Defensive coverage

Question
I was wondering...a few coaches, who are baseball coaches, and I were having a debate about who should cover first on a ball that is hit between the first baseman and second baseman in softball. The other coaches were saying that the pitcher should be covering first on this particular play because the first baseman should be attempting to take the ball and the second baseman should be backing up the first baseman. So the pitcher should be taking first base. I agree that this is proper baseball coverage but I disagreed saying that in softball the second baseman should be covering first any time that the first baseman fields a ball because their momentum is already going toward first base where as a pitchers momentum is going toward home plate. Of course there will be situations where the pitcher will possibly have to cover first base but what is the common coverage for this situation?

Answer
I agree with you on this one. Most college coaches will not have the pitcher cover any base including home plate to minimize risk of injury to the pitcher (for example they will have the first baseman cover home instead)

Fast pitch softball is played on a much smaller field compared to baseball so coverage schemes are different. Distances between the bases are closer, the field is smaller, the first baseman plays in front of the bag, and the outfielders don't play as deep. One of the biggest responsibilities of the second baseman is to cover first base when ever the first baseman vacates the base such as to field a bunt or make a play like you described. The right fielder backs up the fielding attempts on the right side and throws to first base.