Have fun!! This league is designed to introduce kids to the basics of baseball. Practices and games should be primarily focused on learning and basic skill development for all players.
League intended to be exclusively machine pitch. Please communicate with the League Director if you have any problems with the pitching machines.
To lend some friendly competition to the games, coaches should keep track of the scores of each game. They will not be posted and standings won’t be kept. They will, however, help in determining the setup for the end of year tournament (see below).
Bats must have “USABASEBALL” stamp. 2 5/8” barrel max. Wood bats are allowed.
Players must wear rubber cleats or tennis shoes – no metal cleats.
Batting
Batter stays at-bat until striking out, fouling out or putting the ball in play. At least one umpire will be assigned to each game to make ball-strike and base calls so a batter may be called out on 3 consecutive pitches.
The coach from the batting team that is feeding the machine should have at least 3 balls and a glove to expedite the time for each at-bat.
Batters will be allowed 4 strikes before being called out in games prior to June 1st. All games on June 1st and after will be played with 3 strikes for an out.
In an effort to get kids the same number of at bats throughout the season, teams must use a rolling batting order. For example, if the 5th batter in the lineup makes the last out in the first game, the 6th batter will be the first batter of the next game. The batting order cannot change from game to game, it simply picks up where it left off the previous game.
Bunting is not allowed.
Once a team has batted through the order, the team’s inning is over. If one team has more players than the other, the team with fewer players may bat the same number of players that are on the larger team when batting through the order.
Base Running
Base running is designed to be “station to station.” Extra bases should only be taken when the ball is hit clearly in the gaps or over the outfielder’s head. Coaches should hold their runners to the next base once an outfielder reaches the ball.
Base runners are to avoid contact and should slide when appropriate.
There will be no head first sliding, however, a base runner may dive head first to return to a base.
Hitters and base runners are not allowed to advance on an overthrow or pass balls. Runs can only be scored on balls that are hit in play.
There is no base stealing.
A courtesy runner shall be used for the catcher (at any time). Courtesy runner will be the player that made the last out. This will help game flow as catchers will use this time to get their gear on.
Defense
There are 10 players in the field; 6 in the infield and 4 in the outfield.
Outfielders must play on the grass until the ball is hit.
The defensive team’s pitching position is to be fielded from the side of the machine opposite the batter (e.g., 1st base side for a right-handed batter, 3rd base side for a left-handed batter).
In an effort to give kids opportunities to play and develop at multiple positions, no player may play the same position for more than 2 innings in a game. Each outfield position is considered unique.
Free substitution in and out is allowed at all times.
Coaches should have a defensive lineup prepared before their team makes the 3 outs in the inning. Best practice would be to have the entire game plan in place before your game starts. Emphasize hustling on and off the field.
A coach from the defensive team should be stationed behind home plate to assist catchers and to get balls back to the machine. Other defensive coaches can be stationed in the field to assist the rest of the defense.
Game Length
Game time is a hard stop at 90 minutes if not called sooner by mutual agreement between coaches. Teams are encouraged to use all 90 minutes allotted and complete as many innings as possible in that time. The more opportunities to play both offense and defense, the better for this age level.
Umpires and coaches must note the official start time of the game. It is very important that the last game is allowed to start on time. The same rule applies to all games, meaning, the team in the last game cannot extend play simply because there is no game following their game.
A game is complete if 6 innings have been played.
Replacement Players
If a team is below the allowed number of players in the field (less than 10 players), that team may have a player(s) from other league team(s) fill in and play, to get that team up to 10 players.
Any replacement players needed are only allowed to play in the outfield and must bat at the end of the rolling batting order for that game. They must wear their own league jersey so everyone knows the players are from another team and subject to these restrictions.
If a team should need a replacement player and gets one to fill in, and then one of its own missing players subsequently shows up, the replacement player would then not be needed and would not play.
Replacement players are not allowed in the end of season tournament.
Team Responsibilities
Home team has the 3rd base dugout.
Home team of 1st game: Setup the pitching machine.
Home team of last game: Put away pitching machine.
Visiting team has the 1st base dugout.
Visiting team of 1st game: Remove base caps and install bases.
Visiting team of last game: Replace base caps and put away bases.
Each team is responsible for cleaning out its own dugout.
End of Season Tournament
Intended to be a single elimination tournament. At the discretion of the League Director, the tournament may be split into separate divisions to keep the games as competitive as possible regardless of a team’s development throughout the season.
Coaches will be allowed to set their batting order without restrictions for each game in the end of season tournament.
Defensive position limits and base running rules remain in effect.
A game is complete if 6 innings have been played and one team has more runs than the other team.
No new inning may start after 80 minutes. If a game is tied at the end of the last inning, extra innings will be played to break the tie. Each team will begin its at-bat with a runner on 2nd base with 1 out. This runner will be the player that immediately precedes the batter in the batting order.
In the case of unequal players on each team, teams bat the higher player count of the two teams (e.g., if one team has 12 players and the other team has 11 players, each team may bat 12 batters per their half of an inning.).
