Softball became a Summer Olympic sport in 1996. US won their first gold olympic medal in softball against Canada, winning 3-0. They also won gold again in 2000 and in 2004, making it a consecutive three times of winning Olympic gold. However in 2008, they walked away with silver. Softball and baseball were dropped from the 2012 olympics and the 2018 olympics after the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The reason for this was that with the MLB wired with players on enhancing drugs and the idea that the United States had a competitive imbalance over other countries. Baseball went under fast and then sadly dragged softball with it. Becoming "Popular"

After the National Softball Tournament hosted by Chicago in 1933, softball really grew. This started ASA (Amateur Softball Association), one of the highest levels of softball there is today. ASA was founded in the fall of 1933 after the success of the tournament. Softball alone did not just become popular in Chicago but in Minneapolis where Lewis Rober played his own role in developing the game. To keep his firemen busy and active he developed a softball field in the empty lot next to his station. Rober made the games only seven innings so they would not take very long and soon competitions stirred between firehouses.