Rules
8 and Under
Commissioner: Dan Papizan
Phone:
Email:
Our 8 & UNDER league is designed for girls age eight or younger. A coach does all the pitching during the games. The coaches stress the basic skills of playing softball: throwing, catching,hitting, and running the bases. Also at this age the girls are taught more about playing a specific position and to play together as a team.
Local Rules
- The time limit for a regulation game will be one (1) hour and fifteen (15) minutes.
- A maximum of five (5) runs will be allowed in any one-half inning.
- All players on each team will be listed on the batting order. All players will be play defenses.
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A team must have at least eight (8) players in order to avoid a forfeit. If eight (8) players are in the line-up, an automatic out must be taken each time the ninth batting position in the batting order comes up to bat, per ASA rules.If a team has less than 8 players the game is forfeited, however the game may still be played but the standings will reflect a loss for the team who forfeited.
- If a player arrives after a game has started, she will be placed in the final position on the team’s batting order with no penalty assessed. Coach must notify umpire and scorekeeper that an additional batter has been added to the batting order. If a player is listed on the official batting order submitted to the scorekeeper, but is not present when her turn to bat comes up, she will be considered an automatic out.
- Each team will be allowed three (3) outs per time at bat. It is the coach’s responsibility to keep up with his or her own batting line up, which child received the 3rd out the prior inning and which child begins batting the next inning. This is not the umpire or scorekeeper’s responsibility.
- If a game is tied at the end of regulation, the tie will be played off immediately, according to official ASA tiebreaker rules.
- No baseball, teeball or composite bats are allowed as determined by the umpire and/or league official. All bats must have the ASA 2004 stamp on them.
- Each batter will receive five (5) pitches from the coach. Strikes will be called on missed swings and foul balls. A missed third swing will result in an out. A fouled 5th pitch extends the time at bat until the batter either hits the ball or strikes out. Walks and bunts will not be allowed. If the batter fails to hit the ball after five (5) pitches, she will be called out.
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A hit ball must go eight (8) feet from home plate to be considered a fair ball.The umpire will declare is a ball is a FOUL BALL only.
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The offensive coach will pitch to his or her team from a distance of thirty (30) feet and must be in contact with the pitching rubber when the pitch is released.(If the pitching rubber is deemed to be longer than thirty (30) feet from home plate, than the umpire and both coaches will count off thirty (30) feet from home plate. This spot will be agreed upon by the umpire and both coaches.) Failure to be in contact with pitching rubber will result in an illegal pitch and a strike will be called on the batter. If the batted ball hits the pitching coach, the ball is declared dead and the pitch is replayed with no penalty to the batter. If the umpire rules that the pitching coach interfered with the batted ball intentionally, the batter will be ruled out and no runners will advance. If the pitching coach interferes with a defense play, the ball is ruled dead, and the runner involved with play will be declared out and all other runners must return to the base occupied at the time of interference.The offensive coach must exit the field of play once a ball is hit in fair territory by the batter. A warning will be issued for failure to exit the field of play and the second occurrence the umpire will ask the offensive coach to leave the pitching circle and another offensive coach must perform the pitching.
- When a team is batting, a coach is allowed at fist base, third base, and pitching. On defense, a team is allowed two (2) coaches in the outfield.
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On an overthrow to any base during a play where the batter puts the ball into play, all runners can advance at their own risk. The play is over when the pitcher has control of the ball in the pitcher's circle and the lead runner has stopped advancing or an offensive player in control of the ball requests time from the umpire and the umpire grants time due to no base runners continuing to advance
- Infielders must play no closer to the batter than 35 feet, with one 1) player in the pitcher’s circle when the ball is hit. Only six (6) players, including the pitcher and catcher, are allowed in the infield area prior to the ball be hit. All other players must be in the designated outfield area.
- Stealing bases are not allowed.
- Rain outs will be rescheduled (applies to rain outs beyond the number allocated to not be made up at the start of the season) and played in order in which they were originally scheduled, unless: (1) The game is rained out again, or (2) One of the teams already has a game scheduled for the make-up date.
- For purposed of making up a rain-out, a coach must be notified by at least 4:00 p.m. on the day before the make-up game is scheduled.
- Overall win/loss records will determine the regular season playoff teams in each of the league divisions (see game schedule for details on playoffs). If there is a tie after the overall records are considered, the first tie breaker will be the winner in head-to-head competition. The second tiebreaker will be divisional win/loss records.
