In a standard college softball game, the teams play a total of seven innings. An inning consists of each team batting and playing defense in the field. The visiting team bats first. Typically, an inning ends when the home team records three outs during their turn at bat.
In the seventh inning, if the home team is ahead at the end of the visiting team's batting turn, the game ends without any further play required. If the teams are tied, play continues until one team finishes an inning with a higher score. As of 2011, the longest, recorded college softball game is 31 innings, played between Creighton and Utah on May 11, 1991.
