USSSA Early Bird  --  April 12-13

Fairland Regional Park  --  Laurel, Maryland

Tournament Rules & Information

1. 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 Bill Dowell at 410-206-8363 or Joe Hart at 301-785-5994. 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.

2. 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.

3. Forfeit time is game time; however, the director’s discretion may be used if unique circumstances warrant otherwise.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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).

7. All 10U games are considered pool play.

8. In 10U the dropped 3^rd strike rule will be in effect.

9. 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.

10. Protests on any issue other than an umpire’s judgement will require a $75 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 $75 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 2^nd 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.

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.