USSSA
Kickoff Klassic --
March 27-28, 2010
Tournament
Rules & Information
1.
The
14U bracket
will be played at the Bachman Sports Complex in Glen Burnie
and the 10U & 12U will be played at Rockburn
Branch Park in Elkridge.
Directions
and maps to both parks can be obtained through our website, www.usssa1.com,
by clicking on “Parks". Also note
the following:
a)
Bachman
Park does
not allow pets in the park during the tournament. Smoking
is only allowed in the parking lots.
b)
There
are two
parts to Rockburn Park, each with a separate
entrance. Fields 1-4 are entered from
Landing
Road. Fields 7 & 8 are
entered from Montgomery Road. You can walk
from one section to the other
through a short wooded path, but to drive you must leave the section
you’re in
and go back out to Landing and Montgomery Roads. The
website has detailed directions to each
part.
2.
In the
event of
inclement weather, a message will be left at 410-439-2255 (State Office
Line).
Please only have one member of the team make the call in order to not
tie up the
phone line. We may also use email and
the usssa1.com website (front page and Director’s Forum portion of the
message
board) as a way to communicate any schedule changes.
Beyond these means, if a team is still
unclear as to their game situation, the manager only may also call
either Kerry
Lounge for 10U & 12U at 410-206-6006, Joe Hart at 301-785-5994 for
14U
Maryland teams or Tommy Thompson at 410-294-1091 for 14U non-Maryland
teams. Please note that as a general rule we
do not
individually contact each team in the event of adverse weather
conditions. Rather, it is the team’s
responsibility to
check the lines of communication listed above.
3.
Teams
should
report in to the tournament director 1 hour before the start of their
first
game, letting the director know that they have arrived and to receive
any last
minute instructions.
4.
Forfeit
time is
game time; however, the director’s discretion may be used if unique
circumstances warrant otherwise.
5.
Teams
must be
prepared to play 15 minutes prior to the scheduled start time of a game,
or 1 hour
ahead of schedule if we were to have bad weather. Otherwise,
a forfeit may be declared.
6.
In
pool play, the
winner of a coin toss prior to the start of a game will have choice of
being
home or visitors. In championship play
the higher seeded team will have the choice.
If both teams are equally seeded in championship play then a coin
toss
will be used.
7.
All
pool games
will be subject to a time limit of 1:20 in the 10U & 12U and 1:30 in
the
14U. All championship games will have a
1:30 time limit. There is no drop dead
rule.
No new inning may begin after the time limit has elapsed. The clock begins immediately from the time
that the pre-game conference ends. If
the time limit is up and the home team is leading and at bat, then the
game
ends with whatever the score is at that point (ie,
the final inning is not completed in this case – this is not the same as
the
drop dead rule).
8.
All
games will be
subject to the International Tiebreaker Rule.
In pool play, the tiebreaker will be in effect only after 7
innings have
been completed and if the time limit hasn't elapsed.
In pool play, only one tiebreaker inning will
be held. Once the time limit has elapsed
and the game is tied, then the game is considered final and a tie will
be
awarded to both teams. In championship
play, the tiebreaker will be in effect when 7 innings have been
completed or
the time limit has expired, whichever comes first. Games
in championship play can only end in a
tie if the tournament is not completed due to weather.
9. Coaches and rostered players
are the only ones allowed to be in the dugout or bench area during the
games. Bat boys/girls are no longer permitted unless they are a rostered player.
10. Protests on any issue other than an umpire’s
judgement
will require a $100 cash fee. Protests
on an umpire’s judgement will not be allowed and no fee will be
accepted. Protests on rule or procedural
interpretations during a game must be made before the next pitch and
will be
decided upon before the game is allowed to continue.
Protests on rule/procedures that occur at the
end of the game must be made before the next game begins on that field. Protests on player eligibility must be made
before either team starts their next game and will be decided upon
before
either team continues play. The protest
committee will be made up of any part of the following: tournament
director,
site director, tournament UIC, site UIC or any of their designees. If the protest is upheld the $100 will be
refunded. If the protest is denied the
fee will be forfeited.
11. If an ineligible player participates at any
time
during the event, the player and team manager will be ejected from the
remainder of the tournament and all games in which that player
participated
will be forfeited. Participation is
defined as either actively playing in the game or appearing anywhere on
the
official lineup that’s presented prior to the start of a game. Examples of ineligible players include, but
are not limited to, playing on two teams in the same event, not being
listed on
the team roster that was presented prior to the tournament, violating
the age
requirement, playing under an assumed identity, use of a fraudulent
birth
certificate, not presenting a birth certificate when requested to do so,
etc.
12. Once pool play is completed, the order of
finish
within each pool is determined by an average point system, whereby two
points
are awarded for each win, 1 point for each tie and no points for a loss. Teams are ordered by the average points
earned per game played. To break ties,
the following are used in order:
1)
head-to-head
(only
applies when 2 teams are tied)
2)
lowest
average
runs allowed per game played
3)
head-to-head
(only
if two teams remain after 2)
4)
highest
average
runs scored per game played
5)
head-to-head
(only
if two teams remain after 4)
6)
number
of wins
7)
coin toss.
Notes:
(a)
In a
three-way
tie, once one team is selected as the best team by the tiebreaker
process, then
head-to-head is applied to the remaining two teams. If the two teams did
not
play each other or if there are more than two teams remaining, then the
process
continues from the point at which the first team was selected. For example, assume Teams A, B & C have
given up 5, 4 & 3 runs, respectively, have all earned the same
average
points and A beat B, B beat C and C beat A.
Then Team C would be the top seed based on least average runs
allowed. Team A would then be the 2nd
seed due to head-to-head between teams A and B. Note: If three teams are
tied by average points and
one of those teams beat the other two then that team will be the top
seed among
those three and the remaining two teams will follow the procedure above. Alternatively, if one of those teams lost to
both the other two then that team will be the bottom seed among those
three and
the remaining two teams will follow the procedure above.
(b)
A team
will
receive two points as a result of winning by forfeit.
The points awarded for the forfeit will count
toward the average points, but the forfeit will not count in the runs
allowed
or scored tiebreakers. A team will not
be allowed to improve their seeding position by virtue of forfeiting
their
final pool game, whether done intentionally or not.
(c)
Games
in which
neither an official winner nor a tie has been declared do not count
toward any
of the tiebreakers above.
13. It is the manager’s responsibility to find out
if,
when and where their team is playing in Championship play.
That information will be posted at the site
immediately at the conclusion of pool play. It’s possible that pool play
results may also be posted on the “Director’s Forum” portion of the
message
board at www.usssa1.com.
14. If inclement weather or other conditions
impede the
normal progress of the tournament, the director reserves the right to
change
the tournament format in order to achieve the maximum number of games
played or
to declare an order of finish.