2011
1. All Rosters, Consent & Liability Waivers, and Entry Fees must be turned in prior to every team’s first game.
2. Home Plate Umpire is in control of the game. All rulings/calls are final.
3. Home Plate Umpire can consult with the Tournament Director on ground rule interpretation.
4. Home Plate Umpire is to turn in official Game Score Sheet to Tournament Director or Master of Ceremonies at the conclusion of each game.
5. Home Plate Umpire should validate score with both teams between innings.
6. Coin toss determines Home team.
7. 6 innings is an official game, unless time limit is reached.
8. Games have a 50 minute time limit. All games start on the hour and finish after 50 minutes or 6 innings; game stops when the music starts. Innings started will not be completed if time expires during the inning; revert back to previously-completed inning to declare a winner, if necessary. Clarification: If the Home team is at-bat and has either tied the game or taken the lead in the bottom half of an inning not completed when time expires, the game shall be declared a tie or Home team shall be declared the winner, as the case may be, with the score recorded when time expired.
9. Run rule: 15 after 3 innings, and 10 after 5 innings.
10. A maximum of 10 runs per inning is allowed.
11. 3 warm-up pitches allowed between innings.
12. The umpire is the official scorekeeper, and must keep the Game Score Sheet during the game. Visiting team is responsible for the scoreboard.
13. A team may start a game with less than the minimum of 8 players (minimum 4 women); if this minimum roster requirement is not met by the end of the first inning, the team forfeits. During this team’s offensive turn at-bat, “outs” are to be recorded as required if the line-up reaches spots occupied by absent players, up to the 8th spot in the lineup.
14. You may play more women than men on defense and/or offense,. Each team must have at least 4 females on defense at all times.
15. There are 10 players on defense (four outfielders).
16. Unlimited defensive substitutions are allowed as long as the number of men does not exceed 6 and the number of women is at least 4 on the field at any time.
17. Additional players are allowed in the batting lineup, up to a maximum of 12 players. A minimum of 4 females must be in the batting order at all times.
18. A batting order/lineup should be submitted to the opposing team and must be adhered to or consequences for batting out of order will apply.
19. Line-up must alternate men with women within the batting order until you run out of women or men. For example, if you have 4 women and 8 men on the roster the line-up could look like this (m, w, m, w, m, w, m, w, m, m, m, m )
20. No more than 2 females may occupy outfield positions on defense, i.e., 2 females must be positioned in the infield (catcher is considered an infield position).
21. Equipment: Softball bats only (wood bats allowed, if denoted as for softball). No metal cleats.
22. 2 home runs allowed per game per team for men, subsequent home runs are outs unless home run “mulligans” are purchased and turned in to the home plate umpire prior to the start of the game; see also rule #39. Unlimited home runs for women.
23. “1 ball - 1 strike” count to begin each at-bat.
24. Second foul ball after 2 strikes is an out. No base runner may advance.
25. If a male is walked and is followed by a female in the line-up, the female has the option to go to first with an automatic walk or she can elect to hit.
26. Base runners are to make every effort to avoid contact with defensive players; “must slide” rule is in effect at home plate if a play is being made.
27. The pitch must come in slowly with a perceptible arc of at least 6 feet and no more than 12 feet from the ground. The pitcher must start with and keep one foot on the pitcher’s plate until the ball is released. Strike zone is between the batter’s back shoulder and front knee, called at the plate, when the batter assumes his/her normal stance.
28. There is no base stealing or leading off. Runners must remain in contact with the base until the ball passes over home plate or is hit. A runner off a base when the ball is pitched is ‘out’ - no pitch is called. No advancement of runners is allowed on passed balls / wild pitches.
29. There is no bunting, or "chopping" down on the ball (batter is ‘out’).
30. A batter hit by a pitched ball may not take a walk to first base (ball is dead, "ball" is called).
31. Where a pitcher wishes to walk a batter, the pitches do not have to be thrown - batter goes directly to first base.
32. If a batter decides to swing at an illegal pitch (e.g. a pitch with excessive speed, or not enough arc), a "strike" is called, otherwise the call is a ball.
33. Umpire will call ‘time’ when the ball is in the infield and no plays are apparent - ball is dead.
34. Unless swung at beforehand, any pitched ball hitting home plate, or hitting the ground before reaching home plate, is a ‘ball’.
35. When a ball goes out of play, a runner will be given two bases from the time of the throw. A base is not considered made until it is touched.
36. A batter is declared out and a dead ball will be called when a batter steps out of the batters box to hit the ball.
37. In the event a player is injured, teams may add a player from another team that has been eliminated, subject to approval of the Tournament Director.
38. If a male is walked, intentionally or unintentionally, twice in a row, on the second time he has the choice of going to first base or allowing his own team to pitch to him for that at bat. Note that this does not apply when the walks do not occur in successive at-bats.
39. Each team will be allowed 2 “free” home runs for men (unlimited for women). Teams can purchase “home run” mulligans and hit as many additional home runs as they would like as long as the mulligans are turned in to the umpire prior to the game. Any home runs hit on top of the 2 free home runs will be outs unless the team has provided the umpire enough mulligans to cover the home runs. Mulligans will not be returned for home runs not hit.
Tie-Breaker Rules (used for playoff seeding)
- Won-Loss Record
- Head-to-Head Result
- Runs Allowed (lowest is best)
- Runs Scored (highest is best)
- Coin Toss
For ties among 3 teams, the above process will be followed to eliminate one of the three teams. For the two remaining teams, the process will begin again from step 1 to eliminate the second team.