League Rules

BEHAVIOR

Game Dismissal/Suspension

Any person (Managers, Assistant Managers & players) that are ejected from a game will:
- Not be allowed to remain in the team's dugout and cannot continue argument outside of the dugout.
  - Remaining in the dugout or Continued argument will lead to the team forfeiting the series.
Players who are thrown out of the game are done for the day, lose eligibility for games played AND are suspended the following week
Managers/Assistant Managers who are thrown out will meet with the league commissioner to discuss penalties
“SMD” or any vulgar/personal attacks - Banned from the league at Commissioner's discretion

Fighting/Violent Altercations

All players involved in a confrontation or violent incident are immediately thrown out of the game and can be permanently banned by the commissioner.
Depending on the severity of the incident, players may be removed from the league for life.
Teams who have 2 violent incidents in the season will immediately be ejected from the league with no refund.
Police will be called for any violent incidents.
Let's keep this SOFTBALL!

Disputing Calls

DIsputing calls must be done by Manager & Assistant Manager Only
Manager & Assistant Manager need to be announced at the beginning of each game
Any person that is not a Manager or Assistant Manager who argues a call can be thrown out of the game, and subject to the "Game Dismissal/Suspension” rule above

Dugout Cleanliness

Dugouts will be inspected upon arrival at the field
Any mess found will be taken care of
Afterwards, it is up to each team to keep their dugout clean. Umpires will be encouraged to inspect dugouts between each series. Teams will be assessed a $25 fine for leaving the dugout dirty. $25 must be paid prior to the start of the team's next game. We are not your maids
Trash bags will be provided, and trash cans are in each dugout
Adult beverages/use of marijuana or tobacco products are at your own risk.
- We will be offering up “can koozies” if you want to purchase some

THE GAME

Game Times

9:00am & 12:00pm start times
Full season schedule will be sent out prior to season beginning
Rainout/makeup July 28th & August 4th
Weather delayed start times
- Managers will be notified night before if fields were affected by rain from the week
- If it rains the night previous to games, fields will be inspected, and if needing repair, teams will be given notice by 7:30am. This may cause a delay in start times.
If there are more than 2 rainouts, or if the makeup dates are rained out, teams will receive 2 games towards qualification for each roster player (only 2 total games will be awarded for the season).

Rosters

B & C Teams Only
20 Players + 1 manager. Manager qualifies for playoffs automatically
Assistant manager qualifies for playoffs as well, but must be one of the 20 roster players
Roster review and revisions can and will be enforced if a team is considered to have "A" players/stacked team.
Preliminary Rosters are due before 1st pitch.
Final Rosters are due by 8pm on Sunday, September 22nd, 2024

Game Play

7 inning, doubleheaders each Sunday.
Minimum 4 innings played
Blowout is 10 runs after 4 innings
A game is official after 5 innings have been completed
Batter starts with a 1 & 1 count
After strike 2, the batter gets 1 courtesy swing if the ball is fouled.
Leading is allowed after the pitch has been released from the pitcher’s hand
Field Dimensions - 65’ base to base, 46’ pitchers mound to the back of home plate
Uniforms - Team jerseys must all match - no alternate colors/designs allowed. All players must be in uniform by May 5th.
No jersey/Wrong jersey - player bats with 2 strikes & loses their courtesy strike (they only get 1 swing)
Pitching style - Slowpitch
- The pitch does NOT have to have a "hump." Pitch can be flat, but not fast.
- Pitcher is not allowed to hide the ball during the pitch.
- If a pitch is determined to be “fast”, the umpire is to call an “Illegal Pitch”. The pitch is considered a ball. If the batter hits the pitch, the play is considered dead and the batter returns to hit, unless it is ball 4.
  - 3 illegal pitches in a game and the pitcher MUST BE REMOVED FROM PITCHING.
The game can start with 8 players. Once the lineup has gone around, players cannot be added to the lineup AND they CANNOT play the field.
Conceding innings - only after the 3rd inning
Baserunners can tag from every base
Extra innings -
- 8th Inning starts with a runner on 2nd base:
  - The runner is the LAST BATTED OUT ONLY
- Innings 9+ Start with 1 out and a man on 2nd & 3rd (Last 2 Batted Out)
Reentry - Player who is in the starting lineup can only reenter for the player that came in for them.
- If the starter was a pitcher THEY CANNOT GO BACK TO PITCH.
If using a DH, DH can only come into the game for the player they are hitting for. Once the DH takes the field, they can only be subbed out. No re-entry is allowed for them.
Illegal substitution - All substitutes must be listed on the lineup card provided by the league. A substitute can be challenged, and will be considered illegal when:
- The substitute has entered into the game, but is not on the lineup card AND after 1 pitch has been thrown during gameplay. The result is an automatic out. The player that was was being substituted out, must return unless a legal substitute is available. If the player is no longer available, and there are no legal substitutes, the spot in the lineup will be vacated and result in an out each time it comes up. If an EH (not DH) is in the lineup, they can take the defensive position of the player. If no EH is available, the defensive spot will be vacated.

Forfeits

A team will forfeit a game if they have less than 8 players 15 minutes after the official game time.
- If a team forfeits game 1, they have 30 minutes after the forfeit time to start game two, or a second forfeit will be assessed
If a team has three forfeited GAMES (not series) in the season, they will be removed from the league, and will not be refunded the league fee.

Batting Lineup

League will provide lineup cards to all teams. These cards are the official card for the game. No other card will be accepted.
The Lineup may contain up to 12 total batters
This can include 10 batters playing/pitching on the field + 2 Extra Hitters

9 batters from the field/pitching + 1 DH + 2 Extra Hitters
Batting 12 in a lineup is not mandatory

In order to start the game, a team must have at least 8 players. If a team only has 8 players, the 9th batter will be an automatic out. If a team has 9 players, they will not be charged an automatic out
Late entry players are allowed to enter the game, and added to the end of the batting lineup only if the team HAS NOT gone around their batting lineup
If a team goes through batting order (leadoff batter has 1 pitch thrown during their second at bat) their lineup is considered closed and no players can be added to either the lineup or the defense

Courtesy Runners

2 Courtesy Runners are allowed
- "All Day" means the same player will receive a courtesy runner for the entirety of their time in the game. If the player is subbed out, the courtesy runner is transferred to the substituting player. Once the courtesy runner goes unused, it is lost for the remainder of the game
- "Situational" means a courtesy runner will be used after the completion of a batter's at-bat and the runner is being entered specifically for that time in the game, only.
- A courtesy runner will be deemed illegal when the substituting runner has entered into the game, but are not the last available batted out AND after 1 pitch has been thrown during gameplay. The result is an automatic out and the base the runner was on will be vacated.
Teams are allowed to use 2 "All Day", 2 "Situational", or 1 of each during the game.
"All Day" courtesy runners should be marked on the lineup card by adding a star next to their name.
The "courtesy runner" is the last batted out in the lineup (if a "batted" out was not recorded in the inning, the previous inning's last "batted out" is the courtesy runner). The only time this is not the case is if the last batted out is also receiving a courtesy runner. Then the next batted out would be the courtesy runner.
The courtesy runner must enter immediately after the at-bat is completed. Failure to do so results in the courtesy runner being lost for the remainder of the game.
******In cases where a runner is injured, and no unused substitutes are available on the bench, the umpire will allow a one-time use of a courtesy runner******
- The injured player is to be removed from the game and their spot in the batting lineup becomes an automatic out the remainder of the game, unless a substitute arrives to the field and is eligible to enter the game (listed on the substitution list & the injured players next at-bat has not come up).

PLAYOFF QUALIFYING & SETUP

Games Needed to Qualify

Summer - 10 Games Played, Fall 6 Games Played
- Pitchers: Official Appearance is 3 outs
- Fielders: Official Appearance is 2 defensive innings or 2 ABs if they are an EH/DH

Playoffs Format

All teams make playoffs
Playoff series are best 2 out of 3 games for all rounds, including the championship.
First Round: Times will be 2 series at 8:30am and 2 series at 12:30pm.
Semifinals: Highest seeded team gets choice of field and start time.
Championship Series: Highest seeded team gets choice of field and start time.

Playoff Seeding Tiebreakers

#1 Head to Head record
#2 Head to Head Run Differential (the difference between the runs scored & runs allowed in the head to head series)
#3 Total Run Differential (the difference between the runs scored & runs allowed in the full season)
#4 Total Runs Scored in the season
#5 Coin Flip

DEFENSE

All ASA rules for defense are to be followed.
Outfielders need to be "camped" under a ball for interference to be called on a play from the opposite field. (ex, a player from the other field runs into a camped fielder attempting to catch a fly ball).
- The batter will be called out, and the play will be called dead. No base runners may advance.
Defenses are allowed to "Shift" however they want, and can position players where they want.
- Normal formation of 4 outfielders and infielders is not required.
Phantom Tags are an automatic ejection and subject to the ejection rules (loss of day’s qualifying and suspended the following week).

UMPIRES

Fees & Payment times

2 Umpires per regular season games, except in case of absence.
In the playoffs, First Round, Quarterfinals & Semifinals will have 2 umpires. 3 Umpires will be used in the championship.
Umpires will be paid $45 per game ($90 per doubleheader).
- If a playoff series goes 3 games, $45 dollars more will be paid to each umpire.
Any team that does not pay an umpire, regardless if they win 1 or two games, will be assed 2 losses.
- Payment is still due to the umpire, but wins will not be reinstated

EQUIPMENT

Bats

1 piece wood or bamboo bats
No Composite or Metal bats
NO CORNDOGS!

Footwear

Molded or Plastic cleats, or turf shoes
No Metal Spikes!
- A player caught wearing metal spikes is ejected from the game and subject to the Game Dismissal/Suspension rule (loss of day’s qualifying and suspended the following week).

Balls

1 Ball will be used per game.
Teams should provide a “best used ball” in case of errant foul balls/lost balls.
Game ball should be entered back into play once retrieved
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