Tournament Rules
* Unless Otherwise Noted, the official New England AAU Rule Book will be in effect for the tournament*
10U Division – 60′ Bases and 46′ Pitching Mound
11- 12U Divisions- 70’ Bases & 50’ Pitching mounds.
13U and older Divisions – 90’ bases & 60’ pitching mounds.
Cancelation Policy
Games Played
None- 100% Refund
One- 75% Refund
Two- 50% Refund
Three- 0% Refund
Inclement Weather
In the unfortunate circumstance that inclement weather prevents or interrupts the tournament in any way or the fields are deemed either unsafe or unplayable due to the weather the following policy will be in effect:
- Coaches will be notified by 6:45 AM for an 8:00 AM game if the condition hinder the playing of a game. A tournament official will visit the fields and make a decision to play or not. No notification signifies the games are on but they may be delayed.
- Since the tournament is sometimes played on several fields and some may be in an unplayable condition, The Atlantic Baseball Club reserves the right to consolidate and cancel games. In this unfortunate circumstance only the top 4 or 6 seeds ( depending on field availability) will play on.
Team Warm Up
The infields on each of the fields cannot be used for warm-ups. The outfield of each field or grass areas around the fields can be used for playing catch and warming up pitchers only. For safety reasons, no fielding can occur (batted balls) outside of the fenced in fields themselves. Hitting baseballs into sock nets or use of wiffle/pickle balls is permitted. Please, no batting practice into the backstop or any fenced area.
Standings/ Game Scores
Standings and game scores will be updated on this website daily.
Official Score Card
Teams are responsible for keeping their own score books. Winning team is responsible for reporting score to the field captains.
Seeding For Mondays Playoffs
Seeding results will be available online on this website between 8 PM and 10 PM Sunday.
Game Length/ Time Limit
All games for 10 -12U are 6 innings. All games for 13U are 7 innings. Mercy rule is 15 runs after 3 innings,12 runs after 4 innings, 8 runs after 5 or anytime thereafter. Home team, if losing, is always given opportunity to bat before mercy rule can be applied.
In the event of rain, 4 innings is considered an official game.
Pool play games have a 1 hour, 45 minute time limit for ages 10u thru 12U and a 2 hour limit for ages 13U. That means no new inning can be started after the time limit has been reached. However, the current inning in progress will be completed if it is necessary to determine the outcome of the game. Ties will be considered ties in the final standings once the time limit is reached when 6 or 7 innings have been completed. Mercy rule applies to all pool play games.
Playoff and championship games will have no time limit. Game must be played to completion to determine a winner. Mercy rule still applies.
Pitching Restrictions
None
Balks will be called in all divisions. In 11U and 12U divisions, one dead-ball team warning will be issued before a balk is enforced. 13U and older, the balk rule is in effect.
Bat Restrictions
10-13U No restrictions. 14U -3 BBCOR Only
Batting Order Options
Teams may bat 9 players using the official American League DH rule for the pitcher. Use of the DH is optional and must be declared when lineup is submitted.
Teams may also choose to bat 10 with an extra hitter (EH) with no restrictions to the position in the batting order.
Teams may also choose to have a continuous batting order and bat all. This must be declared when the lineup is submitted.
All players are allowed reentry. Once a pitcher is removed from pitching, he cannot reenter in later innings as a pitcher again. They may reentry to another defensive position only.
Injury Substitution Rule
In the event that a player becomes injured, the reentry rule comes into effect. The EH cannot be eliminated in the event of an injury. Teams that start with a batting order of 10, must finish with a batting order of 10. In the event the loss of player is as a result of an on field ejection and no substitutions are available, an out will be declared for his turn at bat.
Player/Coach Ejection
In the event that a player is ejected from a game, he will automatically be assessed an additional 1 games suspension – to be served on the players bench. In the event of a coach ejection, the coach will be removed from the bench and he will automatically be assessed an additional 1 games suspension – to be served on the players bench.
Courtesy Runner
Courtesy runner only for the catcher of record can be used at any point in the game. The catcher of record will be defined as follows: In the top half the first inning, it is the player assigned that position on the official score card. For all subsequent innings, it is the player who occupied the catcher’s position when the last defensive out was made. Teams may select any player not currently in the lineup as the courtesy runner for the catcher. Coaches – remember – this is a ‘speed up’ rule – not a ‘slow down’ rule. Have your Courtesy Runner ready to go when needed. Stopping the game for several minutes to get your runner in place is not an appropriate use of this rule. Use of a Courtesy runner for the catcher is optional.
Pitcher Visits
Standard MLB rules apply.
Avoid Contact/ Slide Rules
Players must avoid contact at all times. Sliding is one form of avoiding contact. It is the umpire’s discretion as to whether the contact was avoidable or if sliding was necessary to avoid contact. If it was deemed avoidable and sliding was necessary, the offending player is out.
Spikes/ Cleats
Metal spikes are permitted for ages 13U and older only.
Intentional Walk
Requires 4 balls to be thrown
Protests
Protests will be handled on field only by contacting a tournament official. Tournament official ruling will be final with no opportunity for appeal. No protest can be filed once play has resumed.
Home Team
Home Team will be decided by a coin toss during pool play. During the semi-finals and finals, the higher seed will be the home team. It may be possible for seeds of the same ranking to meet each other in the final playoff games. If that occurs the seeding tie-breaker below will be use to determine home team.
Seeding Tie Breaker Rule
For determining seeding for the playoffs (when all teams have played an equal number of games). The following system will be used for advancing and seeding out of pool play.
- Points are the first tie breaker. 3 for a win and 1 point for tie. A 1-1 record is considered a better record than 0-0-2.
- After points, if at each step further breakdown is necessary, head to head will only be used when two teams are tied. It cannot be used when more than 2 are tied. If head to head cannot be applied – total runs allowed is the next tie breaker.
- If, at any point after using runs allowed to determine the first team, head to head can be applied again, head to head will take precedence.
- If runs allowed does not determine a seeding order (due to a tie) runs allowed after throwing out the highest runs allowed in any single game will be used. If, at any point after using runs allowed to determine the first team, head to head can be applied again, head to head will take precedence.
If all of the above does not yield a seeding order, a coin toss involving the teams still tie will be used to determine the final order. Tournament officials will represent any team not present in the coin toss.
In the event that pool play games cannot be completed due to conditions such as weather, seeding rules will be adjusted to account for unequal number of games. In those situations, teams with loses will be penalized more than teams who could not play their games when determining final seeding. If playoff or consolation games cannot be completed, higher seed will be declared the winner.
Playoffs
- Top teams based on points from three game play advance to finals. Single elimination.
- Remaining teams will play in a consolation game. Please have your teams prepared to play possibility before the scheduled playoff game time. There are no lights at our fields and since there is also no time limit in the playoff round, we need to be sure all playoffs are played to conclusion and not halted due to daylight.
