Shaler Area Baseball Association
In 2009, the Shaler
Area Baseball Association (SABA) will have 19 teams playing at the Farm League level
(9’s and 10’s) and 17 teams playing at the Little League level (11’s and 12’s).
Each team will play a 16 game schedule.
Little League and Farm League
1.
Little League and Farm League will start on
2.
Teams are awarded two (2) points for a victory, no (0) points for a loss, and
each team will get one (1) point if a game ends in a tie. Negative one (-1) point will be applied at
the discretion of the SABA Board for a game not played.
3.
All eligible teams will participate in the playoffs at the end of the season,
which are scheduled to begin on
The post-season meeting at
which the playoff parings will be announced is scheduled for Thursday, JUNE 18 at Richter Field (Braun Jeffrey)
LITTLE LEAGUE -
FARM LEAGUE -
4. The Little League
rulebook prevails in all cases except for those listed on the following pages.
1. Age Restriction:
Little League - Twelve (12) and under
(age determined by child's age on
Farm
League - Ten (10) and under (age determined by child's age on
2. Rosters:
Teams making roster changes by bringing up a player
from lower division or signing a new player MUST notify the Shaler president by phone
or in writing before the player or players play a second game for the team
(except for call-ups).
A. A player
who is rostered during the season in the next league
(i.e. Farm age but playing as Little League) cannot move back and play during
post season to the lower age group.
B. All rostered
players MUST play before call-up
players.
C. Call up players CAN NOT PITCH at higher levels.
3. Players in Field:
Little League - Nine (9)
Farm League - Ten (10) Four outfielders in an arc - NO ROVER; may begin with 9 players.
Both Leagues - In case of injury, a team can
continue to play with eight players. If
the team sustains an additional injury and can field only seven players, the
game will be forfeited at that point.
4. Defensive Innings:
Both Leagues - Players cannot sit on the bench for
two (2) consecutive innings. Player must go into the field after every inning
that he sits out.
5. Players to Bat:
Both Leagues -
A) All players in attendance must bat in continuous order.
B) A late arriving player, not in the original lineup, goes to the
bottom of the batting order.
C) Any player who misses their turn in the continuous batting order
for any reason will be recorded as an
out for that at bat.
D) The player may return to the game pursuant to rule #4.
E) If a player is unable to return to the game, each missed at bat
thereafter will be recorded as an out.
6. Innings to Play:
Both Leagues - Six (6) inning games. In case of rain
or darkness four (4) innings, or three (3) and a half if home team is ahead
constitutes an official game.
If a game goes beyond four (4) innings and is called
because of rain or darkness before the inning can be completed, the official
score will be that of the last full inning played.
If an umpire calls a game before it is an official
game, it is declared “No Game”. The
pitchers however will be charged with
the innings.
7. Extra Innings:
Little League - No more than
three (3) extra innings.
Farm
League - No more than two (2) extra innings
Game will go into the books as a tie, even if time
and conditions permit additional innings.
8. Pitching Week:
Little League - Week starts on Monday and ends on
Sunday.
9. Inning/Pitch Limits:
Little League – Eighty-five
(85) pitches per game/day.
One
hundred twenty-five (125) pitches per week.
Pitch counts will be monitored by both teams and at
the end of each inning, the pitch counts will be compared and
synchronized. If there is a discrepancy,
an average will be used, rounding up for ½’s.
If only one team monitors pitches, that count will be used as the
official pitch count. If for some reason
a pitch count is not kept, assign five (5) pitches per batter faced to the
pitcher.
When a daily or weekly pitch limit is reached in the
middle of an at-bat, the pitcher may complete pitching to that batter. No new batters may be pitched to after a
limit is reached.
Pitch counts must be recorded in your scorebook and
be available to the opposing team upon request.
Farm League -
Two (2) innings per game.
While pitch counts are not enforced in Farm, it is
strongly encouraged that pitch counts are monitored for the safety of the
players.
10. Rest Period:
Little League - Any pitcher who pitches:
61 pitches or more in a game must have four (4)
nights rest before pitching again.
41 to 60 pitches in a game must have three (3)
nights rest before pitching again.
21 to 40 pitches in a game must have two (2) nights
rest before pitching again.
Twenty (20) pitches or less in a game requires no
rest period.
The night of the game just completed counts as the
first night of rest for all rest period calculations.
Rest periods carry-over
into new pitching weeks. In other words,
if a player throws 50 pitches on Sunday and requires 3 nights rest, he cannot
pitch again until Wednesday, even though a new pitching week starts on
Monday. The Monday through Sunday
pitching week is only used for the 125-pitch weekly limit.
If two games are played in one day, pitch counts are
combined for the day to determine rest periods.
In rained-out games, the pitches thrown count for a pitcher.
11. Additional Innings (Farm
League Only):
Farm League - Pitchers are given an additional two
(2) innings for every game that is added to the schedule due a game being
previously postponed.
12. One Pitch:
Farm League - One (1) pitch to a batter constitutes
an inning pitched.
13. Replacing Pitchers:
Both Leagues - Once a pitcher has been removed,
he/she cannot return to pitch.
Manager or coach is permitted one (1) trip to the
mound; he must replace the pitcher on the second (2nd) trip to the mound in the
same inning. If a pitcher is injured,
the trip to the mound will not count as an official trip.
For all pitching rules, any violation will come under the review of the
14. Hit Batsman:
Both Leagues - Any pitcher hitting TWO (2) batters
in one ( 1) inning or THREE (3) batters in one (1) game, must be replaced upon
hitting the second batter in the inning or third batter in the game.
15. Ten (10) Run Rule:
Both Leagues - If a team
leads by ten (10) runs after four (4) full innings, or if the home team is
ahead by ten (10) runs after three (3) and one-half innings, the game will be
stopped.
If a team goes ahead by ten
(10) runs at any time after the four (4) full innings, the game will be stopped
at that point regardless of which team
is the home or away team.
16. Bunting:
Both Leagues - Bunting is
permitted.
No slash bunting.
If a batter squares around
to bunt he CANNOT pull back and take
a full swing. The batter will be
automatically called out.
17. Infield Fly Rule:
Little League - In effect with runners on first and
second, or first second and third with less than two (2) outs
Farm League - Not in effect.
20. Balks:
Both Leagues - Balks will
not be called, but Little League pitchers should be taught not to accept the
ball back from the catcher while standing on the rubber.
In Little League, if a
batter squares to bunt and a pitcher stops in the middle of the wind-up or
delivery, a ball will be called, but no base-runners will be advanced. If the batter has a three ball count at the
time of the occurrence, no base-on-balls will be awarded.
20. Sliding:
Both Leagues - Players are
taught to slide into bases when there is a play being made on the runner. They
should be taught to slide feet first.
No head first sliding on a
play permitted, except in the case of a runner rounding a base and diving back
or returning to a base on a pick-off attempt.
If the player is more than two steps from the base, they should slide
feet first. If a player slides head
first, the team will be given one warning and subsequent occurrences will result
in the player being called out.
21. Stealing:
Little League - Runners can attempt to steal second,
third or home after the ball has passed the batter.
Farm League - Runners can attempt to steal second or
third after the ball has passed the batter. Runners are not allowed to steal
home.
Runners can advance to home only when they are
forced home by a bases-loaded walk, hit batsman, a base hit, or a continuation
of an errant play that started with a
batted ball.
Runners cannot advance
from third on overthrow of attempted steal or pickoff.
If a runner steals second and the ball is
overthrown; he can advance to third at his own risk; but cannot advance home on
an overthrow at third, even if the ball is thrown out of play. If runner mistakenly advances home on an
overthrow, he is live and may be tagged out before he returns safely to the
base. If he leaves the playing area into
dead ball territory, he is automatically out.
Little League - If any runner leaves a base early,
he will be declared “out”, without a
warning. The pitched ball on the play will not count.
Farm League - If any runner leaves a base early, he
will receive a warning. If that same
runner is caught leaving early again, he/she will be declared “out” (One warning per team). The pitched ball on
the play will not count.
22. Throwing Equipment:
Both Leagues - The umpire
will warn a player on first offense. A
player can be ejected from the game if he deliberately
throws his bat or helmet after an out.
A player accidentally throwing his bat shall be
warned the first time and called out on the second offense.
The warning is against the
player not the team.
23. Behavior:
Both Leagues - Managers are responsible for the
conduct of the parents of their players and can risk forfeiture of the game due
to the unruly actions of the parents.
Abusive and/or obscene language will result in ejection from the game.
24. Umpires:
Umpires should be asked to print their names on the
scorebook at the conclusion of the game.
Anytime a manager or coach is ejected from a game, a
complete report of the incident must be reported to the President of Shaler Baseball as soon as possible after the game by both
Managers. Be sure to have all of the details correct in the event of a hearing.
Umpire Costs:
Little League - $ 35.00 per game with 2
umpires ($20.00 behind the plate, $15.00 for the bases).
$25.00 per game with 1
umpire.
For Playoffs:
$40.00 per game with the plate umpire receiving $25.00
and the field umpire receiving $15.00
Farm League - $25.00 per game with 2
umpires ($15.00 behind the plate, $10.00 for the bases).
$20.00 per game with 1
umpire.
For Playoffs:
$30.00 per game with the
plate umpire receiving $20.00 and the field umpire receiving $10.00.
Each organization will provide their
own umpires during the regular season.
Play-off umpires will be provided by
Umpires are encouraged to finish the game in the
same position they began the game.
If
a game begins, but is then rained out before it is an official game, the umpire
should be paid the full game fee. In addition, if a team manager does not
contact the umpire supervisor in time to cancel a game and the umpire reports
to the field, the home team's organization will be responsible to pay the
umpire one half of the normal umpire fee rounded to the nearest dollar.
Managers may protest games on rule interpretation
disputes only, not on umpire or judgment calls (ball, strike, safe, etc.).
Coaches
are not permitted to discuss calls with the umpire and neither manager nor
coach should carry on to the point where he must be ejected from the game. You
are there to teach baseball and sportsmanship, not to show your knowledge, or
lack of such arguing with umpires. Try and remember these young umpires may
become exceptional umpires with experience.
Sportsmanship:
Catchers are not permitted to talk to the batters (swing batter - etc). They
can encourage their pitcher, but are not to make any reference to the batter to
interfere with him.
25. Manager/Coach Suspension:
Any manager who is ejected from a game will not be
permitted to manage his team for the next two (2) scheduled games.
Any coach who is ejected from a game will not be
permitted to coach or manage his team for the next three (3) scheduled games.
If a manager or coach is ejected a second time
during the season, he will be subject to a MANDATORY
6 GAME SUSPENSION (WITHOUT A RIGHT TO APPEAL). This suspension is to take
effect over the next 6 scheduled games and DOES
INCLUDE any and all playoff games.
ONLY FIRST
OFFENSE SUSPENSIONS WILL BE SUBJECT TO AN APPEAL. IF THE OUTCOME FROM THE APPEAL IS TO OVERTURN
THE SUSPENSION THE MANAGER/COACH’S RECORD WILL BE CLEARED.
26.
Standings:
Both Leagues - The following points will
be awarded and points will determine post-season play:
WINNING TEAM: Two (2) points
TIE GAME: Both teams One (1)
point
LOSING TEAM: Zero (0) points
GAME NOT PLAYED: Negative One (-1) point (SABA Board
Discretion)
27. All-Star Teams:
All-star information will be made available at a
later date, but the first two (2) managers to win ten (10) games will be given
first-right-of-refusal to be the all-star managers.
We are
planning to have 9-year old; 10-year old; 11-year old; and 12-year old games on:
9’s, 10’s & 11’s
12’s Friday,
July 3 in the evening (Home Run Derby & Game)
28. Ineligible Players:
Any team found guilty of using an ineligible player,
will NOT participate in the post-season playoffs.
29. Batting Helmets and Catcher’s Gear:
Shaler Baseball mandates that all
farm and little league teams use facemasks on batting helmets both at bat, on
the bases and the base paths. Catchers
must wear protective cups.
30. Managers and coaches
must be seated on or stand behind their respective bench while ball is in play.
31. Substitution to speed play:
Both Leagues - When there are two outs and the
pitcher or catcher is on base, a pinch runner may be used for the pitcher or
catcher. The player who made the second
out will be the pinch runner.
Team Manager
Responsibilities
Home team managers have the following responsibilities
before and after each game:
1) Home manager
is responsible for deciding if a field is playable following inclement weather.
If you plan to postpone a game due to weather or poor field conditions, please
call the opposing manager and your umpire coordinator at least one (1) hour
before scheduled game time. Please try
to avoid having teams travel to your field and then postponing a game at the
last minute. The earlier you decide to postpone, the easier it is for all parties.
2) Have field in game ready
shape with bases tied down, the field lined and the batter’s box ready at least
15 minutes before game time. Managers should also have two (2) new game balls (
3) Home teams are permitted to
use the field up to fifteen (15) minutes before game time before the visiting
team can use the field for warm-up.
There will not be a first-at-field provision. The home team has the
field.
4) Home team manager is
responsible for paying the umpire(s) prior to the game.
5) The manager of the WINNING
team is responsible for reporting the RESULTS of each game to the SABA Scoring
Rep. If the game is a TIE or
POSTPONEMENT, the HOME team manager must report the result (in case of tie) or
the fact that the game has been postponed to the SABA Scoring Rep. This should be done via E-MAIL or PHONE. When reporting scores, give
the game number, League (Farm or Little), score and winning team. If a game score or postponement has not been
reported within 5 days, the Scoring Rep will make one attempt to get the
result. After 7 days total, the winning
team may forfeit any points for that victory or both teams may forfeit a point
in the case of a tie.
Brian Tavitas
EMAIL ADDRESS:
PHONE:
412-951-0799
Updated Scoring and Standings
can be found at http://www.middleroadathletics.org
6) If a game is postponed, it
must be re-scheduled within 7 days. The
Home managers is to arrange for field time mutually acceptable to each manager,
inform the opposing manager and notify the SABA Scoring Rep and your Umpire
Scheduler with the new date. After 7
days, if a game has not been re-scheduled, the SABA President may schedule the
game at his discretion.
The Game is for the Boys. Let's remember that and
have fun!