Scoring diamond sports is an art with an infinite number of techniques and interpretations. Every broadcaster and scorer I meet does it differently, and I've applied methods from a handful of friends and colleagues into a scoring system I can call my own.
My goal is always to track as much information as possible (especially when I don't have live statistics to lean on). Oftentimes, I'll record things in my book that I won't use or discuss in the moment, but will mention later in the game. If I don't make note of something when it happens, I likely won't be able to accurately reference it in the future. This also works for past games -- not just past pitches, at-bats, or innings.
First of all, I use Bob Carpenter's Baseball Scorebook for both baseball and softball games. Most of the people I met at my college radio station used and recommended his scorebook to me, and since I started using it, I haven't used anything else. (I also just got a new scorebook for my birthday -- thanks to my sister. Best present ever!) I'll link the website at the end of this post if you want to get one for yourself.
Here's a fully-scored, seven-inning softball game (I follow the same principles when scoring baseball).
To set up for a game, I begin in the top left corner. There's space for both the visiting and home teams. I add in the game number for each team. There's space for "games back," such as in a division, league, or conference race, depending on what you are broadcasting. I also include both teams' home, road, and neutral site win-loss records (this book was designed specifically for Major League Baseball, so there's space the teams' records against each individual division and in interleague games).
Just below that, on the left side, is space for the final runs, hits, errors, and left-on-base totals, to go along with the winning and losing pitchers, plus a potential save. In the same area, there is space for game-specific details, such as date, time, attendance, and weather.
Jumping over to the right side, there's a running line score on top that I update as each half inning passes, alongside space for stadium information and the umpires. There's also room for standings (not used in this example -- I had a print out of the Pac-12 standings right next to me) and miscellaneous notes (here, I used them to keep track of which highlights to re-play during the postgame show).
I write down numerous statistics, including team hitting, pitching, and fielding numbers, along with individual error numbers, which can be seen just next to each position player on the defensive layout.
Then comes setting up each hitter.
I write in each player's spot in the order on the far-left side, then include the hitter's number, name, offensive statistics (AVG/2B/3B/HR SB - SBA / runs scored), and defensive position. In this case, I also added individual numbers from the rest of the series (this was Game 2 of the series, so the "0-4, K" you see in Svekis' box is her stat line from the first game of the series.
Let's take a look at Svekis' first-inning at-bat to see how I track the count. In the top left of Svekis' first-inning box, you'll see "1 2," with "L S," directly underneath it. This is the pitch-by-pitch account of the at-bat. Balls go on top, while strikes are below. Balls are always marked with a number, correlating to the number of pitches in the at-bat. Strikes are marked with a letter, relating to the type of strike the pitch was. An "L" means it was a looking strike; "S" is swinging -- which could mean a swing and a miss or a ball put in play, resulting in either a hit or an out; "F" is a foul; "C" is a check swing. In the first Svekis example, the first two pitches of the at-bat were balls, hence the "1 2." Then, Svekis looked at a strike ("L"). Svekis then swung at the fourth and final pitch of the at-bat ("S").
I record the result of each at-bat in the bottom-left corner of each box. This is relatively easy to follow. For a single, I write "1B." For a double, "2B." And so on. Going back to the Svekis example, she swung ("S") at the fourth pitch of the at-bat and it resulted in a single. It also drove in a run, which I recorded with one dot in the top-right corner the box. A two-run hit warrants two dots; a three-run hit deserves three dots; a grand slam needs four dots.
You can see that in Mary Iakopo's fifth-inning at-bat.
Iakopo watched two pitches miss the strikezone, then singled on the third pitch of the at-bat and drove in two runs. On that play, though, she was thrown out between first and second base. I mark this by interrupting the line mimicking her path on the bases before second base with a short perpendicular line. Next to it is the journey of the ball: "8-2-6." The centerfielder threw to the catcher at home, trying to get an out at the plate. Iakopo then tried to advance to second, but the catcher threw to the shortstop who applied the tag on Iakopo.
Iakopo's fourth-inning box tells a story, too. She watched a ball, then fouled off two-straight pitches, before the pitcher missed the strikezone again with the fourth pitch of the sequence. After another foul ball, Iakopo forced a full count by watching the sixth-pitch of the at-bat miss. On the next pitch, she swung into a fielder's choice, first baseman to third baseman, marked by "FC 1-5" in the bottom-left corner of the box.
As you can see from Jenna Lilley's fourth-inning box below, she was thrown out between second and third base on Iakopo's fielder's choice.
Iakopo eventually worked her way around to score, though. She reached second and third after the next two batters singled and got hit by a pitch, respectively. Then she scored on a wild pitch, which advanced all runners one base (which is recorded by "WP" along the baseline the runner moved on). Similarly, if a baserunner moves up a base or two for any reason other than the result of a base hit, walk, hit-by-pitch, or anything that isn't obvious based on the flow of the inning, I record why. "WP" means wild pitch; "PB" means passed ball; "FC" means fielder's choice; "SB" means the runner stole the base; "TE3" means the runner advanced due to a throwing error by the first baseman; "FE7" means the runner advanced due to a fielding error by the left fielder.
There are a number of ways to track substitutions. I prefer marking the changes in multiple locations to make sure I'm on top of any changes that happen throughout the course of a game.
The first thing you notice about Rhodes' box is the name directly beneath her's on the left side. This is the introduction of a substitution. In this case it's Miranda Elish, the pitcher, that entered the offensive side of the game as a pinch hitter in the bottom of the fourth inning (Rhodes would return to her duties in centerfield and even got another at-bat in this game (softball is a bit different than baseball in this respect, but I deal with substitutions the same way in both sports).
I record Elish as a pinch hitter for Rhodes in the bottom of the fourth inning by adding "PH ↓4" alongside her name in Rhodes' box. I also draw a dark, jagged line on the left-hand side of that specific fourth-inning box as a visual indicator that a change was made just before this at-bat. I can then refer back to the far-left column and see exactly what the change was (again, in this case: Elish pinch hitting for Rhodes).
You might also notice the same dark, jagged line on the top portion of this fourth-inning box. That records another substitution: a new pitcher. UCLA replaced Holly Azevedo with Selina Ta'amilo (who actually started the game for UCLA before re-entering in the fourth -- again, softball is a bit different than baseball here) just before Elish's at-bat. I also recorded all of the game's pitching changes on the bottom of the corresponding page, but more on that later.
There's another dark, jagged line on the right side of that same box. This marks another substitution and it's really there to signify that Elish's insertion into the offensive part of the game was limited to just the bottom of the fourth inning -- and that this was her only at-bat of the game. She stayed in the game as the pitcher, but the seventh spot of the order was returned to Rhodes.
What's really more important here is the thick dot on top of the first base area in this same fourth-inning box. That means that the player that reached base has been replaced by a pinch runner. In this case, it's Rhodes re-entering the game (also notice the arrow from Elish to Rhodes on the far left side of this row, which I included to make sure I wouldn't get confused about this sequence when looking back at it later). If a new player had entered for Elish as the runner at first, I would have added her name beneath Elish's on the left side along with "PR ↓4" to clarify the substitution.
Normally, keeping track of a pinch runner is less messy.
Take Brianna Tautalafua's fourth-inning at-bat, for example. After watching three consecutive balls to start the at-bat, Tautalafua took a strike before reaching on a fielding error by the third baseman (that scribble reads "FE5," and I'm not sure that's entirely legible to you through this medium).
Anyway, after she reached base, Jenna Crawford pinch ran for her at first. I mark this with the thick dot on the first base area and add Crawford's name underneath Tautalafua's on the left, along with "PR ↑4" to signify purpose and time. In softball, players that are pinch ran for generally re-enter the game defensively and for future offensive plate appearances. That was the case here, too, which is why there are no further substitutions for this row. If this example were baseball, I likely would have had to track another substitution (either defensively the next half inning or offensively when this part of the order came to the plate again).
In both of these examples, though, the batter that was replaced ended up staying in the game, which is why I recorded no changes related to these substitutions on either team's defensive layout (I did when UCLA changed pitchers, though).
I also track pitchers' individual strikeouts for quick reference. I mark every strikeout as you'd expect, with a "K" for a swinging strikeout, and a "ꓘ" for a looking strikeout. The first strikeout of the game for a pitcher gets a circled "1" next to it, and so on.
Briana Perez's row is a perfect example of this.
She struck out three times: in the first inning (Elish's first strikeout of the game), fifth inning (fifth strikeout), and seventh inning (ninth and final strikeout). Elish pitched a complete game here, but if Oregon brought in another pitcher and she recorded a strikeout, I'd start over again with "1." As each pitcher's line finalizes, I enter their statistics in the "Pitchers" area at the bottom of each page.
Included there are Elish's nine strikeouts. If another Oregon pitcher recorded strikeouts this game, I'd just add her running total to Elish's on the fly to keep track of the team's total strikeout numbers for the entire game.
As you've likely already noticed, I also highlight all runs scored. I know a lot of people that color in the bases with the pencil or pen they're using, but I prefer to highlight it so it stands out to me when I'm looking back at how the game unfolded.
Once the game ends, I fill in all the empty spaces: the final runs, hits, errors, and left-on-base totals, along with the pitchers that earned decisions. I complete each player's offensive statistics for the game on the far-right side of each lineup card (for spots in the lineup that featured a substitution, I split the boxes with a horizontal line and fill in both players' numbers). I also finalize all pitchers statistics and, in this specific example, added this game's totals to last game's totals so I have a running series total for each team.
And that's it! Scoring a game well can wildly increase the quality of a broadcast and there are few better feelings, in my opinion, that flipping through old games in a scorebook and immediately being able to explain what happened on the diamond that day. The game I've been talking about in this post was played in March of 2018. I didn't look up any official box score, but I can tell you the story of the game using only my scorebook.
If you're looking to improve your scorekeeping game, I suggest trying softball! With substitution rules that differ from baseball, I think scoring softball is a bit more difficult. If you can score a softball game, then you'll have zero problems scoring any baseball game.
And if you're interested in getting yourself Bob Carpenter's Baseball Scorebook, click here!
I always love to learn how other baseball and softball fans score games. Let me know!