Before We Talk Rules, Let's Talk About Culture

At League Joe, we are doing our best to bring the fun back to the game of softball. As umpires, I don't need to tell you that our game has gotten too serious and too competitive - you are often the bearers of the brunt of an overly-competitive, me-first culture. What I do need to tell you and emphasize strongly is that we support you in doing what you need to do to make sure the fields are safe and fun for new players. Rules are great and all, but we all know that sometimes you're going to screw them up, or make a bad call, or a player is going to misinterpret something and create a scene. We will relentlessly drive into our coaches and players an attitude of "Let it go, it's just a game" and want to take some pressure off of your shoulders. We don't expect you to be perfect - we expect you to be human. And if players are treating you as anything less than, then you have my full blessing to remove players from the field or the entire league if you see and know that their presence is toxic.

The vast majority of the players you are going to see on the fields are new to the game of slowpitch. For some, that means they have literally never held a bat before. For others, that means they haven't played since their high school days, and they maybe have some of those bad habits. You're going to see a field with players who are 18 years old and 68 on the same team. That's the beauty of our style of play, and we ask you to be protective of that culture since many players will look to you first on the field as the leader of that diamond. We encourage you to engage with, laugh with, and enjoy a fun evening of ball with our players. If you see a brand new player who is super nervous against a tournament player who is dropping knuckle balls, we encourage you to NOT give the pitcher that strike 3 call that caught the corner and we encourage you to tell that pitcher to serve some meatballs to the new players. And if the knuckle heads don't get it through their skulls what kind of game they are playing - that's where you let us know and we'll take care of it.

One rotten apple spoils the bunch. You have our permission and encouragement to remove those apples.

Golden Rule

Play the Game. We will preach to the coaches that they need to work with each other to be understanding of situations with subs and odd things with their lineups. Sometimes a team is going to show up and only have one girl instead of 3 and they couldn't find a sub. The coaches will be encouraged to negotiate how to make the field of play "even" and get the game in to respect the results. We try to avoid force forfeits - just get the game in!

Most Common Rules That You Should Be Ready For

• During the regular season, home and away will be listed as such on the website (or coin flip, check with commissioner. In playoff brackets, better seed gets home. For playoff/tournament play, pool play will be based on a coin flip and bracket play will be determined by better seed (higher seed has choice of home or away).
• If a Guy walks before a Girl, the guy ALWAYS gets 2nd base and the girl is given the OPTION to bat but may choose to also take a walk
• We highly highly encourage the girls to swing. Coaches will be encouraged to let them swing.
• Girl must be present and highly visible in the on-deck area or announced loudly so pitcher is aware of the lineup
• If she is not, guy takes first base only and girl must bat
• Home Run rule is 3 & One-Up. Any extra home runs are outs, but not inning-ending.
• Any gender may run for any other gender during play - 3 runners per inning maximum
• A single runner may only run for one other player during a single inning
  I.e. if John runs for Ed, he may not also run for Katy, but he may run for Ed if Ed bats again in the same inning
• Outfielder cannot make force out throw to 1B. If runner rounds the base, runner is live and Outfield may make the throw.
• If outfielder tries to make the force out throw, player running to first is automatically safe and play continues
• Infielders carried into the outfield through the course of play can throw to first
• Pitching screen or pitching helmet is mandatory. Both are allowed simultaneously if requested.
• If pitching screen is used, any ball that hits the net is treated as a foul ball
• If pitching screen is used, the pitcher MUST have the majority of their body behind the net when the BALL STRIKES THE BAT.
• If pitcher is not getting behind the net, umpire should issue a first warning
• If pitcher continues not getting behind the net, umpire can call "no pitch" with automatic ball before the ball is struck by the batter
• If pitcher is not behind the net, and the ball is struck before a "no pitch" call, the umpire may call dead ball with first base being automatically awarded to the batter
  So long as the pitcher is behind the screen when the ball is struck, they CAN then field their position
  For clarity, a slow hit ball towards the net CAN be fielded by a pitcher stepping in front of the net so long as the pitcher was behind the net when the ball was struck by the bat
• No pump fakes. No quick pitches. 6' - 10' from the ground.
• We highly discourage hitting middle but the reality is there will be a lot of new players who do NOT have bat control and WILL hit middle a lot. Do not let teams begin to weaponize this approach and if teams get chirpy about hitting middle, feel free to issue warnings to both dugouts. The players who CAN control it should be avoiding it, not using it for revenge
• No more than 1 woman benched at any time
• There is no special lineup requirements for women
• If the disparity of women on the teams is 2 or more, there will be an auto-out at the bottom of the lineup for the missing girl position
• This position is treated as a real player, therefore if a guy walks before the girl slot, the guy gets second base and the "ghost girl" will be an automatic out for not appearing at the plate
• All players must play at least two innings on defense before the end of the third inning and three innings by the end of the fifth inning

These are guidelines and rules for the event that all coaches must acknowledge and follow. Please review all rules carefully.

Official Rules

The official rules for the sport, which may or may not be from a sanctioning body.