West Yorba Linda Little League
Local Rules
Majors, AAA, AA Divisions
2016 Season
1:00 - Purpose and Boundaries
1:01 - These rules are established to provide uniformity and consistency throughout the league from year to year. They will in no way conflict with or supersede those specifically stated and recorded in the published Little League Official Rulebook or the Little League Baseball Handbook Manual.
1:02 - See detailed map of areas of West Yorba Linda, East Yorba Linda, Placentia, Brea, North Anaheim and possible non-incorporated areas.
2:00 - Discipline
2:01 – Managers, coaches and parents are required to conduct themselves in an adult manner. Improper touching, gestures, speech, throwing of gloves or hats will not be tolerated by players, parents, coaches or manager. If such conduct is from a player, the manager must counsel the player immediately. Situations contrary to this policy will be referred to the WYLLL Board of Directors for ruling. Their ruling is final and there is no appeal. A Disciplinary Committee made up of the President, League Player Agent and the Umpire-In-Chief shall hear and review all game ejections with consideration to the ways of the League Constitution. The Committee shall meet within 72 hours after the incident and give a decision within 24 hours after the meeting to determine if more than a 1 game suspension is warranted.
It is the responsibility of the Manager to contact the Player Agent immediately following the infraction of his/her team. Managers are ultimately responsible for the conduct of their players, coaching staff and parents. Misconduct by any of these participants, may result in a game forfeiture and/or additional suspensions, including the manager. The Player Agent will contact the Manager if further disciplinary action will be taken.
Any team manager, coach, player or parent ejected from a game, for any reason, shall be suspended for the next game, at minimum. Individuals who are suspended are not allowed to participate in any pre-game warm-ups, post-game Team talks or be present at the game. The Manager or Coach must refrain from attempting any type of communication with any coach in the dug-out or parents from his Team to relay any messages having to do with the game.
2:02 – Managers are responsible for the safety of their players at all times during practices and games, including transportation “to and from” these events in your vehicle.
3:00 - Scheduling
3:01 - Normal scheduled game days will be Monday through Thursday, and Saturday. Game times may range from 4:30 - 7:30 PM, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and from 8:00 AM to 7:00 PM on Saturday. Our permits for practice on the Single A (skin) fields are from 3:30 PM to 6:00 PM on weekdays, therefore, all practices must conclude and be completely vacated by 6:00 PM.
3:02 – All games are played at Veterans Park. Managers are responsible to call the League’s Hotline (502-2315) during times of questionable weather or field conditions.
3:03 - Managers should request from the Player Agent, any needed rescheduling 48 HOURS before game time. Managers will be given 48 hours notice for rescheduled games, unless otherwise specified per Section 3:06, Rainouts. Not having nine players available at the scheduled/rescheduled game time is an automatic forfeit, unless otherwise directed by the umpire on the field.
3:03a – Vacations & Family emergencies are not grounds to reschedule a game.
3:04 - Games may be rescheduled due to school activities, weather, or any other Board approved activity, which conflict with a scheduled game. (See Section 3:02) If a team can field the minimum number of players nine (9), the game will be played as scheduled.
3:05 – Season standings (win/loss) will be a continuous accumulation of all scheduled games for the entire season. The total of all scheduled games must be completed to be eligible for standings, unless otherwise approved by the Player Agent due to unforeseen reasons.
Rainouts will be rescheduled by the player agent based on field and game time availability. Early game slots will be used when possible.
Note: Intent of rainout schedule is to makeup the game as soon as possible, either the week of or the following week. Sometimes there will be conflicts for makeup games on the following week depending on when your game schedule is for that week. Such conflicts will be taken into consideration by the Player Agent.
3:06 – WYLLL recognizes and schedules for 3 “events” per week, unless otherwise directed by the Board of Directors. An “event” is defined as a practice and a game. Any practices above and beyond the 3rd “event” shall be voluntary. Additionally, any practice above and beyond the 3rd “event” or an “event” that takes place somewhere other than a teams assigned/permitted practice facility, must have prior Player Agent & President approval. All Managers who conduct practices or batting cages at their home or business must provide a copy of their insurance policy to the President. Practices may not proceed until the President has approved the request.
3:07 – Batting Cages: WYLLL permits are for Cages 1, 2, 5 and 6. Cages will be based on seniority should there be a conflict. To minimize conflicts, each team is allocated 30 minutes of cage time prior to their game. Please limit the amount of balls thrown to each batter. Teams must be vacated from the cage 30 minutes prior to their game time. Cages 5 and 6 are the shorter cages and should be utilized whenever possible by the AAA and AA divisions.
4:00 - Ground and Playing Rules
4:01 - Home team shall take the third base dugout.
4:02 - Little League Rule 4.10(e) ten run “mercy rule” is in effect.
4:03 - Teams may have 2 adult base coaches on the field and a maximum of 3 coaches (manager and 2 coaches) in the dugout during a game. These individuals must have a prior background check from the League.
4:04 – Both teams shall be responsible for field preparation before the game and after the game, as well as being responsible for making sure the bases, scoreboard equipment and field equipment is returned to the equipment bin and trash is picked up in and around the field.
4:05 - The managers will meet 5 minutes before the game begins with the umpires to supply 1 game ball each, discuss field conditions, clarify rules, and out of play boundaries with the umpires.
4:06 - The Little League Pledge will be recited before each game.
4:07 – “On Deck” batters are NOT permitted, including swinging the bat behind the dugout. Only the first batter of each half inning is permitted outside the dugout prior to play.
4:08 – An adult is NOT allowed to warm-up any player on or adjacent to the playing field at any time during or immediately prior to a game. A player that is acting as a catcher and warming up a pitcher, he or she must wear a Little League approved catcher’s mask. All boys must wear a hard cup if playing the role of a catcher.
4:09 – Teams will bat their entire roster/line-up present. Players arriving after the start of the game shall be placed at the end of the line-up and be considered on the bench at the start of the game.
4:10 – A manager may substitute defensive players freely. A player does not have to be a starter to re-enter the game. Substitutes will rotate each defensive inning so that no player sits more than one inning (3 defensive outs) at a time. A pitcher, once removed from the mound, may not re-enter again as a pitcher (See the Little League Rule Book). If at any time a player’s number of innings on the bench exceeds the number of innings played defensively, the player shall start the next game. Managers will be responsible to make sure this occurs.
4:11 – Infield Practice before games – If time permits, (AA/AAA/Major) each team will be allowed up to 5 minutes
Major Division
4:12 – There is no time limit for Major Division games.
4:13 – Special runners are NOT permitted.
Minor League (AAA and AA)
4:14 – A “No slash-bunt” rule shall be enforced. “Slash-bunt” to mean, “fake bunt then swing away.” The first offense shall be called a strike, dead ball. At that time the umpire shall warn both managers and any further infraction by either team; the batter shall be called out, dead ball.
Note: AAA Division – Slash bunting will be allowed in the second half of the season. Exact date as set forth by the Player Agent if odd number of teams in that division
4:15 - Games will not start a new inning after 1 hour 45 minutes. Maximum game time is 2 hours 15 minutes (“Drop-Dead”). If the game is tied at the 1 hour 45 minute time limit, then the game shall continue to the 2 hour 15 minute time limit. If a game hits the 2 hour 15 minute limit during the middle of an inning, the game shall revert back to the previous completed inning to determine a winner, unless the game is currently tied or if such action by reverting back results in a tie game, then the game shall continue on until a winner is determined or the game has completed 9 innings. LL Rule states “9 innings maximum same day/same game”. Note: If there is another game scheduled after your game (i.e. Saturdays), the game shall not continue beyond the 2 hour 15 minute time limit unless otherwise directed by a Board Member. All weekday games will end at 9:45 PM. If the game has not been completed, then the remainder of the game will be completed at a future date to be determined by the President. The goal is to finish the game, unless completion of such interferes with the next scheduled game or the weekday ending time of 9:45 pm is reached.
If a game remains tied after 9 innings, then the game will be declared a suspended game regardless if there is time remaining or not. The Player Agent will reschedule the game and the game will resume at the exact point the game was halted, per the Little League Rule Book. Ties for non-regulation games will be finished prior the next game between the same two teams is started, or as scheduled by the Player Agent.
Umpires shall warn managers who they determine are delaying a game with the intent of taking advantage of the time limit rule. Umpires will issue one warning. If the delaying tactics continue, umpires may eject the manager without further warning and/or declare a forfeit against that team. Delay tactics include, but are not limited to, excessive requests for a “time out”, failure in having a team leave/return to a dugout in a timely fashion, excessive pitching changes, etc.
4:16 – (AAA & AA Only) A half inning shall constitute either 3 outs OR until 5 runs have scored, whichever comes first. However, the 5-run rule per half-inning will be waived beginning in the 6th inning and subsequent innings if applicable.
4:17. - If a team has 10 players on their game line-up sheet and the opposing team has 12 players on their game line-up sheet, then that team may ONLY bat their maximum of 10 players in their half inning, while the opposing team must bat their maximum of 12 players. Any player arriving late to the game shall be added to the end of the line-up sheet. Any player, who leaves a game early, shall be skipped in the lineup without a penalty.
4:18 – AA Division: 1st Half Only - Home plate shall be “closed”. Runners on third base are prohibited from stealing home, either by an errant pitch (passed ball or wild pitch), a throwback from the catcher to the pitcher or an attempt to pick-off a runner attempting to steal. Any runner who attempts to score due to the plays described above, the ball becomes dead, and the runner(s) shall return to the last unoccupied base. A runner occupying third base can only score when forced in through a bases loaded walk, bases loaded hit batsman or a batted ball. Runners can steal and advance only one base, however if there is a runner on third base, then the runner will only be allowed to advance to second base or third if that base is not occupied. Regardless if a catcher attempts to throw down to any base and overthrows the infielder, the runner may not score and must stop at third. With these first half restrictions, it allows the catcher to practice throwing to a base without run scoring implications.
In the second half of the season, home plate shall be “Open” for the remainder of the season and all restrictions noted in this section will be removed. Basically, all errant throws will allow runners to steal all bases including attempting to score. The Player Agent will inform all teams the exact date of the implementation.
4:19 – AAA Division: The “Dropped Called Third Strike” rule will be implemented for the second half of the season. Exact date to be determined by the AAA Player Agent.
4:20 -- Special runners are NOT permitted.
5:00 - Player Transactions (Call-ups)
5.01 – Any team that loses two players due to an injury or other player related reasons for a period of time during the season must call up a player from the next lower Division within 1 week of the loss, or the Player Agent will replace the player. The procedure for replacing a lost player is as follows:
The manager will review the available player list and supply the Player Agent with 3 names, ranked in order (1...2...3...). The Player Agent will make contact with each player. The Manager or Coach cannot contact any of the players. The highest ranked player that accepts the call-up will be transferred to the next division. If all 3 players decline the call-up, then beginning at the top of the list, the Player Agent will contact each player a second time with the option of either accepting the call-up or be traded to the team that eventually loses such player to the call-up. Once the player accepts the call-up then the Player Agent will contact both Managers to let them know. The Player Agent will also let the President know the transaction.