2017 TOURNAMENT RULES

Tournament follows National Little League Rules – “The Green Book” (2016 as modified by 9/10 tournament rules) 

The following rules are designed to help the Manager and players to receive a fair amount of playing time, since this is a tournament team of 9 year old players.   

Age of Players: All players must be “Little League” age 9 or younger

Continuous Batting: All players will bat in order. There is no changing of order. If a team has 15 players, then they will bat 1 through 15.
 
Stealing: Stealing is allowed and there shall be no limit on the number of steals per inning. A player stealing a base MAY advance on an overthrow. Example- if a base runner attempts to steal second base and the catcher throws the ball into center field the base runner MAY attempt to advance to third base.

Pitching:  Follow National LL 9/10 Tournament rules in the “green book” page T-12 section 4.  Teams entered into other tournaments must follow National Rules for # pitches thrown per game/per day.  Pitchers are allowed to warm up in the bullpens. PLAYERS ARE NOT ALLOWED TO THROW CURVE BALLS

Number of Players:  All teams must play with a minimum of 9 players. If a team fields only 9 players and one is injured, then the team can play with 8 and the “out” will be given in the missing players position at bat.

Free Substitution:  All players can be substituted in the field without penalty.

Game time:  Any team 15 minutes late for the start of the game will forfeit the game.

Visiting Team:  Will take field practice 35 minutes prior to start of the game.

Home Team:  Will take field practice 20 minutes prior to start of game.

Sportsmanship Rule:  No chanting, cheering, comments, insults or noises of any kind while the pitcher is on the rubber and about to throw a pitch.  After pitch is thrown, words or encouragement are fine.

On Deck Batters:  No on deck bat swinging allowed.

Bunting:  No “slash” bunting allowed.

3rd Strike:  The batter is out on a called third strike, even if the catcher drops the ball.

Coaches:  Only 3 coaches are permitted in the dugout during defensive innings and 1 coach must remain in dugouts during offensive innings. 

Game & Pitch Count Reporting:
 

1. After each game the two managers must go over pitch counts for each player on each team to make sure you are in agreement.  It is a good idea to do this after each inning.
    
2. The winning manager must report the score of the game and the pitch counts via email to  .    You must also copy in your email the other manager on the losing team.  This should be done by 9PM on the day you played your game.  We may have a few night games and if that happens the winning manager must report by 11PM.

Playoff Tie-Breaker: If teams are tied in terms of seeding or entry into the playoff round, tie breakers will be: 1) head to head, 2) Lowest Runs Allowed Ratio per section IV of the Green Book Tournament rules page T-26, 3) win/loss vs. common opponent and 4) coin toss.