SoftballNation National Convention
2007 Convention Report:
The 2007 SoftballNation Convention was held in
Virginia Beach, Virginia. Directors, Umpires and other administrators met
to discuss and make rule change recommendations. In addition to some minor
wording changes and other minor changes to the rule book, here are some changes
that may be of importance to thsoe who play in the SoftballNation Adult Slow
Pitch and Youth Fast Pitch Programs:
These changes will take effect with the beginning of the 2008 season.
Adult Slow Pitch:
Classification: As there is every year, there is a
continuous dialogue about classifying and re-classifying teams.
SoftballNation allows Local Directors to classify the teams in their area.
In Virginia, our next directors meeting is in December and we will make
recommendations on the possibility of re-classifying some teams for the
2008 season. We will release a list of recommended teams
invited to play at a different level than they competed in 2007. As
everyone knows, some teams disband, change players or change sponsors, and
it will be difficult to "officially" reclassify any team until a
director has seen a team play and see who their players are. Once
the season begins and directors see these teams play, their 2008 level of play
will then be determined.
Courtesy Runner: recommended for men, women, coed, church
One courtesy runner per half inning may be allowed. It may be
someone not in the game or the most previous batter who is not on base.
Should an injury occur to a courtesy runner, the original runner must
take his/her place back in the game.
COED Courtesy Runners: Males must run for males and females must run for
females.
International Tie Breaker: Will be used for Tie-breakers in Slow
Pitch games: TIE BREAKER/EXTRA INNINGS (SP/ FP): After the
completion of seven (7) innings or when the time limit has expired and the score
is still tied, the tie-breaker procedure will begin. This would involve the last
batter of the previous inning, whose turn at bat had been completed, assuming a
position on second base. This would be done at the
beginning of each half inning; until, at the conclusion of a full inning, a
winner is determined.
Bats:
If a bat is designated age / gender specific it may only be used in that
respective division of play.
Fast Pitch bats may only be used in Fast Pitch play.
Penalty: See Illegal Bat.
Military Exemption for State Championship Play: Military
Teams are eligible for waivers from their
respective State Tournament providing Operational Commitment be provided
expressing inability to field a team for their State Championship.
A military team is a team that has 80% of rostered players on Active
Duty.
Youth Fast Pitch
Metal Cleats: For your information: There was a lengthy discussion
regarding metal cleats. As you may know, the National High School
Federation voted to approve metal cleats for varsity competition. As a
tournament organization, we realize this will mean that players may show up at
our tournaments in 2008 with metal cleats. The dilema is that many of the
fields we utilize for tournament competition do not allow metal cleats. We
will have discussions and get feedback from the Parks and Recreation officials
that we deal with and make any announcement about this issue before the season
begins. As of today, the SoftballNation Rule Book does not allow for metal
cleats in tournament play.
Guest Player:
In a non-post season tournament a team may invite a player not on their official
roster to play with them as a guest player. The declared guest player may
not pitch. A team may only have one guest player per tournament.
The guest player must have parental consent and meet the appropriate age
requirement to be eligible to play. The guest player must be
declared before the tournament begins.
The Guest player must wear her current team's uniform or a different uniform
from the team she's visiting.
Intentional Base on Balls (walks) may be granted without pitches
being thrown when the coach, pitcher or catcher makes the request to the plate
umpire. The request may be made before any pitch, regardless of the count on the
batter at that point the ball becomes dead.”
Rule 7 Section 7 (e) -
3 foot ruling lane add Note – “Running on the line with a foot
partially outside the line is considered to be within the running lane.
The running lane applies only when the play is being made on the
batter-runner at the first base”.
Dead Ball Appeal (fast – pitch) –
Definitions - “Dead Ball Appeal Plays shall be granted.
Any on-field member of the defensive team may make a dead-ball appeal for
a runner missing a base or leaving too soon on a caught fly ball.
Note: This has been a commonly done thing already and it was just not officially
in the rule book.
Charged Defensive
Conference: “There shall be a limit of one
charged conference between the manager or any other team representative from the
dugout and any defensive player in any half inning.
The second and all subsequent charged conferences in a half-inning
will result in the removal of the current pitcher from the pitching position for
the remainder of the game. A pitcher
removed by this rule is allowed to play another defensive position.
Note: A starting or
substitute pitcher must pitch to at least one batter until that batter reaches
base, is put out, or there has been a third out in the inning.
Charged Offensive Conference: “There shall be a
limit of one charged conference between the manager or any other team
representative, on or off the field, and any offensive player in any
half-inning. The umpire should deny
all requests for subsequent charged conference.
If a manager or team representative demands multiple charged conferences
in a half-inning, the second and all subsequent charged conferences will result
in a strike being called on the current batter.”
The Batter is Out:
Rule 7 Sec 7 (d) (page 55) to
“When after a fair ball is hit, a dropped third strike, or a base on balls is
awarded, he/she fails to advance to 1st base and enter his/her team area or any
dead ball area.”
The Batter is out:
(The so-called Give Up Rule)
add Rule 6 Section 8 (k) (page 24): “When the batter concedes his/her right to
advance on a legally batted fair ball, he/she is out”.