| Softball |
Softball Announcements:
2010 Summer Softball General Information:
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| Regular Season (Tuesdays | Post Season Dates (for Rain and Playoffs) |
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| Game 1 - May 25 | Game 5 - June 22 | Rain date/Playoffs 1 - July 20 |
| Game 2 - June 1 | Game 6 - June 29 | Rain date/ Playoffs 2 - July 27 |
| Game 3 - June 8 | Game 7 - July 6 | Rain date/ Playoffs 3 - Aug 3 |
| Game 4 - June 15 | Game 8 - July 13 | Rain date/ Playoffs 4 - Aug 10 |
Sign-Up Information
SSB Summer 2010 Softball Team Registration 
In Person Sign-Up Night: Tuesday, April 20
Time: 7-9:00 pm.
Location: Saphire Cafe sponsor bar located at 7940 Wisconsin Avenue Bethesda, MD 20814-3620 including $1.75 Miller Lite drafts.
Time: 7-9:00 pm.
Location: Saphire Cafe sponsor bar located at 7940 Wisconsin Avenue Bethesda, MD 20814-3620 including $1.75 Miller Lite drafts.
League Fees:
$65.00 per player. Sign up as a Free Agent, group or as a whole team.
Team Sign –Ups:
On sign-up night April 20 (or before if signing-up online), team captains or representative, please submit only:
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Team Information Sheet (team name, number of players, team color, tee-shirt sizes, division, etc).
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$260 nonrefundable deposit to reserve your team’s spot.
Team roster, player waivers, and balance of fees are not due until Shirt Pick Up Night, see section below. Minimum number of players per team is 12. No max number of players.
SSB will not assign players to your team without your permission. If new team sign-ups exceed league limitations, a lottery will determine which teams fill the available spaces. There is no maximum number of players allowed on your team. You will be responsible for paying for the number of tee shirts requested. No extra tee-shirts orders or changes will be accepted after the team sign-up date. Completed waivers and team roster sheet are due at the tee-shirt pick up.
Free Agent and Group Sign-Up:
On sign-up night April 20 (or before if signing-up online), Free Agents please submit:
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$65 individual registration fee
Free Agent players are those who don’t have a full team. You will be added to one of the following:
a) Established teams that need additional players.
b) New teams that are formed with other individuals.
b) New teams that are formed with other individuals.
Free Agents can be placed on the same team with friends. Write down the other persons name on the registration/waiver form in the space provided. League fees are non-refundable unless SSB is not able to place you on a team.
2010 Shirt Pick-up Night and Kick Off HAPPY HOUR
Date: Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Time: 7:00 – 9:00 pm. (Drink Specials 7:00 - 10:00pm)
Location: Saphire Cafe sponsor bar located at 7940 Wisconsin Avenue Bethesda, MD 20814-3620 including $1.75 Miller Lite drafts.
Time: 7:00 – 9:00 pm. (Drink Specials 7:00 - 10:00pm)
Location: Saphire Cafe sponsor bar located at 7940 Wisconsin Avenue Bethesda, MD 20814-3620 including $1.75 Miller Lite drafts.
All SSB players and friends are welcome to the season kick-off happy hour!! Great drink and food specials! Team captains can pick the shirts up and then meet up with your team afterward!
Only team captains or their representatives can pick up the shirts. Team captains please collect the following to be turned in:
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Completed waivers – one for each player.
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Completed roster – see roster sheet link above.
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Balance of money due - the remainder of the fees are required at this time (minus the initial deposit)
In order to receive all of your team tee-shirts, you must have a signed waiver and payment for each player. Unless special exceptions are made, teams will receive a $50 fine if they do not have payments and waivers completed by the team captain’s meeting. Free Agents and players must get their shirts from their team captain.
Rules — Softball Summer 2010
ASA RULES: ASA Rules of Softball apply, unless otherwise noted below.
START OF THE GAME: The Home team takes the field first and uses the first base benches. Before the game, Team Captains meet with the umpire to exchange Line-Up Cards review rules and. All games must start on time to avoid forfeit.
SCORE BOOK: Both teams are responsible for keeping a scorebook and maintaining it in proper order. Home team will have the official scorebook. All changes to your scorebook must be given to the umpire and opposing team. At end of game, check scores with umpire. Home team emails scores to info@socialsportsofbethesda.com
LINE-UP CARDS: Batting line-up cards are to be filled out with players’ first name and last initial. Before the start of each game, Team Captains will give a copy of the card to the opposing team. All changes to your line-up must be reported to the umpire and opposing team. Teams not handing in their card before the game will be penalized one out during their first at-bat. If the card is not handed in by the end of the first inning then that team will forfeit the game. See NUMBER OF PLAYERS IN THE LINE-UP below for 2-man 1-woman ratio.
GAME TIME: Games will stop after 7 innings with no new innings after the 45-minute mark with a hard stop at 55-minutes, whichever is reached first. If 7 innings are not completed when 55-minutes is reached, the score will revert to the last full inning played. Exception: If it is the bottom of an inning and the at-bat (home) team takes the lead, then the at-bat (home) team is awarded the win. There is no minimum number of innings for a complete game if the time limit has been satisfied. The umpire's clock is the official game clock. They will inform both teams when the game has started. Only one warm-up pitch is allowed between innings. Teams must hustle on and off the field. If a rainout occurs while a game is in progress, 4 innings must be completed for the game to count. If the home team is ahead after the completion of the top of the 4th inning, the game will be considered complete.
GAME UNIFORMS: SSB tee shirts are your team’s softball uniforms. All players must wear their current SSB tee shirt to participate. Swapping shirts is not allowed. Players swapping shirts will be ejected.
EQUIPMENT: The SSB will supply a catcher's mask, field equipment (bases, pitchers mound, etc) and a playable ball for each game. No additional equipment will be supplied. Catchers MUST wear the mask at all times behind the plate. Catchers please clear bats from home plate/batters box during play.
BAT RESTRICTIONS: All bats must bear either the ASA 2000 or ASA 2004 certification, and must not be listed on an ASA non approved list. Batters throwing bats is not allowed. Teams will receive two warnings. Batters will be called out if it happens a third or more times.
NUMBER OF PLAYERS ON FIELD: Maximum of 10 players (at least 4 women) on the field. Minimum number of players on the field/your starting line up is 8 (6 men/2 women) to avoid forfeit (see Forfeit rules). No more than 6 men are allowed on the field at one time. There is no maximum number of women allowed on the field or in your line-up. If a player arrives late, they will be inserted into the bottom of the batting order. You are allowed to place a late arriving player in the field. Notify the umpire and opposing team of these additions.
BATTING LINE-UP:
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All players must bat.
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Only players in the line-up are eligible to play in the field.
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There is no max number of players allowed in the line-up.
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The line-up needs to stay the same for the whole game, except late arriving players can be added to the bottom of the line-up (notify ump and opposing team).
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Maintain a 2 to 1 batting ratio for men to women.
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You cannot have more than 2 men bat in a row.
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Men are not allowed to bat more than once in the line-up.
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If the line-up starts with 2 men, it must end with a woman.
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If the team has too few women, then women can bat multiple times in the line-up in order to satisfy the 2 to 1 ratio.
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If a team has too few men, go to a 1-to-1 man/woman ratio or have 2 women bat in a row
BATTING OUT OF ORDER: If the error is discovered while the incorrect batter is hitting, then the correct batter will assume the ball/strike count of the incorrect batter. If the incorrect batter reaches base safely and the error is discovered, the correct batter will be called out. All runners will return to their original base and the incorrect batter will return to the bench. The opposing team must make the umpire aware of batting-out-of-order before a pitch is thrown to the next batter. If it is not, then the incorrect batter will stay on base.
POSITIONS: Between innings, players may move freely from the bench to the field and from one field position to another. The batting order must stay the same for the whole game, except a player arriving late can be added to the bottom of the line-up.
Outfielders must start their play at or beyond the cones in the outfield. The cones are 60 feet outside the bases. The outfielder can run in only after the ball is hit. If the outfielder starts closer than that and makes a play, all runners will be safe.
ONE-AND-ONE COUNT: Each batter will start with a one ball and one strike count. The batter is out after a third strike, including a foul ball that is hit after two strikes. If a fly ball is caught in playable foul territory after the third strike, the ball remains live.
MALE WALKS: Situation: There are two outs, a male batter gets walked, and a female is now up to bat. Choice: The woman batter has the option to take an automatic walk or she can bat.
MERCY RULE 1: Nine runs maximum scoring allowed per inning. After the ninth run crosses the plate, play will stop regardless of the number of outs. Exception: In the bottom of the last inning.
MERCY RULE 2: The game will end if there is a 10 run difference after the completion of five innings.
RUNNING: No leading or stealing. Runners can leave the base once the ball is hit. Injured players may be substituted with a pinch runner once they reach first base. The last player out of the preceding inning will become the pinch runner.
HOME RUNS: Where there is a fence, each team will be allowed TWO home runs for a ball hit over the fence per game. Every ball hit over the fence after that will count as a single. Runners on base cannot advance unless forced.
OUT OF BOUNDS: The umpire will describe out of bounds for each field before the game. If the ball is hit or thrown near any in-bounds obstacles (i.e., trees) the umpire will call an official time-out.
Administration – Softball Summer 2010
ROSTER: There is no maximum number of players allowed on your roster. Players will not be allowed to participate without signing the SSB waiver/roster. After sign-up night, teams must DROP a player(s) before they can add a player(s). The drop-add period is until Week 4. The additional player must obtain the tee shirt from the dropped player in order to play. All players must be 21 years old.
PLAYER PARTICIPATION: Teams can only play with players listed on their roster. Recruiting players from other teams in the league is prohibited, unless the opposing team captain agrees to it before the start of the game. Players from outside the league cannot be used at all. Teams that break these rules will have to forfeit all affected game(s).
PLAYER PARTICIPATION: Teams can only play with players listed on their roster. Recruiting players from other teams in the league is prohibited, unless the opposing team captain agrees to it before the start of the game. Players from outside the league cannot be used at all. Teams that break these rules will have to forfeit all affected game(s).
FORFEITS: If a team does not have the minimum number of players by game time, they must still start the game. If the minimum number of players do not show up by the completion of the first 1/2 of the 1st inning the game will be considered a forfeit and fines will be assessed.
FORFEITS FINES: If a team does not have the minimum number of players by game time, a $50 forfeit fine will be assessed. If a team e-mails the SSB by 5pm on the day preceding the game day to inform of a forfeit, no fine will be assessed. This will allow SSB to notify the opposing Team Captain and they can inform their team of the upcoming forfeit. All fines must be paid before the next scheduled game.
RAINOUT INFORMATION: Rainout information will be available at 301-565-3837 after 4:30 pm the day of the game. If lightning occurs near the field during a game, all games will be cancelled. LEAVE THE FIELD IMMEDIATELY. The SSB will attempt to reschedule rained out games.
SSB SPORTSMANSHIP: This is a social league and unsportsmanlike behavior will not be tolerated. The umpires will call unsportsmanlike conduct for rough play, abusive or insulting language; aggressively challenging the umpire or other inappropriate behavior. Severe cases of unsportsmanlike conduct (e.g., fighting) will result in the offending player(s) being disqualified for the remainder of the season. Refunds will not be given. Only Team Captains will be able to discuss a rule with the umpire and no judgment calls will be discussed. Players can be ejected without warning for:
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Wearing metal spikes.
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Using an illegal bat. The batter will also be called out and all runners will return to their original bases.
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Unsportsmanlike conduct. Each team will be given one warning. After that players will be ejected.
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Unnecessary contact. Also, if the umpire considers a slide to be unsportsmanlike, that player will be ejected.
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Initiating a FAKE TAG will be cause for ejection and the runner will be awarded 2 bases. Fake tags are those initiated without the ball in hand in order to stop a play or force a runner to slide.
Following the game, the umpire will rate each team between 1 and 5 for sportsmanship with 5 being the best. SSB will keep a record of sportsmanship points and address any teams receiving low scores.
TEAM CAPTAIN RESPONSIBILITIES: In addition to responsibilities listed in these rules, please invite your team back to our sponsor bar for the social part of the league. Reminding your players that this is a social league and unsportsmanlike conduct is not needed.
POINTS AWARDED: Win = 2 points. Tie = 1 point. Loss = 0 points.
PLAY-OFFS : Play-offs will start immediately after the regular season ends and all make up games have been played. The number of teams that make the play-off will be determined by the SSB. Teams will be ranked by regular season record. Teams with tied records will be ranked by head-to-head outcome. If head-to-head is tied, sportsmanship points will be used to rank tied teams.
Championship games will not have a time limit to complete 7 innings. If the one-hour time limit expires and the game is tied, a tiebreaker inning(s) will occur. All players will clear the field, the home team will take the field, and the visiting team will be at bat. The batting order will continue from the previous inning. The runner who made the last out in the previous inning will be placed on second base. The batter will now have 2 balls and 2 strikes count on them. A foul is an out. After 3 outs, the home team will start their inning with the same format. The tiebreaker will continue until a complete inning has resulted in one team scoring more runs than the other. Home team will always have the last opportunity to be at-bat to win the game. The mercy rule will also be in effect.