Early Bird Tournament

GENERAL TOURNAMENT RULES

DIRECTOR: JON CASKEY / BRIAN SALMONS

WELCOME! Let us take this time to say welcome from the Ohio Bulldogs Baseball Club to all area baseball players, managers, coaches family and friends. Thank you for your support and participation in our Early Bird Tournament. We sincerely hope that each of you have a safe and enjoyable weekend at our park.

Ohio High School Rules will govern the playing rules of this year’s tournament except where noted in the following Division Specific Rules, if it cannot be found in the division specific rules then OHSAA rules apply.

The 2015 Early Bird Tournament is an open tournament. Rosters must be submitted to the Tournament Director at the director’s headquarters prior to your first game. Violation of this policy will result in forfeiture of fees and removal from the tournament.

Birth Certificates for all players must be available. If a player’s age is PROTESTED, proof of age must be submitted immediately. A game will be held up a maximum of 5 minutes for the proof to be submitted. Tournament officials will resolve any contested age of players. The player must come out of the game after 5 minutes if proof of age has not been submitted. If by the end of the game proof of age cannot be submitted, the player is declared ineligible and the game is forfeited. Cost for Protest is $100.00 Cash (Refunded if protest is upheld).

Birth date cut – off is May 1.

Maximum of 3 players may be contested per game.

BENCH AREA AND PLAYING AREA:

The bench area or dugout will be restricted to coaches, players, and one score keeper and one bat boy/ girl. The participants must stay in the dugout area. No smoking will be permitted in these areas. All trash is to be cleaned up after each game. Team coaches are asked to enforce these rules.

SUSPENDED OR CALLED GAMES:

In case of darkness/rain, four and one half innings will be considered a complete game, except in case of a championship game. In the case of suspended play due to lighting or rain, the coaches are asked to mark the scorebook and record the game situation at the time play was suspended. If it becomes safe to return to play, the game will resume from the point it was suspended. The Tournament Director reserves the right to complete the tournament during the following week if unable to complete the tournament during the scheduled time due to rain/darkness or change the format of the tournament at any time.

CONDUCT:

Profanity and unsportsmanlike behavior will not be tolerated in this program. A coach is responsible for the proper conduct of himself/herself as well as players and fans. The umpires have the right (and duty) to eject a person from the game if they act irresponsibly. Any player or coach ejected from a game for this type of conduct will also be suspended from the next game. If a person has been asked to leave the park and refuses to do so, the police will be called and the offending team may forfeit the game. HYRA reserves the right to eject any player, parent, or coach from the park.

UMPIRES:

Coaches, fans and players are asked to treat the umpires with respect.

SHOES:

Steel spikes are optional for the 13 ~ 15 division only.

IMPORTANT PLAYING RULES:

  1. Coaches cannot touch a base runner or fielder while the ball is in play. The penalty for touching a runner will be called out and the ball is declared dead. All runners return to their original bases.
  2. No defensive player can make a fake tag attempt on a base runner if he/she does not have the ball in his/her possession. The penalty for such an infraction is the runner will be called safe and the defensive player will be ejected from the game.
  3. Any runner, who is in an attempted tag play situation, maliciously causes the player attempting the tag to loose control of the ball, will be called out and may be ejected from the game. The runner does not have to slide but should make all attempts to avoid malicious contact. A runner may also be sliding and be guilty of a malicious act.
  4. Only the team manager can ask the umpire for a conference. The conference will be held behind the pitchers mound and all the players are to remain in the dugout or at their respected positions. The conference must be held in an orderly fashion.
  5. The No Appeal Rule will be in affect.
  6. All leagues will play with a “Roster Bat” batting order unless specified otherwise in the division rules.
  7. We will be playing by the “Major League” trips to the mound rule which allows coaches 1 visit to the mound an inning per pitcher and on the second visit he must remove the pitcher.
  8. There will be no pitch count rules in place but once a pitcher has been removed from the pitcher position he can not return to pitch in that same game.
  9. There will be a Mercy-Rule in affect. (12 after 4 &10 after 5 for a 6 inning game), (10 after 5 for a 7 inning game)
  10. Tie breakers—After time limit or 6 innings complete the California Tie Rule will be in effect

(runner on 2nd base, 1 out, and batter starts with a 1-1 count)

PLEASE NOTE:

HOME TEAM WILL BE THE OFFICIAL SCORER.

THE WINNING TEAM MUST TURN IN ALL SCORES TO THE TOURNAMENT DIRECTORS TABLE.

NO BATTING OR INFIELD PRACTICE ON FIELDS BEFORE THE GAMES.

UMPIRE WILL ANNOUNCE OFFICIAL STARTING TIME TO THE OFFICIAL SCOREKEEPER. NO NEW INNING CAN START AFTER TIME HAS EXPIRED. EXCEPT IN A TIE SITUATUION. THE GAME WILL CONTINUE UNTIL A WINNER IS DECIDED.

THERE WILL BE A $100.00 FEE TO PROTEST THIS FEE IS NON-RETURNABLE UNLESS THE PROTEST IS WON AT WHICH TIME THE FEE WILL BE REFUNDED.

8U Time is 1 hour 30 min

All other divisions 1 hour 50 min

All divisions are 6 innings complete.

NO TIME LIMIT IN CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

NO NEW INNINGS WILL START AFTER TIME