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Rules
for the 2008 FAST Spring League (2-19-08)
(Click
here to print rules in pdf form)
1.
Players must be from the same high school district. If schools do not
have enough players to form a team, they can contact the League
commissioner for additional players. Teams must have written
authorization from the League Commissioner to have an out of district
player. Failure to provide proof in writing of an out of district
player will result in a forfeit and possible expulsion from the league.
Approval for out of district players will only be given if the team did
not cut any players. Teams may not recruit out of their school district
for players for their own team. There will be a Varsity, Junior Varsity
and a 4th-5th grade division. The first team in
the Jr. High division must play varsity unless they have league
approval. Subsequent teams may play varsity or JV. The Jr. High
divisions may have players that are above the 10U eligible age group.
The 4-5th grade division may have 3rd and 6th
graders with written league permission. Only 3rd graders
with experience may play and only 6th graders with limited
playing experience will be considered for approval. Rosters must be at
all games.
2. For
the league tournament, divisions will be divided into brackets of
approximately 8 or less teams per bracket who will play within their own
bracket for division championships. Only the top seeded bracket will
compete for tournament championship. Brackets will be decided by
regular season record. In case of ties, the tiebreaker is: 1. Head to
head. 2. Coin flip. The Varsity and Junior Varsity Tournament will
be single elimination. The 4-5th grade tournament will be
pool play and then a format to be determined based on the number of
teams in the tournament.
3.
Single games will be scheduled on Fridays with double headers on
Saturdays or Sundays for the Varsity and Junior Varsity Divisions. The
4th –5th Grade Division will only play on
Saturdays or Sundays. Sunday doubleheaders are either straight
doubleheaders against the same team or round robin doubleheaders (4
teams playing at the same complex with winners of the first game playing
against each other in the second game). Games may be re-scheduled to
any day of the week with agreement of the coaches. Teams may schedule
games not on their schedule to make up for canceled games. Teams
playing up or down a division will not count in their regular season
record. On round-robin doubleheaders, if one team cancels, the team
that they are scheduled to play in the first game is also canceled for
the doubleheader unless a new team is found to replace them. The other
two teams will play a straight doubleheader. If a team does not show up
for a round robin doubleheader, without notice, then their opponent
would win the game by forfeit and will play the winner of the other
game.
4.
Home teams are responsible for scheduling umpires and providing fields
for all games at their complex. The second game of round robin plays
will be the winners of the first game against each other and the losers
against each. Home team will be reversed for the second game; a coin
flip will be used if both teams were home or away on the first game.
Each team will provide a new or good used ball for each game. Each team
is responsible for paying one umpire per game or if only one umpire is
used, pay half of the umpire fee. No more than two umpires should be
used in games. Due to liability reasons, only ASA or USSSA sanctioned
umpires can be use in games. OHSAA sanctioned umpires must be
sanctioned ASA also. Contact Martin Drain, ASA Commissioner at
Fast2home@yahoo.com if you
need to sanction umpires. Communities will provide a list of sanctioned
umpires that they will be using before they will be scheduled home games
to the league director. Upon request, the League will provide a list
of interested umpires to all teams. If you would like, the ASA Umpire
Assigner will schedule your umpires. Call Martin at 419-343-4716 for
more info. There is a $2.00 fee per game payable to the assigner.
5.
Rules are ASA rules except for the following. Teams must bat the entire
lineup in regular
season play without a penalty for a player not being able to take her
time at bat unless the line-up falls below 9 players. This rule only
applies to the team with the least number of players present. The team
with a higher number of players presents only need to bat the same
number of batters as their opponent. There is a freedom of defensive
substitution for players that are in the batting line-up. Courtesy
runners are allowed subject to ASA rules, Rule 8, Section 10, articles
A, B, D, E, and G; Article C is not in affect since we require that
everyone has to be in the batting line-up. Teams with a higher number
of players who are not batting everyone must use a player not in the
game as a courtesy runner per ASA Rules. Time limit is one hour 30
minutes for doubleheader games, one hour 45 minutes for single games.
No new innings may start after the time limit. In case of a tie, teams
will use the international tiebreaker after the time limit or after 7
innings, whatever occurs first until a winner is decided. There are no
tie games in the league. Temperature reading must be a chill factor of
45 degrees or above. Each team will furnish a good or new softball.
The ASA mercy rule is: 15 runs after three innings, 12 runs after 4 and
8 runs after 5 innings.
6.
The following only
apply in the 4-5th grade division,
there is a 6 run rule limit per inning. A team may tie the score and
score 6 more. Stealing is permitted per ASA rules with the following
exceptions: 1. Only one base per pitch is allowed. 2. The stealing
of home is legal. There is no infield fly rule or dropped third strike
rule in regular season.
Special notation:
except on steals, players may attempt to advance to as many bases as
they want on overthrows. On a base on balls, the batter-runner may
steal 2nd base but may not advance past 2nd until
the next pitch.
7.
Cancellations and make-up games: Cancellations must be reported to your
opponent, the home field coach and the League Director 24 hours prior to
game time. Failure to do so may result in the offending team paying
umpire fees or expulsion from the league at the discretion of the League
Director.
8.
Winning and losing coaches should e-mail their game results to Karen
Schnitkey at
k.schnitkey@yahoo.com
with their updated season record on a weekly basis. You MUST state
Varsity, JV or 4-5th grade, your full team name, your
opponent’s full team name and your
up to date league record.
Teams not reporting their scores properly within 5 days of the date
played will be given a loss. League standings can be found on the
website:
www.fastsoftball.org.
9. All
teams will participate in the League Tournament. Teams will be seeded
by their regular season record and must be e-mailed to the League
Commissioner by May 5th with the date, opponent and final
score; teams not reporting their record will not be entered into the
tournament and will forfeit their umpire fee. The tournament will be
divided up into brackets based on final season record. Awards will be
given to each division champion. The League will pay the first umpire
fee in the tournament, subsequent umpire fees will be shared by
competing teams. Coaches will pick up the first umpire fee at the
admission gate in order to pay the umpire prior to the start of the
game. Admission to the tournament is set at $4.00 per day per person;
players and up to three coaches are admitted free. Coaches’ names must
be submitted to the Tournament Director by May 5 to be admitted free in
the tournament. The tournament will be May 10-11th.
10. Team
rosters must be
e-mailed
to
Fast2Home@yahoo.com
by March 1, with each player’s name, school and grade. Failure to comply
will result in removal from the league schedule. Amended rosters must
be e-mailed immediately to be legal. Teams using players not on their
official roster will result in a forfeit, possible expulsion from the
league and may not be scheduled in the league tournament.
11.
Insurance for players and teams is available through A.S.A. for $6.00
per girl and $11.00 for the coach. This is a $250.00 deductible and
covers $250,000 medical and $2,000,000 liability. This also includes a
background check on the coach. The player would be covered through Dec.
31, 2008 while playing on any A.S.A. sanctioned team during practice,
scrimmage or games. You would also receive a $20.00 reduction in your
league fee. If you are interested, e-mail Martin at
Fast2home@yahoo.com
.
12.
Please make two copies of these rules and have them at each game.
Please give a copy to the umpire prior to the game if he is not familiar
with the spring rules.
League Director: Martin
Drain,
Fast2Home@yahoo.com.
Cell phone 419-343-4716.
Website: www.fastsoftball.org
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