CANAL LITTLE LEAGUE 2018 SPECIAL RULES Approved by Canal Board of Directors Feb. 11, 2018 Canal Little League operates under the rules and framework of Little League Baseball. Unless so stipulated in these special rules or by majority vote of the Board of Directors with proper notification to the league membership, only those rules listed in the Official Little League Rule Book or Little League Operations manual apply. The below listed Special Rules apply to all levels of play unless otherwise noted. GENERAL: Anyone assisting with a team s practice or game must have completed a Little League Volunteer Form and passed a background check. The use of alcohol and/or tobacco products is strictly prohibited on the Canal Little League Complex and any offsite practice facility. For the health of our members please refrain from these activities while at our complex. For health and safety reasons, NO PETS of any kind are permitted on the Canal Little League Complex. If a pet is brought to the complex, you will be asked to either take it home or secure it in your vehicle. Sunset Rule: All games and practices on unlit fields will cease at the official sunset time. Umpires and managers should be aware of the sunset time before the start of the game and through the game to make fair judgment to the start of an inning that may be shortened due to sunset. See Little League Rule 4.11 for rules related to the final score for a game shortened for any reason. If you have a problem: Hopefully this won t occur, but in an organization this large it is almost inevitable. You should first try to talk to the parties involved whether it be a parent, coach or manager. If the issue is still unresolved you should contact the League Division Officer. If for some reason the issue is still not resolved you should write a letter to the Board of Directors, ATTN: Player Agent, and it will be discussed and a resolution will be made. Correspondence can be sent by mail to PO Box 506 Bear, DE 19701, or via e-mail tocanal_ll@yahoo.com. PLAYERS: All players will be rostered on a team by their respective league age as stated in the Little League baseball and softball rule book. NO player will play up or play down without recommendation from the respective league Officer to be observed by the Safety Officer and brought to and approved by the Board. Baseball: League Age Division 4 Slugger 5 Slugger or Minor T (parents are encouraged to register first year players in Slugger Division) 6 Minor T 7-8 Minor B ( third year 8 year olds may elect to play in Minor A) 9 Minor A 10-11 Majors or Minor A (players not drafted to Majors will be placed in Minor A) 12 Majors 13-14 Juniors 15-16 Seniors 1
Softball: League Age Division 6-8 Minor B (8 YO players to be in Minor B or Minor A at the parents option) 8-10 Minor A (8 YO players to be in Minor B or Minor A at the parents option) 10-12 Majors (10 YO players not drafted to Majors will be placed in Minor A) 13-16 Seniors THE GAME: Home team is responsible for field preparation for each game. Visiting team is responsible for clean up/lock up of facility. For interleague games played at Canal, the Canal team is responsible for both field preparation and clean up/lock up. Any manager, coach or player ejected from a game is subject to rule 9.05. Minimum penalties for a justified ejection after a review by the Board of Directors are as follows: 1 st Ejection: Suspended for the next game 2 nd Ejection: Suspended for the next three (3) games 3 rd Ejection: Immediate dismissal from the league for the remainder of the season SPECIAL DIVISION RULES: Sluggers No player may play more the two (2) innings at the same position, including pitcher. No player will sit more than two (2) innings per game. Scores are not kept. Players may NOT be borrowed from the opposing team. There is free substitution at all defensive positions. game. Players arriving late will be added to the end of the batting order. All batting is done from a Tee. There are no strikeouts. Every Player will bat once each inning (continuous line up). An inning is over when everyone has taken a turn at bat. Make sure all players remain in dugout while waiting to bat. The batter/runner must stop at first base upon any hit in fair territory. All runners may advance only one (1) base on any hit. No extra bases are allowed on overthrows. The defensive team will have up to ten (10) players in the field with four (4) outfielders (playing normal depth). Sluggers teams sometimes are comprised of less than nine (9) players in which case all players are spread throughout the field. The player playing the pitching position will wear the batting helmet with the protective facemask. There is no catcher in this division. The Pitching Circle must be marked on the field and the child playing the pitcher position must be within the circle before play starts. Games are four (4) innings in duration with a one hour time limit. Minor T Baseball No player may play more the two (2) innings at the same position, including pitcher. No player will sit more than two (2) innings per game. Scores are not kept. Players may NOT be borrowed from the opposing team. There is free substitution at all defensive positions. game. Players arriving late will be added to the end of the batting order. 2
Players arriving late will be added to the end of the batting order. Batters will be given 5 overhand soft-toss pitches from their team s manager or coach. If one of these pitches is hit fair, the at-bat is over and the play proceeds. If none of the 5 pitches is hit fair, the batter will then hit from the Tee. Exception: if the 5 th pitch is fouled off, then the batter will receive additional pitches until the ball is put in play or no longer fouled off. There are no strikeouts. The batter/runner must stop at first base upon hitting a ground ball in fair territory. The batter/runner will be allowed a maximum of two (2) bases when the ball is hit in the air to the outfield. No extra bases are allowed on overthrows. The defensive team will have ten (10) players in the field with four (4) outfielders (playing normal depth). If a team does not have ten players at game time, they can choose to play with nine (9) players. The player playing the pitching position will wear the batting helmet with the protective facemask. The Pitching Circle must be marked on the field and the child playing the pitcher position must be within the circle before play starts. Games are four (4) innings in duration with a 2 hour time limit. Minor B Baseball No score, statistics or standings will be kept, however, a record of positions, innings played, atbats, and pitch count will be maintained. Games will consist of 5 innings with a time limit of 2 hours. No children, other than the rostered players for the teams playing are allowed on the field or in the dugout during a game or practice. Only the rostered manager, three (3) adult coaches, Team Mom and players are allowed in the dugout for Minor B. game. Players arriving late will be added to the end of the batting order. No player is permitted to play more than two (2) innings at any position. The manager or coach of the team batting will call balls and strikes from behind the pitcher s mound. The 1 st and 3 rd base coaches will serve as umpires for calling plays at their bases. Manager appeals can only occur on the question of rules and not judgment calls. A pitching machine will be utilized in some form in all Minor B games starting on opening day. During the innings the pitching machine is being used there will be no coach or kid pitching. Managers and coaches only are be permitted to operate the pitching machines. Players / Children are never permitted to operate or even touch the pitching machine at any time. During all games between Opening Day thru the end of the season, the pitching machine only will be utilized for the first 3 innings of each game. Kid / Coach pitching will be utilized for the final 2 innings of these games or whatever the time restraints allow. There will be no walks. If the pitcher hits the batter or throws four called balls before the ball is hit into play or strike out is recorded, a coach from the team batting will pitch to complete the atbat. Runner can only advance one base only on an infield hit. Each runner may advance unlimited bases on a ball hit to the outfield. However, once the ball is thrown back and reaches the infield (ball hits the dirt), the runners can no longer advance. If the runner is between bases when this occurs the runner may advance at their own risk. Overthrows: Runners may advance (at own risk) one time and one base only on over throws that occur at their base. i.e Runner on first; ball is hit into play by Batter. If the attempted force out throw to 2 nd base goes into center field, the Runner can advance (at own risk) to 3 rd. If then an additional overthrow occurs, the Runner cannot advance. The Batter must remain at first. 3
There is no base stealing allowed. If the designated catcher is on base with 2 outs a substitute runner (the player that made the previous out) is permitted for the catcher. This will give the catcher the necessary time needed to get his/her gear on. Five (5) minutes before game time (or earlier if teams are in dugouts), all bat swinging is to stop. This includes hitting stick, practice swings, etc. The league reserves the right to adjust these special rules to assist in player development and compensate for the talent level of the division as the season progresses. Minor A Baseball Per LL Regulation VIII(b), Canal LL establishes a policy that parents of players League Age 10 and 11 may elect to withhold their players from the Majors Draft. These players will play in the Minor A Division. When a home run or ground rule double occurs that exceeds the run limit, the play continues with runners advancing until the play is completed. When the play has been completed, that side of the inning is over. Any runs that exceed the five (5) runs will count. Unlimited runs in the 6 th inning or last inning as designated by the umpire(s). There will be a two-hour time limit on all games that have another game scheduled on the same field within 45 minutes of the scheduled end of the game. Once the two-hour time limit is hit, the inning being played may be completed. (LL Regulation VII(h)) Regular season games may end in a tie. If the designated catcher is on base with 2 outs a substitute runner (the player that made the previous out) is permitted for the catcher. This will give the catcher the necessary time needed to get his/her gear on. Batter is out on a dropped third strike. All teams will make the playoffs, which will be single elimination format, seeding based on final regular season standings. Standings will be based on teams won-loss-tie percentage, and tie breakers among tied teams are, in order: won-loss-tie percentage, head-to-head, runs allowed, runs scored, coin flip. Major Baseball Special Rules apply only to games played at Canal Little League. For interleague games played at the other league s facility, the other league s special rules apply. game. Games have no time limit. (LL Regulation VII(h)) All teams will make the playoffs, which will be double elimination format, seeding based on final regular season standings. Standings will be based on teams won-loss-tie percentage, and tie breakers among tied teams are, in order: won-loss-tie percentage, head-to-head, runs allowed, runs scored, coin flip. Junior / Senior Baseball Junior and Senior Baseball are governed by the Official Regulations and Playing Rules of Little League Baseball and the Special Rules set forth by the Inter-League Committee. 4
POST SEASON: Player Selection Player selection for all divisions will be decided by a vote of the managers of each respective division. One player position will be solely chosen by the Manager for each Tournament Team. The number of players assigned to the team will be determined based on the guidelines set forth by Little League and the Board of Directors. Tournament Team Manager has the right to increase the roster size defined by the Board of Directors by one, but may not decrease it. Baseball players of league age 10, 11, or 12, regardless of division, are eligible to participate on Tournament Teams for their respective age groups. If a manager cannot be present for the vote, a rostered coach from that team may be present to vote in place of the manager. In the event of a tie, the league officer for that division will have the tie-breaking vote. Manager Selection For all divisions of Softball and Baseball, the Managers within their respective divisions will vote for the manager position(s) available. In the event of a tie, additional votes will be taken on a ballot containing only the tied managers names until the tie is broken. In the event of a gridlocked tie vote, the Division Officer will cast the deciding vote. This recommendation will be forwarded to the President. The President has the authority to accept this recommendation or not. The President then appoints each team manager, with final approval being granted from the Board of Directors. For Little League sponsored tournaments, manager priority will be: 1. Rostered CLL managers within their respective all-star age group division. 2. Rostered CLL coaches within their respective all-star age group division. For District Only Tournaments, manager priority will be: 1. Rostered CLL managers or coaches within their respective all-star age group division. 2. Other Regular Members of Canal Little League. Managers are responsible for selecting their coaching staff, who are then appointed by the President with final approval from the Board of Directors. For Little League sponsored tournaments coaches will be rostered CLL managers or coaches within their respective all-star age group division. For District Only Tournaments, coaches will be prioritized as follows: 1. Rostered CLL managers or coaches within their respective all-star age group division. 2. Other Regular Members of Canal Little League. 5