Roster

• Minimum of 10 and a Maximum number of 20 players allowed on a team roster. All players must be listed on the roster and acknowledge upon registration the Terms & Conditions to participate.
• Players must be at least 18 years of age at the start of the season.
• Players can only be on one roster per league.
• Players may be added at any time until the start of the 2nd game of the season. Except in the event of a major injury to a player, a replacement player may be added at the discretion of the league officials.
• All members must be registered BYSC member. Substitutes are not permitted. Violation will result in an automatic forfeit.
• Field positions must include a pitcher and catcher.
• Any rostered member present is eligible to be placed in the batting order. (see “Batting”)

Officials

• Games must be officiated by at least one authorized Backyard Sports Club umpire, the Head Umpire.
• An umpire will be provided by Backyard Sports Club to officiate all games. It will be the umpire’s responsibility to coordinate and run the games, which include the following task:
  • The head umpire governs all game play and issues all final rulings
  • Starting game on time
  • Calling outs, making final calls on any disputed balls or strikes
  • Settling all disputes or disputed calls
  • Calls Timeouts
  • Call a game due to darkness, rain, or lightning
  • Penalize a player, including game ejection, for any reason. This includes but is not limited to, un-sportsmanlike conduct, fighting, delay of game, or excessive verbal abuse.
• ONLY CAPTAINS may dispute Calls.
• It is understood that umpires will assist in tracking of the score and assist in any discrepancies with regards to the co-ed line-up ratios. However, it is the responsibility of both teams to maintain their respective line-ups and score each inning (The “Home Team” scorebook will be the official scorebook)
• The umpire has the right to eject any member from the game engaging in unsportsmanlike conduct. (See “Discipline”)

Field/Equipment

• Games will be played on any softball field with a distance from home plate to the outfield fence of at least 180 feet.
• The distance between bases will be 60 to 65 feet.
• First base will include a orange safety base placed to the right. (See “Running”)
• Backyard Sports Club will provide all required equipment (balls and bases) except bats, balls, and gloves.
• All Bats MUST be inspected and approved before Gameplay. Any member caught using a non-approved bat will result in that member being called out. Any and ALL runs scored during the members at-bat (the at-bat when the bat is identified as illegal) will be null and void. (See “Discipline”)
• Composite bats and hybrid bats (e.g. DeMarini Flipper) are authorized. Backyard Sports Club and the umpires has the final authority in approving bats. NO SENIOR BATS.
• Multi walled bats are authorized as long as they are have the proper ASA or USA certification and do not appear on the ASA “unauthorized bat list”
• Teams must provide their own balls. The ball will be a 12 inch .52 COR/300 maximum compression softball.
• Metal Cleats are NOT ALLOWED.

Game Clock

• Regulation game length is 60 minutes or 7 innings, whichever comes first, with no new inning starting after the 50 minute mark. If the inning is not finished at the 60 minute mark, scores will revert back to the last full inning.
• The game time is indicated on the schedule. Teams must be ready to start the game within 5 minutes of the scheduled game time. If a team is not ready within 15 minutes then they will receive a forfeit.
• Tied games will be recorded as such. (See “Playoff Procedures”)
• Gameplay
• The winner of a coin flip or rock, paper, scissors between the team captains will choose Home or Away. (see “Playoff Procedures”)
• The team captain is responsible to bring up any issues (protest players, illegal bats, shirt rule, etc.) that can be addressed prior to the start of the game (or as soon as they are noticed).

Lineup

• Team captains are responsible for ensuring batting orders are exchanged before the start of the game.
• Any rostered member present is eligible to be placed in the batting order however, only members playing the field are required to bat.
• Any players who show up after the game has started shall be added to the very end of the batting order unless the batting order ends in a way that it is beneficial to add the player to the second to last batting position.

Pitching

• Pitches must be with an underhand motion and have an arc between 6 and 10 feet, otherwise the pitch is an illegal pitch and will be considered a “ball”.
• The strike zone shall be marked with an orange, rubber strike mat behind home plate. Direct contact by a legal pitch with either the strike mat or home plate will be considered a strike

Batting

• Each member will start the at bat with 1 ball and 1 strike. Once the batter has 2 strikes, they will receive 1 courtesy foul. A second foul with 2 strikes will result in an out.
• Bunting is illegal, any bunted ball will be considered a foul ball.
• There will be limited number of 2 out-of-the-park home-runs per team, those in excess will count as an out.
• Each half inning will end based on 3 outs or 7 runs, whichever comes first.
• The last inning of the game IS NOT open ended. The 7-run rule still applies.

Running

• No stealing. A runner who leaves the base prior to the batter making contact with the ball will be called out.
• No sliding/diving into first base when coming from the batter’s box. A runner may slide/dive when returning to first base from the second base direction.  A slide into first will result in an automatic out and the play being called dead.  No runners my advance.
• All overruns must be made on the safety base, failure to do so may result in an out.
• Each team can have 1 courtesy runner (same sex) per inning per sex ONLY, after the batter reaches 1st base. No second courtesy running will be granted, even if any injury occurs. If the courtesy runner is on base and is up to bat. The batter will be considered OUT.

Mercy Rule

• The mercy rule will end the game when a team is down by more than:
• 22 going into the 5th inning
• 15 going into the 6th inning
• 8 going into the 7th inning.

Inclement Weather

• Backyard Sports Club may at its option, shorten the regular season and/or the playoff schedule (and the number of teams that make the playoffs) as cancelation due to weather. Backyard Sports Club has the right to reschedule rain out games on days other than regularly scheduled games.

Team Standings

• Points will be awarded to teams as follows:
• Win = 1.0
• Tie = 0.5
• Lose=0
• During the regular season, there will be no overtime to break ties

Tournament Rules

• The commissioners will determine the number of teams making the playoffs.
• Single Seeded Elimination: Seeding will be determined by the following:
• Total Points
• Head-to-Head
• Runs Against
• The higher seeded team is automatically Home Team.
• Playoff and Championship Games will not end in a tie. Extra innings will be played to determine a winner.

Discipline

• Any player ejected must leave the field. Games will not resume until the player ejected has left the area to include the field and surrounding areas. (bleachers, adjacent fields or areas)