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Christmas in July Softball Tournament Rules

ROSTER RULES & LINE UP

  • Free defensive substitutions are allowed and you are allowed to bat your entire line up on both Saturday and Sunday.

    • With your batting line up, how you start the game is how you need to finish the game. If a player is unable to bat in their spot of the lineup and you do not have subs, it will be recorded as an out.

  • Shorthanded Play: All games must be started with at least 8 players. If a team does not have at least 8 players at the start of the game then the result is a forfeit. If a team starts with 8 players then an automatic out will be called every time the 9th slot in the batting lineup comes up. If and when a 9th player arrives at any time during the game, that player is to be inserted immediately into the lineup in the 9th spot and placed into the game (even if the team is on defense). Any other player(s) that arrive after the 9th player can only be used as a legal substitute. The tournament director will determine if a start time can be delayed from its original time. NOTE: All teams should be prepared to start their game 15 minutes prior to the scheduled start time.

  • Please announce offensive substitutions to the umpire and other team

 

INNINGS

  • All games will be 6 innings.

 

TIME LIMIT

  • All games will have a 80-minute time limit, finish the inning. At 80 minutes no new inning will be allowed to start.

    • All pool play games that are tied after 6 innings will be recorded as a tie. No extra innings   will be played in pool play games even if it is under the time limit after 6 innings.

    • We will not finish an inning if the home team is winning & batting when time expires

    • Game time begins at the break of ground rules.

    • The official clock will only stop during lengthy delays (determined at umpire’s discretion)

  • All bracket games will have a 90-minute time limit, finish the inning. At 90 minutes no new inning will be allowed to start.

  • Championship games will have 120 minute time limit.

 

SPEED UP RULES

  • Pitchers will receive 5 warm ups the first inning, 3 every inning thereafter. A new pitcher will receive 5 warm ups.

  • Infield/Outfield balls ARE permitted in between innings

  • “Run Rule” as follows will be in place for ALL games (including Championship):

    • 12 runs after 3 innings, 10 runs after 4 innings, and 8 runs after 5 innings

    • 10U GAMES ONLY:  There is a 5 run max for innings played during the first 60 minutes of the game.  The umpire will notify teams at the 60 minute mark.  Unlimited scoring for the remainder of the game.

  • International Tie Breaker (ITB): The last batter from the previous inning goes to 1st base, second to last batter at 2nd base, third to last batter at 3rd base. The hitting team will start with one out. Play continues this way until one team is ahead at the end of a full inning.

    • In Pool Play games there is no ITB.

    • In Elimination Round games, ITB will begin after time limit has expired or 6 6 innings have been played (whichever comes first).

 

DETERMINING HOME TEAM

  • In non-playoff games the home team and visiting team are pre-determined on the tournament schedule.

  • In the playoffs the better seed will be the home team.

 

COURTESY RUNNER

A courtesy runner (CR) can be used for the pitcher and/or the catcher at any time.

Players not in the game must be used as runners, but if a team has none the last batted out may be used.

 

10U BASE STEALING RULES

All Runners are able to steal 1 base per pitch with liability to be put out.  They are not allowed to advance on catcher overthrows. 

If a base runner advances beyond their entitled base is liable to be put out.   Once they safely achieve the next base, the runner shall be returned to the correct base.

A batter who receives a base on balls, is not allowed to continue and steal 2nd base.

 

REPORTING SCORES

Text scores to 732-771-6275

 

PITCHING DISTANCES

10U:   35ft    • 12U:   40ft   

 

DROPPED 3RD STRIKE AND INFIELD FLY

  • Drop 3rd strike and infield fly is in effect for the 12U bracket only.

 

EQUIPMENT

Jewelry must be removed with the exception of a medical alert bracelet.

 

AGE ELIGIBILITY PROTEST

Protests will be heard and ruled on by the tournament committee. The team protesting must have convincing evidence that a player is not in compliance. If the tournament committee feels there is convincing evidence, then they will proceed to the team- in-question’s submitted roster. From here three cases can occur:

 

  1. The player’s information on the roster is in compliance with the tournament and therefore play continues.

  2. The player’s information is not in compliance to the tournament which results in team expulsion for the current tournament and the possibility of future tournaments. If the tournament is still in pool play, the standings will be recalculated and advancement procedures will remain the same. If the tournament is in the playoffs, the current game will become a forfeit and playoffs will continue as scheduled.

  3. The player’s information on the roster is in compliance with the tournament but the protesting team has convincing evidence that the wrong information was submitted. In this case, the protesting team must provide $250 in cash which will be needed in order to gather the player-in-question’s appropriate documents. From there, the player-in-question has until the end of the current game to provide the tournament committee his/her documents. If he/she cannot provide documents in that amount of time, then the tournament committee will make the fairest possible ruling and that ruling will be final.

 

PLAYOFF SEEDINGS

  1. Overall record (winning percentage)

  2. If still tied: Total runs allowed in pool play

  3. If still tied: Total runs scored in pool play

  4. If still tied: Highest single game run differential

  5. If still tied: Lowest single game runs allowed

  6. If still tied: Highest single game runs scored

  7. If still tied: Coin flip

 

*If there is a case where all teams have not played the same amount of pool play games then we will base best overall record off of their winning percentage. If multiple teams have 100% winning percentage but a different number of wins than the team with the most wins will be presumed a better seed than the other team. For example: 3-0 is presumed better than 2-0.

 

*If, at any time, a team informs the tournament director that they do not have intentions on playing in the playoffs, that team will be immediately removed from advancement procedures and the remaining teams will proceed with the regular tie-break rules.

 

PLAYING RULES OR ILLEGAL EQUIPMENT PROTEST

Protests will be heard and ruled on by the tournament committee. The team protesting a playing rule must make cash payment of $250 at the time of the protest to the tournament director on-site. If the protest is ruled in the protesting team’s favor the $250 will be refunded. The ruling made by the committee will be final. Protests must be filed and ruled on immediately. You cannot protest a play on the field if play has already been resumed. If you are protesting illegal equipment and committee rules in your favor, then the equipment in question will be removed immediately and play will continue (any prior game play leading up to that point remains as it was).

 

SUSPENSION

Any player or coach that is ejected from a game will be suspended for the next game. If a team acts unruly or unsportsmanlike, the Tournament Director reserves the right to eject that team from the current tournament.  Sportsmanship: In the interest of maintaining a quality event, the tournament committee reserves the right to eject any person from the site for unruly or unsportsmanlike behavior.

 

THE TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR

Reserves the right to adjust the rules, schedules, brackets, and field locations as needed to complete the tournament. Every attempt will be made to honor the game minimum – however, if a situation develops where a team forfeits or the weather does not cooperate the Tournament Director will make an attempt to reschedule games, shorten games, or cancel games in order to complete the tournament in a timely fashion.

 

GABRIEL FIELD GROUND RULES

  1. Any ball that goes into the dugout area is a dead ball and runners will be placed accordingly.

  2. All gates must be closed at all times. If for some reason a gate is open and the ball passes the opening then that ball is considered dead immediately and runners will be placed accordingly.

  3. Any ball hit over the yellow cap on the outfield fence is a homerun. 

  4. Any fair ball that caroms into foul territory is a live ball unless the ball gets lodged in/goes under fencing. In the case of a lodged ball, the ball becomes dead immediately and the runners will be placed accordingly.

  5. Teams are allowed one on deck batter, the on deck batter hall be beyond the base coach closest to their dugout on the outfield grass. 

  6. Batting order and designated head coach will be discussed at the pre-game conference

  7. Home plate umpire will announce the starting time or start his stopwatch at the end of the pre-game conference.

  8. No metal cleats. Sneaker, turf shoes, or molded cleats are okay for use.