Co-Ed Softball

RULES GOVERNING PARTICIPATION

[A] TEAMS: Before a team can participate, they must have completed the online registration and the fees have been processed.

[B] ELIGIBILITY: Players are not eligible to participate in any games until they have registered online. Players under 18 years of age require a signature from parent or guardian to be eligible to be on a roster. Players must be at least 9th grade or a minimum 14 years of age to be eligible to play. They are considered High School if they are in the final weeks of the final term of 8th grade.

[C] VERBAL ABUSE: will not be permitted, whether against umpires, coaches, teammates, opponents, fans, or league personnel. Verbal Abuse will be defined as any person who forcefully criticizes, insults, or denounces another person; or communication characterized by underlying anger and/or hostility; or a destructive form of communication intended to harm the self-concept of the other person and produce negative emotions.

[D] PROFANITY: will not be permitted. 1st incident results in a warning; 2nd incident results in a final warning; 3rd incident results in an ejection for the rest of that day; 4th incident results in multiple weeks suspension, up to the remainder of the season (length of suspension will be determined by the LEGACY Sports Board on a case by case basis.

[E] PHYSICAL ABUSE: Absolutely NO physical abuse at any time; includes fighting, verbal threats, attempts to provoke, taunting, physical bumps, pushing, or any act of aggression toward umpires, coaches, other players, fans.

[F] SUBSTANCES: No ALCOHOL is permitted by players, coaches, umpires, or spectators before games, during games, or anywhere on the premises inside the gates of the complex. No SMOKING, VAPING, or E-CIGS will be permitted anywhere inside the gates of the complex, as posted on signs as you enter the complex.

ROSTERS & LINE-UPS

[A] There is no roster minimum, but be advised on the line-up restrictions.

[B] Teams may pick up other players from the league without penalty if they adhere to the following stipulations:

1. The pick-up player’s team is not playing at that time.

2. They may pick up as needed until they have a legal team of 7 men and 3 women, plus one substitute of each gender.

[C] Defensive line-ups shall consist of at least 3 players of each gender. If a team has only 2 women available at game time, they can start the game and play with one of two options: 1) play 2 women and 7 men on defense, with a ghost female (JANE DOE) in the batting order who is an automatic out whenever it is their at-bat; OR 2) play 2 women and 6 men on defense and bat 8 with no penalty. If a third female shows up they may be added to the bottom of the batting order in either scenario.

[D] If a player cannot finish a game due to injury can be removed from the batting order without penalty provided gender minimums are still met.

[E] Teams are required to bat their roster so everyone has the opportunity to participate (providing minimum gender requirements can be met). There is no requirement to alternate player genders in the batting order as is common in traditional 5 and 5 Co-Ed.

[F] Injured players may have a courtesy runner, but batters must safely reach first base before a courtesy runner can be inserted, and then only after the umpire has declared a dead ball. MANAGERS MUST NOTIFY BOTH THE UMPIRE AND THE OPPOSING MANAGER before the first pitch of the game which player(s) will need a courtesy runner! If a player is injured during the game, additional courtesy runners will be allowed at the umpire’s discretion, and both managers will be made aware of the change. The courtesy runner must be of the same gender, and the last available player of that gender in the batting order. NOTE: The courtesy runner rule is not meant to allow teams to replace a “slow” runner; it is meant to allow teams to replace an “injured” runner.

UNIFORMS & EQUIPMENT

[A] Teams are responsible for their own uniforms. There is no enforcement on matching colors, but players should have a number. Players may wear pants or shorts at their discretion, as long as the shorts are appropriate in style, modest in length (not extremely short) and demonstrate decorum.

[B] All bats must contain the USA/ASA stamp (or be USA legal) and not on the banned bat list. Bats will be declared illegal by the umpire, not league personnel, and should be done so before the game, but can be done at any time.

[C] Players must wear shoes (appropriate shoes) at all times. Metal cleats are not allowed.

[D] Any player who desires to wear a protective mask or (legal) headgear may do so if they provide their own.

[E] Game balls will be provided by the league; teams must provide their own practice balls.

RAIN-OUTS & FORFEITS

[A] If scheduled games have the ability to be canceled without teams being forced to show up at the field they will be; if not, both teams MUST show up and be ready to play at the scheduled time to avoid a forfeit.

[B] The decision to cancel a game due to inclement weather or field conditions will be made by the Prairie Fields Director and groundskeeper and will be available on their facebook page. It is each team’s responsibility to make themselves aware of rain-outs.

[C] The first option for making up a rainout will be to add an additional game on a game day later in the season. If that is not possible, the end of the season may be pushed back (if possible) to accommodate the makeup; the goal is that no team lose the opportunity to play any of the games on their schedule. As a last resort game(s) could be made up a different day. If a game(s) is lost to weather and, after every option has been exhausted, the game(s) cannot be made-up, LEGACY Sports is not responsible for the lost game(s).

[D] When a game is a forfeit, the teams may still play the game for fun despite the fact the outcome has already been determined. The final score of the game will be 7-0 according to ASA rules. Once a game has been declared a forfeit, any player eligible to play in the LEGACY SPORTS Co-Ed Softball League may fill in only for the team that is short players.