GAME DAY AND SAFETY PROCEDURES

The 2013 season will be here soon! Opening Day is 6 April and the games willactually commence the week of 1 April. Here are some rules that you should print and carry with you.

A.BATTING CAGES and OPENING FIELD GATES

The visiting team gets the use of the batting cage first. The time allotted is from whenever you can get your players to the batting cage until 40 minutes before the scheduled start of the game. The home team has the cage until 15 minutes before the game. For example, if the game is at 5:45, the visiting team must vacate the cage at 5:05, 1:15 game, vacate by 12:35 etc.

The fourth batting cage is reserved for teams playing at Nottoway Park. The manager that opens the gates allowing access to the fields should unlock the batting cagegate; place the lock around the fence, AND THEN LOCK IT. Last year, we spent over two hundred dollars on replacement locks.

B.PRE-GAME INFIELD

The visiting team takes infield first. Up to ten minutes is allotted to each team depending on time constraints. Normally, the visiting team should take infield and be finished 15 minutes prior to the start of the game. The home team should then take infield and be completed five minutes before the start of the game. Remember, the time limit rule is based on the SCHEDULED start of the game, not when you start.

Therefore, if you dilly dally, you are on your time.

The home team is in the third base dugout and the visiting team is in the first base dugout.

Both teams are responsible to line the batting box and the first and third base lines in the event the lines are not visible. The umpires are instructed not to start the game until the lines are marked. Start now to recruit either your coaches or some of your parents to line the field prior to your games.

C.PRE-GAME MANAGER/ UMPIRES MEETING

Five minutes before the start of the game, the manager of each team and the umpires will meet at home plate. The umpires will discuss the ground rules, time constraints, curfews, and other specific rules pertaining to the game. The chief umpire will declare the time and who is keeping the official time for the game. The managers must report who is eligible to pitch and who is not present or able to play. The umpires should note any missing player and report it to the league president. The home team will provide two new regulation baseballs. If additional balls are needed, both teams should throw in a ball deemed satisfactory by the umpire. The ball must be an official game ball and not a practice ball.

D.DURING THE GAME

No more than three adults in the dugout

No one except coaches and players are allowed in the dugout.

No adult can warm up a pitcher; this includes the bullpen as well as home plate.

Adult coaches may not take their positions until the pitcher has completed his warm ups.

Ninety seconds is allowed from the completion of the third out to the completion of the warm up pitches.

E.POST GAME

All garbage and refuse should be removed from the dugout and placed in the trashcans, THIS INCLUDES SUNFLOWER SEEDS.

Both teams are responsible to rake the field. Please ask for parent volunteers to perform this duty. Any items that are found and not claimed should be placed in the Lost and Found and should be reported to the Officer of the Day. After the last game on a field, Both Teams are responsible to shut off the scoreboard, lockup the press box, and lock both gates to the field.

Even though we have an Officer of the Day, we have a back up procedure to ensure that the park is properly secured.

1. Both teams playing at Crabtree (last game) are responsible to ensure that the field lights at Crabtree are off.

2. Both teams playing at Nance are responsible to ensure that the batting cages are locked.

3. Both teams playing at Rhodes are responsible to ensure that the bathrooms and the mailroom are locked and the field lights are off.

4. Both teams playing at Black are responsible to ensure that the scoreboard is shut off and the controller placed in its box and the box locked.

F.PROPER METHOD OF RAKING A FIELD

No need to rake, simply broom the batter’s box/catchers area and the mound. Try to sweep dirt into any holes or depressions. If you have time, please drag the infield.

Please do not rake the foul lines.

G.SAFETY RULES THAT YOU MUST OBSERVE!

A Player may not swing a bat during a game either in the fenced in on-deck area or outside the dugout. The only time he can swing a bat is when he is actually at bat. Managers, think about it, this is for your protection!

There should be no bats or balls in the dugout.

All players should remain in the dugout and not in the fenced in on deck area.

Players warming up a pitcher must wear a protective cup, wear a facemask, and use a catcher’s glove.

H.SINGLE A GAMES AT YEONAS

Coaches that are pitching from the mound in Single A games, please remember that if you pitch from any grassy area, you will eventually kill the grass and start an erosion process that will become a mud and dust bowllater in the season. All Single A coach pitchers MUST pitch from a dirt area. Please, no exceptions.

  1. BATTING CAGES REVISITED

No players are permitted to feed balls into the pitching machines. Please close the gate while you are conducting batting practice. If you are pitching rather than using the machine, please stand behind the L-screeens that are in the cages. Please do not allow your players to swing bats in thebatting cage area. Have a coach ensure that no one is swinging a bat thatis not being supervised by an adult. After using the batting cage, PLEASE PLACE THE COVER ON THE MACHINE AND THEN PLEASE LOCK THE GATE!!!! We had a machine stolen three years ago because someone left the gate unlocked and the machine was taken, never to be seen again.

  1. YEONAS PARK

Yeonas Park does not belong to me, nor does it belong to the Yeonas Family, it belongs to us. And as Pogo stated, “We have met the enemy and it is us.” We need to treat the park as if it was our lawn, our furniture, and our buildings because in essence, they are. We have the responsibility to leave the park in better shape than we found it so that our kid’s kids have a place to play. We should take pride in what we have and we should show that pride by taking care of the park and all within it. That includes:

  1. No soft toss or Tee drills on ANY of the fields at Yeonas, unless you are hitting into the infield./outfield or a portable screen
  2. When warming up your arms prior to the game, please do so in the outfield, NOT in the infield.
  3. If you see one of your players digging a hole with his cleats, please ask him/her to stop and please explain why.
  4. Please do not pitch batting practice from in front of the mound on the grass, it will wear away before May. Please pitch from the mound. I will personally replace any foul ball that is lost – after you have made a good faith effort to find it.
  5. Remember, safety is every one’s primary responsibility. I don’t have to enumerate what is unsafe, but here are the ones that I see everyday:
  1. Equipment lying all over the field, just waiting for someone to trip over it.
  2. Kids swinging bats everywhere.
  3. Base runners not wearing batting helmets. You get the idea.
  1. INCLEMENT WEATHER

In the event of inclement weather, the League will make every effort to make a decision by 3:30pm. Please remember that before the game, a decision to play or not to play resides with the Buildings and Grounds Director, (til 4pm) and with the plate umpire, once he arrives on the scene. Field closings and game postponements will be communicated in the following manner:

  1. Check the web site, there will be an announcement plus the fields will be shown as closed.
  2. Check the hot line: 703-573-3339. Designate someone to call for your team. If everyone calls at once, the line will simply crash and shut down.
  3. Red flag at Yeonas means the fields are closed.
  4. For games at Nottoway Park, please call the county weather hotline at: 703-324-5264, or access their web site at:
  1. IN THE EVENT OF LIGHTNING OR THUNDER, STOP THE GAME/PRACTICE IMMEDIATELY AND HAVE ALL PLAYERS CLEAR THE DUGOUT AND GO TO AN AUTOMOBILE. THERE ARE NO EXCEPTIONS TO THIS RULE. PRIOR TO YOUR PRACTICE/GAME, EXPLAIN TO YOUR PLAYERS WHAT YOU EXPECT OF THEM IN THE EVENT OF LIGHTNING/THUNDER. PLEASE BE PREPARED.
  1. NO PETS (DOGS, CATS, ETC) ARE PERMITTED IN YEONAS. WHETHER THEY ARE ON A LEASH IS IMMATERIAL, THEY ARE NOT PERMITTED. THE EXCEPTION IS SERVICE DOGS.