Cocoa Expo Baseball Tournament Rules

TOURNAMENT REGULATIONS

Unless otherwise noted, all Cocoa Expo Baseball Tournaments will be governed by the National Federation of High School rules. The Following exceptions to National Federation rules apply:

Game time: is forfeit time, unless the delay is caused by the tournament. Game time starts after the umpires meeting
Championship Game: in each age division will have no time limit. Run rule remains in effect
Home team: will be determined by coin flip. The umpires do not need to be present for the coin flip
Infield warm-up: There will be no pre-game practice allowed on the game field. Teams may use any non-tournament field and batting tunnels (if available) to warm-up prior to games.
Baseballs: the tournament provides all game balls. The umpires will bring the balls to the field with them
- Each team is responsible to retrieve and return all foul balls on their side of the field to the home plate umpire. In order to keep the games moving, on deck batters must retrieve all balls that go back to the screen.
Cleats: 10 & under, 11 & under and 12 & under are not allowed to wear steel cleats.
Bat Restrictions: The bat restrictions are as follows:

· 16 & Under, 18 & Under: The NFHS rule pertaining to bat size and length shall apply.
- The High School Bat Rule is Currently (-3)
· 10 & Under- 14 & Under: No bat restrictions apply.
Protests: permitted at time of incident only, with $100.00 to be posted. Game will not continue under protest. Protest committee will rule immediately on all protests. If the protest is not upheld, the $100.00 fee will be forfeited. Roster challenges will be treated as a protest.
Pitching Restrictions: No pitching restrictions apply (coach’s discretion)
Ejections: These penalties are for “ordinary” ejections. The tournament committee reserves the right to hand out stiffer penalties for extraordinary circumstances i.e. fighting, contact with umpire, etc.
o Any player or coach ejected from a game will automatically be suspended for the next game.
o Any player or coach ejected from a second game shall be suspended for the remainder of the tournament.
Adverse weather or rain: Cocoa Expo Youth Baseball Tournaments may be played in adverse weather conditions. The tournament director reserves the right to change the tournament format as he sees fit in order to complete the tournament in the scheduled time period.
- In the event that a game is stopped because of weather or other reason, the following applies:
  1. Before becoming a regulation game, it is declared a suspended game and shall be resumed at the exact point of suspension and played to completion (time limit and tiebreaker rules apply).
  2. After a game has become a regulation game, it shall be ruled a complete game
  3. When tied after becoming a regulation game, it shall be declared a suspended game and shall be resumed at the exact point of suspension and played to completion (time limit and tiebreaker rules apply).
v The tournament director has the authority to cancel or not complete any pool play game that has no bearing on advancement to medal play.

· Forfeits: If a team forfeits a game during pool play, they will not be eligible for medal play.

SPECIAL RULES: These are rules that are unique to the tournament at Cocoa Expo Sports Center.

EXTRA PLAYER “EP” Rule: may be utilized for all age divisions
- A player may (it is not mandatory) be designated as an EXTRA PLAYER. The EXTRA PLAYER is 10^th man in the batting order. The designated EXTRA PLAYER may bat in any position in the batting order. The EXTRA PLAYER must be selected prior to the start of the game, and his/her name must be included on the line-up card presented to the umpire-in-chief and the official scorer. Failure to declare an EXTRA PLAYER prior to the game eliminates the use of an EXTRA PLAYER for the duration of that game. During the course of a game, the player designated as the EXTRA PLAYER may enter the game in a defensive role for any defensive position, the player being substituted for defensively can become the EXTRA PLAYER, or another non-starter who has not played in the game may enter the game as the EXTRA PLAYER. The player entering the game in a defensive position and the new EXTRA PLAYER must remain in their original positions in the batting order. If a pinch hitter or pinch runner is used for the EXTRA PLAYER, that player becomes the new EXTRA Player.
Tie Breaker: no game will end in a tie. All games tied when the time limit is invoked will go to a tiebreaker. The tiebreaker format is as follows:
- If, after the completion of the time limit, the score is tied, the following tiebreaker will be played to determine a winning team:
  - Starting with the top of the next inning and each half-inning thereafter, the offensive team shall begin its turn at bat with the player who made the last out the previous inning being placed on second base. Both teams will get a chance to bat.
Tiebreaker Scoring:
- After the completion of 7 innings, none of the runs scored in the (8^th, 9th, 10th, etc.) tiebreak innings will have bearing on the final score except for the winning run (s). The final score will be the score at the completion of seven innings plus the winning run (s).
- The difference in the final score of all games determined by tiebreaker will be one run unless the final run was scored via homerun. In this case ALL runs scored from the homerun will have bearing on the final outcome of the game.

The 10 & Under Youth division will have no leads or steals prior to the pitch crossing home plate.

(Any base runner leaving the base before the ball reaches home plate is out (Umpire decision). Once the ball has reached home plate, players can leave the base and advance at their own discretion.)

The 11, 12 & Under Youth Divisions will have leads and steals permitted prior to pitch.

v The tournament director shall have final decision on all tournament questions.

v The Tournament Committees interpretation of the aforementioned rules and regulations shall be final.

v The Tournament Committee reserves the right to decide all tournament matters.

DISTANCE, TIME LIMITS, RUN RULE:

Age Group Pitching Base Time Limit/ Innings Run Rules

10 & Under 46’ 60’ 1 hour & 45 minutes 10 runs after 4

6innings *15runs after 3

11 & Under 50’ 70’ 1 hour & 45 minutes 10 runs after 4

12 & Under 6 innings *15 runs after 3

13 – 18 60’6” 90’ 2 hours & 15 minutes 10 runs after 5

& Under 7 innings *15 runs after 4

Time Limit: is defined as no new inning may start after the time limit expires. Should an inning begin before the end of the time period and carry beyond the time lint, the inning will be played in its entirety. Time starts after the umpires meeting

Complete game: 10, 11, 12 & Under – 31/2 or 4 innings 13 – 18 & Under – 41/2 or 5 innings

POOL TIEBREAKER

ALL TIES AFTER THE POOL ROUND SHALL BE SETTLED AS FOLLOWS: IN ORDER

1.              Head to Head competition (between teams tied, 2 teams or more)

2.              Fewest runs allowed in the games played between the teams tied

3.              Team that gave up the least amount of runs in all pool games

4.              Runs Scored

The following procedure is to be used when, at the conclusion of each round of pool play, there is more than one team in the pool with the same win-loss record.

A. When two (2) teams tie for a position:

1. The team which defeated the other is ranked higher.

B. When three (3) teams tie for a position:

1. If one of the three teams is 2-0 in games against the other 2 teams, that team is ranked higher.

2. If all three teams are 1-1 against each other

a. The tied teams are ranked based on the least number of runs allowed in pool games between the tied teams. If two of the teams are still tied on this basis, use situation (A) to rank those two teams. If all three teams are still tied, proceed to (b).

b. The tied teams are ranked based on the least number of runs allowed in all pool games. If two of the teams are still tied on this basis, use situation (A) to rank those two teams. If all three teams are still tied, proceed to (c).

c. The tied teams are ranked based on the most runs scored in pool games between the tied teams. If two of the teams are still tied on this basis, use situation 1 to rank those two teams. If two of the teams are still tied on this basis, use situation (A) to rank those two teams. If all three teams are still tied, proceed to (d).

d. The tied teams are ranked based on the most runs scored in all pool games. If two of the teams are still tied on this basis, use situation (A) to rank those two teams.