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This event has completed. This information has been preserved for archival purposes.
Looking to sign up for an event you heard about? You may be viewing last season's page. Go back to the leagues/tournaments pages to find your event.
All Leagues All Tournaments
At League Joe, we are doing our best to bring the fun back to the game of softball. As umpires, I don't need to tell you that our game has gotten too serious and too competitive - you are often the bearers of the brunt of an overly-competitive, me-first culture. What I do need to tell you and emphasize strongly is that we support you in doing what you need to do to make sure the fields are safe and fun for new players. Rules are great and all, but we all know that sometimes you're going to screw them up, or make a bad call, or a player is going to misinterpret something and create a scene. We will relentlessly drive into our coaches and players an attitude of "Let it go, it's just a game" and want to take some pressure off of your shoulders. We don't expect you to be perfect - we expect you to be human. And if players are treating you as anything less than, then you have my full blessing to remove players from the field or the entire league if you see and know that their presence is toxic.
The vast majority of the players you are going to see on the fields are new to the game of slowpitch. For some, that means they have literally never held a bat before. For others, that means they haven't played since their high school days, and they maybe have some of those bad habits. You're going to see a field with players who are 18 years old and 68 on the same team. That's the beauty of our style of play, and we ask you to be protective of that culture since many players will look to you first on the field as the leader of that diamond. We encourage you to engage with, laugh with, and enjoy a fun evening of ball with our players. If you see a brand new player who is super nervous against a tournament player who is dropping knuckle balls, we encourage you to NOT give the pitcher that strike 3 call that caught the corner and we encourage you to tell that pitcher to serve some meatballs to the new players. And if the knuckle heads don't get it through their skulls what kind of game they are playing - that's where you let us know and we'll take care of it.
One rotten apple spoils the bunch. You have our permission and encouragement to remove those apples.
Play the Game. We will preach to the coaches that they need to work with each other to be understanding of situations with subs and odd things with their lineups. Sometimes a team is going to show up and only have one girl instead of 3 and they couldn't find a sub. The coaches will be encouraged to negotiate how to make the field of play "even" and get the game in to respect the results. We try to avoid force forfeits - just get the game in!
These are the most common and/or most unique rules being used for this event. Please see "Official Rulebook" for exhaustive list of playing rules. When in conflict, rules written here shall supercede those in the official rulebook.
As a player, you are responsible for knowing all official rules of the game. By participating in the event, you are agreeing that you are aware of all rules associated with the league and the sport, and agree to abide by them at all times.
This event is intended to be FUN first. We welcome players of ALL SKILL LEVELS to our fields, and therefore set rules that ensure the safety and enjoyment of our skilled players and our novices equally. Be supportive of one another. Event organizers reserve the rights to dismiss any player from the event without refund.
Length: 50 minutes, and finish the inning. Including Championship
Run Rules: Games will be declared over by "run rule" if the winning team is ahead by 15 runs at the conclusion of the 3rd inning, 12 runs at the conclusion of the 4th inning, or 10 runs at the conclusion of the 5th inning or later.
Extra Innings: Games tied at the conclusion of the time limit will end in a tie, with the exception of championship week. After 1 additional regular inning the last completed at bat will be placed on 2nd base as a runner. This will continue until a winner is determined.
Home/Away: The coaches will meet the umpire at home plate ahead of the game, and the game timer will start. During pool play, the umpire will flip a coin to determine home team. During tourney play Top Bracket, the higher seed has the option of selecting home or away. During tourney play Bottom Bracket, home team is determined by coin flip.
Umpires: Excessive arguing and/or abusive language towards the Umpires will never be tolerated. Umpires may issue warnings and dismiss players from a game if they are found to be abusive. Event officials reserve the right to ban players from the event with no refund if abusive behavior continues.
Fighting / Arguing / Poor Sportsmanship
If teams are beginning to get chippy and tempers are flaring, the umpires will issue a full warning to both dugouts - regardless of "who started it". After that point, there is no negative verbal communication that may occur from one team directed at the other team or any specific members of the other team. Any such communication will result in an immediate ejection from the game from the offending party. For purposes of clarification, players on opposing teams can continue to and are encouraged to chat with each other on an individual basis (i.e. congratulating a nice play/hit, having a polite convo while standing on 1st base, complimenting a nice pitch, etc) but no "Smack talk", rules disagreements, or yelling will be permitted. Coaches of both teams may continue speaking with one another as needed, but must do so with a tone of civility in the presence of the umpire. Any player removed for disciplinary reasons shall have their place in the lineup treated as an automatic "out".
Pitching: All pitchers will be required to use either a provided safety net (if available) or helmet safety protectors. Shin guards are highly recommended, but not required. A pitcher is allowed and encouraged to use both.
Unsafe Throws: No batter may be thrown at first following a ball hit into the outfield unless by an infielder brought into the outfield through defensive actions.
Hitting Middle: It's not illegal, but it is dangerous and some of our novice players may not be able to control it. But for those of you that can - don't be a jerk. If you feel the other team is hitting middle a lot, don't take revenge and escalate... it's not that kind of event.
Pitching Screens: These screens are intended for safety, not to create an extra defensive player on the field. Screen must be positioned no more than three feet ahead of the pitching rubber. One of the pitching screen support legs must be lined up within the width of the pitching rubber and cannot be set to the side of the rubber. There's no multiple swapping between screen and helmet during an inning. The screen must be placed on the glove hand side of the pitcher.
Pitcher Defense: If the screen is on the field, the pitcher must use it for partial protection whether or not they are also wearing safety gear. After pitching the ball, the pitcher must obtain at least partial cover behind the net and must have at least a shoulder behind the screen when the ball is struck by the batter. If the pitcher is not using a safety helmet, their head/face must be positioned behind the screen upon contact. Once the ball is struck by the batter, the pitcher is allowed to move from behind the screen to attempt to field the ball if they can do so safely. A pitcher may field a slow moving ground ball in front of the screen if they can get to it before it hits the screen. If the ball contacts any portion of the screen, it is immediately ruled a foul ball. If the umpire sees the pitcher extending away from the net prior to the ball being struck, they may call "no pitch" and issue a warning to the pitcher to get at least partial cover behind the screen. Subsequent violations may result in automatic balls or awarding of first base, subject to umpire discretion.
Injury Exceptions: In the cases of significant injury, some rules may be bent to avoid placing players in harm's way. Coaches facing a situation that they believe requires an adjustment must discuss with the opposing coach a recommended solution. Opposing coach must approve the solution, and such approval should not be unreasonably withheld.
Injured Player / Can Not Continue: If a player is significantly injured in the course of play and cannot continue, they shall be removed from the lineup. When their batting position comes up, it shall be skipped and not counted as an automatic out. Player is unable to return to play for that game and, at a minimum, the game following. Exceptions for this rule may be made for extended breaks between games (i.e. a player injured Saturday night can play their first game Sunday if they can safely do so).
Pick - Up Player: You may pick up players, up to 2 per game, to make your team have 10 players. The pickup players(s) must play right field or catch (NOT right center in a 4 man outfield). They must also bat at the bottom of your lineup. You may not pickup players if your team is available to play.
Metal Cleats: Metal cleats are prohibited. Please use soft or hard rubber cleats, or turf shoes only.
Equipment (Bats): 240 USSSA stamped non-banned bats. Where approved in tournament play, Seniors (males: 50+, females: 45+) with a senior wrist band may swing senior bats. All Senior bats must be presented to the umpire at the plate meeting. No senior bat is to be taken back to the dugout at any point during the game. If it is taken to the dugout during the game the bat is no longer available for that game to use.
Equipment (Balls): All balls will be supplied for this event, external balls are not allowed.
Healthy Sits: Each player drafted to a team has had their relative skill level used to balance the team. A healthy player should never volunteer to or be coerced to sit in order to provide a competitive advantage on the field.
9-Players: Teams with fewer than 10 players due to injuries, quits, and/or other unforeseen events can continue to play with nine players. In these cases, the opposing team must provide a "Ball Returner" while they are at bat. The Ball Returner is only there to throw the ball back to the pitcher and is otherwise not obligated to play defense or assist in getting "Outs" in any way, shape or form (i.e. they are not obligated to catch a pop up foul ball). Once the ball is in play, the Ball Returner should step away from the field towards the fence to not give any impression of being involved in the play.
Emergency Subs: In cases of catastrophic injury that results in a team having an illegal lineup to continue play, the coaches may consult with one another and agree upon a reasonable sub from the spectating audience in order to complete the game. The selected sub should not be perceived to give the team any advantage and opposing coach has the full right to approve or deny a specific sub. Whatever the coaches agree to must be declared in front of the umpire as a witness, and play will resume.
Players Removed for Ejections: Players who are removed for ejection are not given the same leniency as situations involving injury. A player spot in the lineup shall count as an "out" for each subsequent at-ball following the ejection, and the opposing coach has no obligation to provide a Ball Returner or Emergency Sub to replace an ejected player.
Females on Defense: No more than one female may sit defensively per inning. If a team has less females than the opposing team, they must play all of their females defensively throughout the entire game.
Walks: If a male batter is walked with a female batter coming up to bat, the male batter is awarded second base and the female batter is given the option to choose an automatic walk or to hit as normal. The decision to walk is up to the sole discretion of the batter and coaches shall not force a walk on any player who wishes to hit. There are stipulations to this rule, check the rule book for specifics.
Pitch Count: All batters start with a count of 1 ball and 1 strike. For extra innings or games quickened due to weather/scheduling issues, all batters start with a full count.
Courtesy Foul: No courtesy foul.
Home Runs: Three and One Up. Three homeruns and then you can hit more as long as you don't hit more than one more than the opposing team.
Courtesy Runners: Three courtesy runners per inning. Each runner may only run for one person per inning, but may run for that same person multiple times in the inning. Runners who wish to run should not be forced/pressured to take a runner in all situations.
Pitching: 6'-10' from the ground. No pump faking. A ball batted into a pitcher's screen will be ruled as a dead ball, foul ball.
Minimum Innings on Defense: During Pool Play, each rostered player must complete a minimum of two defensive innings in the field by the end of the third inning. During bracket play, each rostered player must complete a minimum of one defensive innings in the field by the end of the third inning, two by the end of the fifth.
Only official, insured photographers may be on the field during play. Players are welcome to take their own personal photos from behind the
fences.
These are guidelines and rules for the event that all coaches must acknowledge and follow. Please review all rules carefully.
The official rules for the sport, which may or may not be from a sanctioning body.
Rules have not been posted yet. Please check back later.
