USSSA
Fairland Fastpitch Frenzy --
April 25-26, 2009
Tournament
Rules & Information
1.
The tournament
will be played at Fairland Regional Park in Laurel, MD. Directions and maps can be obtained through
the website, www.usssa1.com,
by clicking on “Parks".
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 Tommy
Thompson at 410-294-1091 or Keri Lounge at 410-206-6006. 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.
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. Only coaches and rostered players
may be in the dugout, bench area or on the playing field during the games or
pre-game warm-ups. Non-rostered bat
boys/girls are no longer permitted.
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.
(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.