Competition, Cooperation & Development, plus Fun!
The goals of 3TS are simple: to have fun playing softball (or baseball, kickball, etc.) while rooting for each other to succeed, not rooting against others (while also needing fewer player per team to get a game together).
As a fun and engaging bonus, seasonal scoring is added to reward teams for showing up to games (and discourage no-shows). It adds a different dimension to the game and consideration of the whole season in the way it tracks team interactions or cooperation, not just competition (see the Seasonal Scoring and Statistics page).
Competition:
Play against other teams in scoring each game, and the most seasonal points wins the season (this adds a tournament aspect to the whole season, and makes every game matter).
Cooperation:
Teams must work together for a part of every inning to win (teams must help each other, and spectators must also root for the other teams when their team is on the field)
Development:
Everyone gets to play and learn batting, infield, and outfield (no one gets “stuck” in one position – everyone must play at least two field positions every complete inning). Also, batters who tend to "get out" will have more chances to bat and develop their batting, since runners on base get skipped if their turn comes up again in an inning.
Fun:
Have fun with this. The idea behind 3TS is a way to make it easier to get teams together and show up for games (you only need 5 players to make a team, not 9 or 10) and to also reduce the angry likelihood of rooting against other teams, rather than rooting for your own team and enjoying the success of others.
You not only play against each team in a game to see who can score the most runs, you must work with them on defense, in the field: your success depends upon them too.