2003 Church Youth Co-Rec Softball Rules Sportsmanship The ...

6. Length of Game:
A. Games will be seven (7) innings, or of one (1) hour duration.
B. No new inning may be started 50 minutes after the scheduled beginning of a game.
C. In the event a game ends in a tie after seven (7) innings, one (1) extra inning will be allowed
to break the tie (as long as the extra inning begins before the 10 minutes prior to the next
game). If still tied, the score will be recorded as a tie.
D. In the event of bad weather, a game will be termed "official" after three and one-half (3 1/2)
innings with the home team ahead, or after four (4) complete innings, the game will be termed
"official" and the team ahead declared the winner (exceptions will be games that end early
because of the run-limit rule defined below in paragraph E. or games that are declared ended
because of the 60-minute time limit).
E. If a team is ahead by 18 runs after three (3) complete innings (or 2 ½ innings if the leading
team is the Home team) or 13 runs after five (5) innings (or 4 ½ innings if the leading team is
the Home team), the team ahead shall be declared the winner.
1. Players:
A. A team may start and play a game with as few as eight (8) players. If a team plays with eight
(8) players, an automatic out will not be declared. However, if a team plays with nine (9)
players where 5 are males and 4 are females, an automatic out will occur between 2 males
who bat back-to-back. If there are 5 females and 4 males, no automatic out will be declared.
B. A player shall be officially in the game when his/her name has been entered on the score
sheet as playing the field, batting or a substitute.
C. A player who has signed the team’s roster and is listed on the team’s score card but is not
present at the start of the game, may still bat once s/he arrives
D. The Extra Player (EP) rule will be used. If a team uses the EP rule, only ten (10) players play
the field but an unlimited number are allowed to bat. A different ten (10) can play the field
each inning provided the same batting order is kept.
3. Batting:
A. Men and women must alternate in the batting order unless there are more than 5 females. If
there are 4 or fewer females, no team may have a situation where males bat back-to-back
without taking an automatic out. If there are 5 or more females, an unlimited number of
rostered males can bat back-to-back after all females have batted.
B. Batters will enter the box with an "1-1" count.
C. Batter is out when:
1. The third strike is swung at and missed
2. Each batter is allowed one “Courtesy” foul ball. The batter is out on a foul ball on the
third strike if a courtesy foul has already been used.
3. A third strike is called
4. The batter enters the batter box with an illegal bat.
5. A foul tip above the level of the batter's head is caught
6. The batter is hit by their own batted ball in fair territory before it has been played by a
fielder
7. The ball reaches first base and is caught before the runner reaches first base
8. The batter is tagged with the ball before reaching base.
D. Teams are allowed one home run over the fence per game. Any subsequent home runs will
result in the batter being called out. Inside-the-park home runs do not count towards the
home run total.
E. Infield fly Rule: When a batter hits a fair infield fly with base runners on first and second; or
first, second, and third with less than two (2) outs, the batter is automatically out. The runners
may advance at their own risk on an infield fly but must return to their bases if the ball is
caught (an infield fly is any fair ball that should be easily caught by an infield player). If a
declared infield fly falls to the ground untouched, it will still be considered an infield fly as long
as it stays in fair territory (ball does not have to be caught for this rule to apply).
Revised 06/02/2003 Page 2 of 3