," she says.

"Italy had a really young team in Tokyo - so I imagine they'll return a lot of athletes for LA 2028, and that experience may help them have a better showing. I think the future for softball and baseball is just to continue to grow in Europe. I think that's our biggest challenge, Europe.

"We want to keep our South American countries healthy, and we want to keep our other Asian countries like Chinese Taipei, Singapore, (People's Republic of) China, just continuing to keep those countries' softball sports healthy. Europe is always going to be a challenge for us because it's not a sport that they grow up playing, but it is a sport that is developing more and more."

The return of softball also means the return of baseball – and recent successes for European teams in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, which featured teams from Czechia and Great Britain, have had an effect on interest in softball, too.

"[The impact] has already actually transferred over," Abbott says. "[Czechia] is actually a really interesting one. They're really good and do well in baseball, but they're also really good in men's fast-pitch (softball). And their softball programme is continuing to grow; all of that is trickling down into the women's side.

"Great Britain as well, they're doing a lot better in softball. They've made a couple of good runs as of late trying to qualify, so I do expect to see them really step up in the next several years."

And for all the players who will get to play in OKC in 2028, Abbott has a piece of advice.

"Just not to take anything for granted. You get one opportunity and it's up to you to show the world – the people that play softball on the Olympic stage, they're the people that move the sport forward, and they are the people that can impact the growth and change in our sport.

"Go out there and play the game with all your heart. And then once you're done with those Olympic Games, go be that mover and shaker that you are and help us push this game along."