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STROUM JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER OF GREATER SEATTLE |
Summer 2014 |
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Amended December 2013 for the Summer 2014 season by SJCC Coed Softball Committee, Chairman Adam Droker, Ron Pergamit, David Schiller, Steve Braverman, Marc Ovetz, Stan Sorcher, Howard Robboy, Mike Lipshulch, Bryan Levy, Adam Stein, Jerrie Bishop, Lindsay Walker, staff Tiger Budbill and Zach Duitch |
Coed Softball League Rules |
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The league shall be governed by the SJCC's Coed Softball Committee and its Chair and Vice-Chairs. The committee is comprised of SJCC members only. In addition, each team shall designate a captain, who will represent his/her team at the annual captains’ information meeting held prior to the start of each season. The committee shall meet immediately following each season's play to evaluate and plan for the following season, and meet as often as needed to complete their work in time for the annual spring captains’ meeting.
All correspondence should be sent to Tiger Budbill, Softball Coordinator, Stroum Jewish Community Center, 3801 East Mercer Way, Mercer Island, WA, 98040; telephone (206) 380-5164. Email to tiger@sjccsoftball.com.
A deposit of $150 must be submitted by March 15. All players must be registered and paid in full, on or before April 24. Any new team, including a reorganized team per article I, section 1.05, must have 10 players, at least three of whom are women, registered by April 1. Any games played with any players who have not signed up and paid will result in game forfeits. Additionally, a captain or acting captain who intentionally uses an ineligible player will be suspended for 1 game. The $150 deposit may not be applied to your team’s total amount due and will only be refunded if all deadlines, meetings, and requirements are met. (If not, the $150 will be forfeited.) There is a 14-player minimum roster limit and no maximum roster limit. Replacement players (for injured players or a player moving out of town) may be placed on the roster, or new players may be added to the roster by contacting the softball coordinator. After June 27thth, no players may be added for any reason. (Replacement for injured player not permitted.)
Each team must pick up their league materials for the season at the mandatory captains’ meeting prior to the beginning of the regular season. The league rules should be brought to every game by each team captain. It is the home team who supplies the "game balls" and the visitor supplies the back-up balls. The team supplying the game ball should keep it for practices after the game ends. In addition, the home team is responsible for being the official scorer for the game.
It is the responsibility of each captain to call the Softball Rainout Hot-Line (206) 232‑7115, ext 438 for any possible game cancellations due to inclement weather. The decision to cancel will be made by 3 p.m. for that evening's game. Sunday rainouts will be decided one hour before the first scheduled games.
Both in-house umpires and Seattle Metro Softball Umpires Association umpires will be used for all divisions of play. The SJCC will make every effort to have games officiated by SMSUA umpires, in-house umpires, or another league official.
In the rare event of an umpire failing to show, the game must start within 10 minutes of its scheduled start time, as the players have made an effort to be there and want to play. The coaches have an obligation to play the game by working out an acceptable umpiring arrangement from the players or fans at the game. This will be an official game and count in the league standings.
Any protests shall be directed to the SJCC Softball League Coordinator by the end of the day following the game. If after discussing the protest with both captains, the coordinator feels that the protest needs further evaluation he/she will advise the protesting party to submit the protest in writing (email is acceptable) with a $25 check payable to the SJCC. The protest must be submitted within 24 hours of notice from the coordinator and contain all pertinent information of how the disputed situation affected the outcome of the game. The Chair and the coordinator will consult with the parties involved and SJCC staff, as necessary to reach a decision. The Chair may elect to call a special hearing. If the protest is successful, the $25 will be refunded. Grievances against any player for unsportsmanlike conduct, disruptive behavior, or being an illegal substitute, or any action, which appears not to be in the league's best interests, must be phoned within 48 hours after the game completion to the League Coordinator’s office. The $25 fee is not required.
There shall be an "A" League, a "B" League, a “C” League, and a “D” League (and possibility a 5th League) proportionately divided by the overall number of teams so that approximately 1/4 of the teams are in each league. Teams will be placed in the divisions by the softball chair and SJCC staff. All teams will play within their respective divisions. The regular season will consist of up to 16 games. If unbalanced scheduling is necessary, additional games within each division will be determined by pairing teams based upon the previous season standings.
Individual trophies will be awarded to the champions in the playoffs for all divisions.
i) FOUL LANGUAGE: May receive a warning for first offense and will be automatically ejected for 2nd.
ii) PHYSICAL CONTACT: Accidental contact may be warned the first time, and if it occurs again will result in immediate ejection. Purposeful contact will result in an immediate ejection plus an additional minimum one-game suspension.
iii) VERBAL ABUSE: The league will not tolerate any verbal abuse of umpires, players, or fans. If a player is ejected by an umpire for verbal abuse, he/she will receive an additional minimum one-game suspension. If a softball committee member observes verbal misbehavior, even if the umpire has not ejected the player, this may result in a suspension.
iv) OTHER INAPPROPRIATE BEHAVIOR: Other actions which will not be tolerated include throwing the bat, ball field/park abuse, using a ball in an unsportsmanlike manner, and any other actions not in the best interest of the league may result in game suspensions.
v) DELAY OF GAME: Such actions as, but not limited to, purposely slowing progress of the game for own team’s benefit and excessive switching of players’ field positions may result in immediate ejection and further suspensions.
vi) USE OF A DISALLOWED BAT: Using a bat prohibited under Article II Section 2.04 is not only a sportsmanship issue but a safety issue. A player found with such a bat will be ejected, and the player and team captain will be suspended from the team’s next game.
Games shall last a maximum of one hour, twenty-five minutes. No new inning will start after one hour, 15 minutes have expired from the scheduled start time, and the game will end no later than one hour, twenty-five minutes after the scheduled start time. If a player is batting when time expires or it becomes too dark to continue, the game does not end until completion of that at bat. Games ended with incomplete innings revert to the last completed full inning (unless the home team is batting and has tied or gone ahead). Games are a maximum seven innings long. The umpire's time shall be considered as official start and end time. The umpire shall strictly enforce game time limits. There is no automatic run rule to win a game.
i) Regular ASA rules will apply. When a woman is batting, she may choose the official women's ball, or may use the men’s ball for her turn at bat. When the play is ended, the men’s ball will be put back in the game. If the wrong size ball is used, a "do over" shall occur if the batting team so desires and if the error is corrected prior to the next pitch.
ii) INTENTIONAL WALKS: If a male batter is pitched four straight balls without any strikes and a woman’s slot is the next in the batting order, the man will automatically walk to 2nd base and the woman/captain will have the option to hit or take an automatic walk to 1st base. Any base runners will automatically advance two bases even if not forced. If a man is intentionally walked and the next batting slot is an automatic out for a missing woman slot, the out is recorded after any and all base runners have been awarded their bases. Any walk to a male batter on more than four pitches or with a male batter on deck will result in a one-base award; runners advance only if forced.
iii) WARM-UPS: Any new pitcher (or in the first inning of a game) shall be allowed a maximum of five warm-up tosses. After that, no warm-ups are permitted between innings.
iv) NO COURTESY FOUL: If after two strikes a foul is hit, the batter is out.
v) DISTANCE: Pitchers must use the 50 foot pitching rubber. On fields 1, 2, and 3, it is the furthest pitching rubber from home plate. On Field 4 it is the 2nd of 4 from home plate.
vi) STARTING COUNT: Each batter will start with a zero-ball, zero-strike count
i) No bunting.
ii) Wearing of batting helmets is recommended but not required.
iii) All bats used must be listed as approved bats on the ASA website www.softball.org/about/certified_equipment.asp. If they do not have an ASA stamp, captains are responsible for providing proof they are legal (such as a printed copy of the relevant webpage listing the bat as legal). Using a non-approved bat will result in ejection of the player and a minimum one-game suspension for the player and team captain.
iv) BATTING ORDERS: Batting orders must be exchanged by each team, at home plate, during the pre-game ground rules meeting. At this time the line-ups become official. (The only exceptions shall be a pinch hitter who then replaces the player pinch hit for in the same spot in the line-up or a player who arrives late as described below. A woman may fill a vacant slot at any time when the team is shorthanded).
Batting orders must be constructed so that not more than two men can bat in succession (except from the end of the order to the first two batters and then no more than 4 men bat in a row). Late arriving players may be added to the end of the batting order after the start of the game. The current men‑to‑women ratio still applies, however, and the opposing captain must be notified. If adding a late arriving male player to the end of the batting order would cause more than 4 men to bat in a row, the later arriving player may instead be added as a platoon in any male batting slot. If fielding 10 players, then 10 batting slots must be filled. (A platoon is considered to be one slot) Batting orders will consist of the following men to women ratios:
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Example of a batting order: |
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8 players |
2 women |
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9 to 11 players |
3 women |
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12 to 14 players |
4 women |
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15 to 17 players |
5 women |
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18 to 20 players |
6 women |
1. Man 2. Man 3. Woman 4. Man 5. Man 6. Woman 7. Man 8. Man 9. Woman 10. Man 11. Man
If a male or female player already in the batting line-up gets injured during the game and can’t continue or has to leave before the game ends, and no subs are available, it is permissible to simply “skip” his/her batting slot and have the next batter in the line-up bat with no automatic out recorded, provided that the male to female batting order ratios are still maintained. If skipping the spot would result in three men batting in a row, other than from the bottom of the order to the top of the order, an automatic out must be taken for the injured batter.
Special Note: If only two women are in the line-up, seven men may play in the field, and eight men may be in the batting order. However, the first woman's slot is an automatic out regardless of the number of batters in your line-up. Also, a late arriving woman may fill that vacant slot at any time.
Question: Is it legal to bat a woman in the first or second slot in the line-up?
Answer: Yes. If a woman is the first batter in the batting order, the last 4 batters may be men. If a woman is the second batter in the batting order, the last three batters plus the leadoff batter may be men.
v) Platooning Batters
Coaches have the option of placing two batters (who have already arrived at the field) of the same sex in the same batting slot in the original line-up exchanged at home plate. These two batters must be designated as "platooning", which means that they will alternate turns batting each time the assigned line-up batting slot comes up during the game. The coach must declare which platooning batter will hit the first time around. Once declared, the platooning batters must alternate in that order. In other words, the same platooning batter may not bat twice in a row. Once a particular line-up slot has been designated as "platooning," it must remain so for the entire game. An exception would be if a platooning batter was injured during the game and could not continue to play or had to leave before the game ended, the spot would be filled by the other platooning player, if a bench player was not available, to avoid having to take an automatic out. A platooning batter may be removed for a pinch hitter of the same sex. However, the pinch hitter must be a player who has not previously batted and was not in the original starting line-up. A late arriving player may be added to a platoon, if adding him to the end of the order would create more than four male batters in a row. If a player not part of a platoon is injured during the game and cannot continue to play or has to leave before the game ends, a team may break a platoon to fill the vacated batting spot. Special Note: The ASA re-entry rule does not apply to our league.
vi) Ejected Player
If a player is ejected from the game, he/she may not be replaced in the batting line and an automatic out shall be recorded during the ejected player’s turn to bat. In addition, the ejected player will be suspended from his/her next game(s) by the League Chairs. (If the player requests a special hearing, the suspension(s) will be enforced after the hearing.) If a player is platooning, an out must be taken when that player’s half of the platoon is scheduled to bat. The other half of the platoon is allowed to bat. An ejected player may not be skipped in the order.
The intent of the courtesy runner rule is to allow a player with physical problems, but who can bat and run to first base, to be able to play in spite of temporary or permanent physical problems. Each team is allowed three players who may use a courtesy runner (male or female for a total of three) per game designated at any time during the game. Once a player uses a courtesy runner, that designation may not be transferred to another player. The courtesy runner, each time, shall be the last batter or runner out at the time the courtesy runner is needed of the same gender. If the courtesy runner becomes the on-deck batter while on base, he/she will be replaced on base by the person of the same gender who made the last out, at the time of the replacement. The designated player must first reach base safely. All other runners requiring base running assistance will be removed from the batting line-up if they use a pinch runner (see pinch runner). If a team bats around, and the proper replacement runner is on base, the next previous out of the appropriate sex is chosen. If a platooning batter requires a courtesy runner, the runner is specifically a courtesy runner for that batter, not for the platooning batting slot.
All teams in the league make the playoffs and teams will be seeded according to their regular season records. The playoffs are double elimination. The playoffs will usually conclude by the Sunday after Seafair (no games on Seafair Sunday).
Team Standings will be calculated as 2 points for a win, 1 point for a tie, and 0 points for a loss. Standings will be in order of points per game played.
The higher seeded team is the home team in the playoffs until potential championship games. The team that reaches the championship via the winners’ bracket will be the home team in the first championship game. If a second championship game is required, the team that won the first championship game will be home team.
No substitutes or replacement players are permitted to play in the playoffs.
No new inning will start after one hour, fifteen minutes have expired from the scheduled start time or the end of the previous game, whichever is later. The final inning shall be played to completion. All playoff games will have time limits, unless specifically stated in the brackets.
Since playoff games cannot end in a tie, if the game is tied and clock time has expired, the next inning will begin with the last male in the batting order going to 2nd base (if a platoon exists it is the Captain’s choice of which player goes to 2nd base), and the top of the batting order bats with two outs. If still tied after both teams have batted, the next inning starts with the last out (male or female) on 2nd base, two outs, and the batting order continuing from the first tie-breaker inning. Tie breakers do not apply to games with no time limits.