League Rules 2007

ASA rules apply except where the following league rules apply. Any Board Member or umpire has the authority to enforce any of the league rules at any time.

SPECIAL NOTE: Hummel Park prohibits parking on the grass. Inform all of your players and fans to only park in designated paved parking areas. Violators may be ticketed and/or towed. Visitors to Hummel Park must abide by all other park rules as well. See the signs posted in the park for a list of rules.

Illegal Equipment

1. Illegal Bats
   1. List of banned bats can be found at http://www.asasoftball.com/about/build_batlist.asp
   2. List of banned bats with pictures can be found at http://www.asasoftball.com/about/build_batlist_w_pics.asp
   3. Coaches are responsible for making sure they are aware of the bats on the list and making sure their players are aware of the list.
   4. Prior to each game, the umpire will take time to remind coaches of the illegal bat rules and encourage each coach to look over the bats displayed by the opposing team.
   5. Suspected illegal bats can be called to the umpire's attention by a coach ONLY. The umpire will consult the list which every coach should carry with them and deal with any illegal bats as described below.
   6. The umpire may, at any time, call timeout to research an illegal bat and deal with any illegal equipment as described below.
   7. Any illegal bats found during the pre-game check must be removed from the playing area, the team will be warned and the opposing coach will notify the league President.
   8. Any illegal bats found during game play:
      1. First offense: the batter is warned and takes an automatic out; the bat must be removed from the playing area
      2. Second offense: the team with the illegal bat immediately forfeits the game.
   9. Any bat infractions must be reported to the league President who will forward the infraction to all other coaches. In the event that the league President's team is found with an illegal bat, the opposing coach will notify all other coaches.
   10. If a team has multiple illegal bat infractions during the season, the player(s) bringing the bat(s) to the games will be suspended from the league for the remainder of the season. In the event that the PCFS board cannot determine who is responsible for bringing the bats, the team coach will be suspended from the league for the remainder of the season.
   11. The key here is SAFETY - we fully expect these rules to go unused, but please make yourself aware of them and the list as published.

Rosters and Fielding Teams

1. Players must be in the 9^th grade by the fall of the current year or be at least 14 years old. A player must have played at least 3 games with a minimum of one at-bat in each of the 3 games to be eligible to play in the league tournament.  Playing on defense only does not qualify a player.
2. No more than 4 non-member/non-attendee players are allowed to play in a game at the same time.  If a team has 8 member players, then only 2 non-member/non-attendee player will be allowed to be on the field.
3. Players can only be listed on one roster.  Churches fielding two teams cannot share players.
4. No player may play without a signed waiver.  Teams caught using players without signed waivers on file with the league will forfeit any games played with unsigned players and will be removed from the league for repeated violations.
5. Each coach will email game lineup and final score to within one (1) week of the game.  If this information is not emailed within one (1) week, all players who participated in that game will forfeit a game of eligibility toward the tourney.  Other sanctions may be applied as deemed necessary by the PCFS board.  These emails must include first and last names for each player and final score.  Please use these weekly lineups to report any other issues which occurred during the game that the PCFS board should be aware of (such as the illegal bats mentioned above).
6. A team must field at least 8 players to start a game.  You cannot borrow players.  If one team cannot field 8 players at game time, the game is officially a forfeit and must be reported by both teams as such.  The two teams can, after the forfeit, decide to split up players and play a scrimmage game.
7. If a team fields only 8 players, the other team MUST supply a catcher.  The catcher will only return the ball to the pitcher and will remove themselves from the field of play for defensive plays at the plate.
8. If a team fields 9 players, they cannot borrow a catcher.
9. An injured player can only call for a pinch-runner if the injury occurred during the game being played.  Players with pre-existing injuries cannot call for a pinch-runner.
10. Teams may allow up to 16 players to be in the lineup in any game.  However, once the players are set in the lineup, they must remain in the batting order in the exact order in which they appear on the original game roster.  You must finish the game with the same number of players you started the game with or an out will be recorded for any player who is unable to bat.  If you start a game with 8 or 9 players you may ADD to your lineup to allow 10 players to play as they become available. The added players must be put at the END of the lineup and places in the roster cannot be held out for them.
11. There will be no forced outs in the batting order unless you are unable to maintain your original number of starting batters.  If you start with 8 or 9 batters, you are not forced to take an out for the 9^th or 10^th batting position.  If you lose 1 or 2 batters to injury during the course of the game and cannot replace them, you must take an out in those spots.  This is regardless of how many batters you started in your rotation.  For example, if you start 10 people and 1 person is injured and cannot be replaced in the lineup, your team is assessed an automatic out when that injured batter comes up in the order.  As another example, if you decide to start 14 people on your batting roster, and 2 people get injured during the game and cannot be replaced to keep 14 people in your batting rotation, you will be assessed 2 outs - one for each roster spot opened by the injured players.  No team can be forced to take 3 assessed outs even if 3 people are injured during the game.

Discipline and Disputed Calls

1. All coaches will be responsible for keeping team discipline and will be held accountable for knowing and instructing all players in the PCFS rules. Do not assume your players will read the rules themselves.  You are to read every rule to each of your players to be certain they understand each one.  Discipline must be maintained at every game by the coach.  If an umpire's call is to be questioned, the coaches from each team will approach the umpire to discuss the call.  No player may discuss a call with an umpire - only the coaches may do so.  Failure to comply with maintaining discipline or failure to use the correct procedures when discussing a call will result in ejection from the game for the coach and the offending player and possible expulsion from the league of the team which doesn’t abide by this rule.
2. Any player or coach using foul or derogatory language will be ejected from the game.  Any player or coach in possession of alcoholic beverages will be ejected from the game and the park.  Any player or coach using any tobacco products on the playing field, coaches' boxes, dugout area or spectator areas will be ejected from the game.  Any player or coach who verbally or physically threatens anyone will be ejected from the game.  Any player or coach who is overly aggressive in breaking up a force play will be ejected from the game.

Rules of Play and General Rules

1. The home team is the team listed first on the schedule and is responsible for opening prayer.  Visiting team is responsible for closing prayer.
2. Regular season games are limited to 75 minutes.
3. No metal spikes are to be worn at any time in this league.
4. Safety wear - sliding pants, catcher's mask, cups, chest protectors, etc. are strongly recommended but are not required.  The Plainfield Church Federation, the PCFS board, and the participating churches are not responsible for any injuries of any kind.
5. Shirts must be worn at all times.
6. A 12-run lead at the end of 5 innings terminates a regular season game.  Darkness will also terminate a game to the last complete inning.  Umpire and coaches must be notified one (1) full inning ahead of time that game will be called, unless inning preceding cancellation is extraordinarily long.
7. Tournament draw will be seeded.
8. A pitch that hits any part of the plate is considered a ball.
9. There will be free substitution.  On defense, you may play any ten players at any time and players can substitute for different players as the game progresses.  On offense, when you sub one player for another, those two (2) players may NOT substitute for any other players in the batting order and the batting order must stay fixed.  Coaches must always notify the opposing team’s coach or scorekeeper whenever there is an offensive substitution.  To simplify, you can arrange your defense any way you like during the game, but the batting order must stay fixed.
10. The Park staff or Board Members are the only ones allowed to call a game because of rain.  Do not call the park!  Players: Call your coach for rainout information.  They should know by 4:00 PM if games are rained out.  Sometimes we may not know up to game time if game is a rainout or not.  If you have any question as to the status of a rainout, show up to be on the safe side!
11. Each team is allowed 2 over-the-fence home runs.  Any additional hits over the fence will be considered an out.  Runners on base will not be permitted to advance.
12. In the Women’s League, the players will start each at-bat with a 0-0 count.  The 1^st foul ball on the 3^rd strike will be considered a a courtesy strike.
13. In the Men’s League, the players will start each at-bat with a 1-1 count.  The 1^st foul ball on the 3^rd strike will be considered a a courtesy strike.
14. Any time a base runner deliberately impedes the defense from making an out the base runner who was impeding and the batter will be out.  In the event of a runner impeding a force-out by blocking the throw of a defenseman, the force out must be made first.  If the initial force-out is not made, the defense cannot claim throwing interference.
15. ..:: NEW ::.. A batter will be called out if, while in the motion of swinging at a pitch, he or she takes multiple forward motion steps (“slap hitting”) in the batters box.
16. Tie Games - Regular Season
    1. If a game is tied after 7 innings and the 75 minute time limit has NOT expired, the game may continue with additional innings being played and completed, until the 75 minute limit has elapsed.
    2. Once the 75 minute time limit has elapsed and the inning in progress has been completed, a modified international tie-breaker (ITB) rule will take affect. The last player who completed their turn at bat in the prior inning will begin the ITB inning as a runner on second base with no outs. The next regularly scheduled batter will lead off.
    3. If the game is still tied after one ITB inning, a second inning under the ITB rules will be played. Again, the last player who completed their turn at bat in the prior ITB inning will begin the second ITB inning as a runner on second base with no outs. The next regularly scheduled batter will lead off.
    4. If the game is still tied after the second ITB inning, the game will end in a tie and will be reflected as such in the standings. These rules apply to both early and late games of the regular season, including make-up games.
    5. The normal darkness rules will apply.

1. In the event of a tie in the standings at the end of the season, 1^st place will be awarded to the winner of head to head games between the tied teams.  The 2^nd tie breaker will be runs scored between the tied teams.  The 3^rd tie breaker will be total runs scored over the entire season.  The 4^th tie breaker will be fewest runs scored against tied teams in the entire season.  5^th tie breaker will be a coin toss!
2. A 12- run lead at the end of 5 innings terminates a tournament game.  Darkness rules do not apply.
3. Tie Games - Tournament
   1. Follow regular season tie-game rules using modified international tie-break rules (ITB) as appropriate, with the following difference...
   2. ITB innings will continue to be played until there is no tie.  A tournament game cannot end in a tie.
4. There will be no time limit on the Championship game.