OUTDOOR TOURNAMENT RULES

Uniforms – All players are suggested to wear matching jerseys or team shirts.

Home Team – Home team will be determined by a coin toss at the start of the game.

Format – Pool Play into Single Elimination Championship round

Game and Start of play – Regulation games in pool play are 60 minutes, OR 7 innings long, whichever comes first. No new inning after 55 minutes. In Pool play, extra innings will be played to prevent a tie if time allows. In the knockout round, all games are played to completion. If a game goes beyond the 7th inning, the format will switch to a one-pitch format with the last batter retired from the previous inning starting the inning at 2nd base.

Umpires – Umpires are certified USA umpires. Umpire fees are included. There will be one umpire provided for pool play, and knockout rounds. 2 umpires will be provided for the Championship game. Umpires will review the ground rules with the team captains prior to the start of play. Do not harass the umpires. Harassment of the umpires, either physical or verbal may result in an ejection from the game and further disciplinary action as warranted.

Game Balls – Game balls will be provided for the tournament and will be put into play by the umpire. Teams will not receive balls.

Players on the field – Each team may have a maximum of 10 fielders and a minimum of 8. The opposing team will provide a non-defensive catcher; a team can only field 8 players.

Rosters – Teams are required to fill out an online waiver form which will act as a team roster. Players are not allowed to be rostered on, or play for, more than one team in a tournament. If a team uses an ineligible player, i.e., a player not on their roster who has played for another team in the tournament. the player will be ejected from the game, a 2 run penalty will be assessed against that team and a ghost out will be recorded in that players spot for the remainder of the game.

Coed Tournament batting order – There must be at least 3 women in the batting order. Assuming you bat the minimum number of women, the maximum number of batters in the order is 12. You may only bat more than 12 if you have more than 3 women in the lineup. The order must alternate between a woman and 2 men (e.g. MMFMMFMMFMMM), until all your women have batted. Once all the women have batted a team is allowed to bat the remaining men up to a maximum of 3 in a row which can include 2 EH’s (except when the batting order is turning over i.e. if you bat 2 men at the top of the order they potentially could be your 4th and 5th male batters in a row from bottom to top.)

Penalty for missing women – All women’s spots must appear in the order from the start of the game. If less than 3 women are present at the start of the game then a “ghost out” will be accessed each time a missing woman’s spot is reached in the order. If less than 3 women are present prior to the first pitch of the top of the third inning then a 1 run penalty will be awarded to the opponent for each woman under 3. At least 1 woman is required to play the game. Their spots in the field cannot be filled with men.

Walk to a male batter with a female batting next – When a male batter is walked without a strike being thrown and a female spot (whether present or not) follows in the batting order, the male batter automatically advances to 2nd base. Base runners advance only to the base they are forced to move to (i.e. a sole runner on second would only move to third if forced by the approaching walked batter). The female batter will bat unless there are 2 outs in which case the female batter will have the option to take first base if desired.

Courtesy Belt – When a female player is at bat, outfielders will not be permitted to be positioned closer than 140’ from home plate. Teams will not be allowed to play with a 5th infielder for female batters.

Men’s Batting order ­- Maximum batting order of 15 batters and minimum of 8 batters are required for game to be legal. If your team has more than 15 players present and you wish to play them all they must substitute for players already in the game. Teams will follow the USA re­-entry rules for substituting players.

Players arriving late – Must be placed at the bottom of the order in the order in which they arrived and cannot enter the game while their team is on the field. Late arriving women must fill the spot in the order currently occupied by the ghost out(s) or be placed at the bottom of the lineup if 3 females are already in the game.

Courtesy runners and injury – A batter may ask for courtesy runner BEFORE his time at bat and the umpire will announce it to the opposing team. The batter may not advance beyond first base on a batted ball, except when automatic advancement would be awarded by ground rule (i.e., overthrow, automatic double or HR). Once a courtesy runner has been asked for, it is automatic for the rest of the game. A player who has asked for a courtesy runner may not later rescind his request. A replacement runner is the last player to have completed their turn at bat and is seated on the bench. If a player is injured while running to a base it is the umpire’s discretion whether to award a courtesy runner.

Home Run rule – The home run rule only applies to all fenced fields either partial or complete. On all fenced fields the team home run limit is 3 home runs per game. Balls hit over the fence once the team has reached the limit of 3 Home Runs will be an out.

Mercy Rule – If one team leads by at least 15 runs after 5 innings or at least 12 runs after 6 innings the game will be considered over.

Eligible Bats – The HUB uses the USA banned bat list as a guide for allowable bats. Eligible bats must bear the USA seal and not be listed on the banned bat list. Rolled, shaved, loaded or otherwise altered bats are not allowed. If you are found to be using an altered, banned or illegal bat during the game all runs resulting from that time at bat will be removed from the score book, the batter will be out and your team will be assessed a 2 run penalty and the player using the bat and the bat itself will be removed from the game. If the offending player leaves your team with only 8 players the game is forfeit. DO NOT USE ILLEGAL BATS. If there is a question about a bat’s eligibility the captain of the questioning team must bring his question to the umpire who will check the bat. The umpire’s decision is final. Bats will be tested at the field.

Count and Fouling out – Each batter will begin his turn at bat with a one ball and one strike count. Batters have one foul to waste.

Mound, Bases and Pitching Arc – The mound is at a distance of 50’ from home plate. The bases will be measured at 70’ and the pitching arc will be 6-10’

Waiver forms – All teams are required to have their teams sign player waiver forms. These forms can be filled out online. This is mandatory to be eligible to play in the tourney.

No bunting, stealing, leading off base, take-out slides or blocking a base. Runners must avoid contact when arriving at a base.

TIEBREAKERS FOR POOL PLAY

Pool Play Tie-Breaker – In the case where three teams are tied with a 2-1 pool play record:

1. Fewest runs allowed among tied teams
2. Fewest runs allowed in loss
3. Best run differential among tied teams
4. Best run differential in loss
5. Most runs scored among tied teams
6. Most runs scored in loss

Tie Breaking rules are applied sequentially. If after a tie-breaking rule has been applied two teams still remain tied then the winner of the head to head match-up between those two teams is the winner.

Example: If Team A has allowed 15 runs and Team B has allowed 15 runs and Team C has allowed 20 runs then the C is eliminated and it goes to head to head between A and B. If all 3 teams have allowed 15 runs then it moves to the second tie-breaker and so on until a winner is determined.

TIEBREAKERS FOR WILDCARD

In the case where two or more teams are tied with the same record:

1. Fewest runs allowed among tied teams
2. Fewest runs allowed in loss
3. Best run differential among tied teams
4. Best run differential in loss
5. Most runs scored among tied teams
6. Most runs scored in loss

Tie Breaking rules are applied sequentially.

Example: If Team A has allowed 15 runs and Team B has allowed 15 runs and Team C has allowed 20 runs then the C is eliminated and then it goes to the second tie-breaker. If all 3 teams have allowed 15 runs then it moves to the second tie-breaker and so on until a winner is determined. Head to head record is not a tiebreaker for Wildcard eligibility.

NO ALCOHOL AT OR NEAR THE FIELDS

Rules subject to change prior to start of tournament

– Pitching will be 6′-10’ with a pitching mat. 1-1 count with no fouls through regulation. A strike plate will be used.

Umpires – Umpires are certified USA umpires. Umpire fees are included. There will be one umpire provided for both pool play and the Championship Game. Umpires will review the ground rules with the team captains prior to the start of play. Do not harass the umpires. Harassment of the umpires, either physical or verbal may result in an ejection from the game.

Game Balls – Game balls will be provided for the tournament and will be put into play by the umpire. Teams will not receive balls. All indoor play will use Easton Incrediballs.

Players on the field – Each team may have a maximum of 9 fielders and a minimum of 7, 2 of which must be female. Teams may not bring in an additional infielder when a female batter is at bat.

Batting order Coed –  Teams must bat at least 2 female batters. Teams may not bat more than 3 male batters in a row. Teams may add up to 1 male EH’s for a total batting order of 10. If a team wishes to bat more than 10 the next batter (11) must be female and then a team may add 1 more.

Rule interpretation protest – If a player protests any rule interpretation by the umpire at the field, gameplay must stop and that player and umpire must contact the tournament director to resolve that protest before the game is continued.