Crossword Genius

Two articles of clothing necessary for softball player (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

shortstop

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'player' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'two articles of clothing' is the wordplay.
'two articles of' becomes 'shorts' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'clothing' becomes 'top' (top is a kind of clothing).
'shorts'+'top'='SHORTSTOP'

'necessary for softball' is the link.
I am not very happy about this link. Some or all of it may belong to another bit of the clue.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for shortstop that I've seen before include "Baseball player" , "position in American sport" , "US player" , "Opening move" , "Fielder in baseball" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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