1. Player Eligibility

A.League play

  1. Players must be 30 years old or over by December 31 of the seasons calendar year
  2. Sons (in-law), fathers (in-law), grandfathers (great to any degree), grandsons (great to any degree) of registered players are invited to play on father son day
  3. These players must be 18 or older.
  4. All players must sign an injury waiver form turned into the Commissioner on game day.
  5. teams are expected to only play their regular season players that appeared on their paid roster unless it appears unlikely they will field a team of 10 players. Non-roster players must sign an injury waiver form and submit it to the commissioner prior to playing.

B.Tournament

  1. must be a paid member of the team’s roster
  2. Violation is a forfeit of that tournament game and could be forfeiture of the championship even if discovered after winning the final game.

C.Mid game modifications

  1. Players may exit a game at any time,however they are not allowed to return to the game unless an “out” is recorded for their turn at-bat.
  2. Players arriving after the first pitch of the game are to be added to the bottom of the batting order.
  1. Schedule

A.The regular season begins July 6, followed by a championship tournament ending in late September.

B.Weekly game structure

  1. Regular season double-header games
  2. 7-innings each through Aug 18th
  3. 5-innings each after Aug 18th
  4. The final week’s schedule may be adjusted to serve as a play-in game in the event that we have an odd number of teams and there is no clear last place team as determined by the seeding for the tournament guidelines. A coin flip is not allowed to determine a team’s ineligibility for the tournament.
  5. Tournament games
  6. 7-inning single-elimination games played as the final 3 weeks of the season.
  7. All teams will continue to play until the final week of the season.
  8. Each week, the winners in the Championship bracket move closer to the title while losers move to the consolation bracket and continue to play.
  9. The initially higher-seeded team is the home team.

C.Disruptions

  1. Games called/cancelled due to weather/darkness before 5 complete innings (or 4½ innings if the home team is winning) must be completed unless agreed to by both teams, time TBD.
  2. Teams with less than 9 of their own players on the field at 6:15 or later will forfeit that game. Unofficial play may occur with the understanding that the game is officially a forfeit.
  3. “no-show” clause
  4. Definition
  5. The team has less than 9 players on the field at 6:15
  6. The game is recorded as a forfeit
  7. The opposing team manager was not given at least a 3-hour notice that the team would be forfeiting
  8. Any team that “no-shows” 3 times during the season
  9. will be disqualified from the league for the rest of the season
  10. the league schedule will be redrawn.
  11. There will be no refunds to the players on the dismissed team
  12. players may join or fill-in on other teamsif approved by that team’s manager.

D.Seeding for the tournament

  1. Win percentage
  2. head-to-head
  3. overall runs allowed
  4. overall runs scored
  5. coin flip
  1. Equipment

A.League provided gear

  1. Game balls are distributed to the managers before the season
  2. Bats upon request while supplies last

B.Attire

  1. Roster players should have matching team-uniform shirts with unique printed numbers on the back. Substitute players should wear similar colors to the teams uniform.
  2. No metal spiked shoes

C.Bats

  1. Material
  2. Bats must be one solid piece of wood.
  3. Bat dimensions (ASA standard)
  4. Not to exceed 34 inches
  5. Not to exceed 38 ounces
  6. Not to exceed 2.25 inches in diameter
  7. ASA stamp in not required
  8. A legal bat has no metal or composite material on the bat
  9. Exceptions
  10. DeMarini Corndog 1 & 2 bats are grandfathered into this league
  11. Bamboobats are allowed in this league
  12. Bats cannot be modified in any way that enhances their original performance as designed by the factory.
  13. painted, drilled, corked, etc
  14. Bats that are questioned must be presented to the Commissioner for evaluation.
  15. Exceptions
  16. Pine tar or similar tacking agent
  17. Resin, talc, dirt or similar drying/clumping agent
  18. Grip wraps
  19. If a batter uses an illegal bat and that bat is questioned by the defense and deemed to be illegal
  20. The use of an illegal bat occurs when a player receives one or more pitches from the defense while holding the illegal bat.
  21. the batter caught using the illegal bat will be out.
  22. A second use of any illegal bat by anyone on that team will constitute a forfeit of that game.
  23. A third use of an illegal bat by anyone on that team at any time during the rest of the season will be grounds for team-suspension from league play for the rest of the season.
  1. House Rules

A.Rules exceptions from ASA standards

  1. A called strike is defined as anytime the pitched ball with a legal arc lands on any part of a "strike zone" mat that sits behind home plate. Batters may swing at any pitch, legal or not, but do so at the risk of a strike being called.
  2. Batters struck by a pitch do not automatically walk to 1st base.
  3. 70 foot base lines
  4. 10 position defenses, although 9 defensive positions are allowed.
  5. Bat the whole lineup
  6. unlimited field substitution.
  7. The count begins at 0-0 or 1-1. The count can start with 1 ball and 1 strike, if agreed to by the managers of both teams.
  8. A batter with two strikes is allowed one foul ball, two fouls with two strikes, batter is out.
  9. Pitch height
  10. must arc over the batter’s head
  11. cannot be higher than 12’
  12. No bunting. A player that intentionally bunts will be declared out.
  13. No leadoffs or stealing, runners can leave the base once the ball is hit by the batter. If a runner leaves early, the runner is declared out.
  14. A defensive player cannot block access to a base unless a play is being made on the runner.
  15. pitchers may elect to pitch from behind an L-screen if they desire
  16. If a batted ball hits the screen, it will be declared a foul ball
  17. A second hit screen by the same batter will be declared an out
  18. If the batter has 2 strikes and one foul already, hitting the screen for a second foul will be an out just as if he had hit a second foul with 2 strikes
  19. If a thrown ball hits the L-screen, all batters are deemed safe at the base they were trying to reach with no further advancement.
  20. Any excessive contact or collision will result in an "out" and/or ejection. This includes contact with the catcher.
  21. Sliding
  22. is not always mandatory
  23. in a close play, the runner must slide to avoid contact.
  24. Any sliding into a base to break up a double play, or any intentional interference with the defensive player, the runner will be called out.
  25. Pinch runner
  26. Up to 2 players may be named at the beginning of the game as candidates for pinch runners
  27. Runner substitutions are always allowed for obviously injured players
  28. Pinch runner
  29. The pinch runner must be the last batted out. If there was no last batted out in the current game, pinch runners are not allowed for previously designated players.
  30. If no out has been recorded in the current game, the last batter in the lineup is the available pinch runner for injured players. Repeat as necessary.
  31. If a pinch runner is on the base path and it becomes their time to bat, they are eligible for a pinch runner.

B.No umpire rules

  1. Balls, strikes and foul balls are called by the catcher.
  2. High or Flat pitches may be called by
  3. base coaches
  4. catcher
  5. on-deck hitter
  6. Base coaches call the outs on bases.
  7. 1B coach calls plays at 1st and home
  8. 3B coach calls plays at 2nd and 3rd
  9. If the appropriate base coach does not make the call on a close play, the runner is out.

C.Field care

  1. Home team sets up the field, laying out the foul lines, installing the bases and pitcher’s rubber.
  2. 1st and 3rd base are 70 feet from the rear of home plate to the back of the bag.
  3. Second base is 99’ from rear of home plate.
  4. Pitching rubber
  5. The front of the pitcher’s rubber is 50’from rear of home plate
  6. struggling pitchers may pitch from 46’ at their own risk.
  7. Home team tears down the field and is responsible for
  8. putting away the strike zone mat
  9. putting away the 3 bases
  10. replacing base plugs
  11. raking the home plate area
  12. filling in the ruts around the plate and pitching mound.

D.FieldArea Limits

  1. balls out of play
  2. are considered dead balls
  3. maybe hit, thrown or carried beyond the boundaries
  4. boundaries
  5. the imaginary line extending from the end of the backstop parallel to thefirst and third base line
  6. This line does not extend beyond the bases.
  7. All fences are considered in play.
  8. Dead Balls
  9. Balls hit into the woods
  10. on the fly are automatic homeruns.
  11. on the hop are ground-rule doubles
  12. balls entering the woods after being touched by the defense are live. Runners may advance at will.
  13. Balls entering other fields
  14. If it touches an object (bleachers, fences, etc) constitutes a ground-rule double
  15. If it touches a person constitutes a ground-rule double.
  16. If the ball does not touch anything, the runnersmay advance at will.
  17. On overthrows out of play
  18. the runners are granted the base to which he is going at the point of the throw plus one more
  19. in cases where a base runner runs past first base, he must make a clearly aggressive turn towards second base to be granted 2nd and 3rd in overthrow situations.
  20. Foul balls striking any fence are considered dead balls.
  21. Catching a dead ball does not constitute an out for the batter

E.Domination

  1. 10 run limit per inning
  2. except for final inning.
  3. Except if team is behind, may tie score
  4. 12-run slaughter rule after completion of the 5th inning. For 5-inning games, the slaughter rule takes effect after 4 innings.
  1. Sportsmanship

A.Players participating in physical fights or intentionally causing injury to any player will be ejected from the game and banned from any and all future games at Forest Hill.

B.Excessive arguing of calls, intentional bad calls, unsportsmanlike-like conduct, excessive foul language, taunting and other behavior detrimental to the game and the reputation of the league will be grounds for immediate ejection from the game and/or expulsion from the league. If a manager/coach cannot control the players on his team and the conduct continues, then the team and its players will permanently be removed from the league.

C.Opponents are not required to “spot” a catcher for a team that only has 9 players, but may choose to do so.