Unless otherwise noted, the official American League Rulebook will be in effect for the tournament.

12U and younger divisions- 70’ bases & 50’ pitching mounds.
Cooperstown Rules

13U and older divisions- 90’ bases & 60’ pitching mounds.
Modified American League Rules

Team Warm-up: The infields on each of the fields cannot be used for warm-ups. The outfield of each field or grass areas around the fields can be used for playing catch and warming up pitchers only. For safety reasons, no fielding can occur (batted balls) outside of the fenced in fields themselves. Hitting baseballs into sock nets or use of wiffle/pickle balls is permitted.

Standings/Game Scores: Standings and game scores will be updated on the NECC website daily. A printed copy will be posted and updated throughout the day at each field for anyone not having Internet access.

Official Score Card: The home team will be responsible for keeping the official score book. Winning team is responsible for reporting score as documented in the coaches check-in package.

Seeding for Sundays Playoffs: Seeding results will be available online on the NECC website between 10PM and 11PM Saturday.

Rules Summary:

Game Length/Time Limit: All games are 7 innings. Mercy rule is 15 runs after 3 innings, 12 runs after 4 innings, 8 runs after 5 or anytime thereafter. Home team, if losing, is always given opportunity to bat before mercy rule can be applied. In the event of rain, 4 innings is also considered an official game.

Pool play games have a 2 hour time limit for ages 11U and 12U, 2 hour and 15 minute limit for ages 13U and older. That means no new inning can be started after the time limit has been reached. However, the current inning in progress will be completed if it is necessary to determine the outcome of the game. Ties will be considered ties in the final standings once the time limit is reached or 7 innings have been completed. Mercy rule applies to all pool play games.

Semi Final games will have an additional 15 minutes added to the time limit to complete. If the game is still tied at the time limit, the International Tie Breaker rule will be used (place last out of the last inning at second base). 1 out on the batting team. Play full innings until the tie is broken. Mercy rule still applies.

Championship games will have no time limit. No tie breaker rule. Game must be played to completion to determine a winner. Mercy rule still applies.

Pitching Restrictions: None

Balks will be called in all divisions. In 11U and 12U divisions, one dead-ball team warning will be issued before a balk is enforced.

Bat Restrictions: 12U and younger: No restrictions. 13U and older: -3 BESR Certified or wood bats only.

Batting Order Options: Teams may bat 9 players using the official American League DH rule for the pitcher. Use of the DH is optional and must be declared when lineup is submitted. The DH can be removed as defined in the official American League rulebook. Teams may also choose to bat an extra hitter (EH) with the following restrictions: The EH must bat last and cannot enter the game defensively. Retry is allowed for any starting lineup player only as long as he returns to the exact spot he occupied in the batting order when the official starting lineup was presented.

Injury Substitution Rule: In the event that a player becomes injured and all eligible substitutions have been exhausted, the opposing coach will select a player to re-enter the game for the injured player. The EH cannot be eliminated in the event of an injury. Teams that start with a batting order of 10, must finish with a batting order of 10. In the event the loss of player is as a result of an on field ejection and no substations are available, a forfeit with a score of 7-0 will be declared.

Player/Coach Ejection: In the event that a player is ejected from a game, he will automatically be assessed an additional 2 games suspension – to be served on the players bench. In the event of a coach ejection, the coach will be removed from the bench for the remainder of the tournament.

Courtesy Runners: Courtesy runner only for the catcher of record can be used at any point in the game. The catcher of record will be defined as follows: In the top half the first inning, it is the player assigned that position on the official score card. For all subsequent innings, it is the player who occupied the catcher’s position when the last defensive out was made. Teams may select any player not currently in the lineup as the courtesy runner for the catcher. Coaches – remember – this is a ‘speed up’ rule – not a ‘slow down’ rule. Have your Courtesy Runner ready to go when needed. Stopping the game for several minutes to get your runner in place is not an appropriate use of this rule. Use of a Courtesy runner for the catcher is optional.

Pitcher Visits: Standard MLB rules apply.

Contact/Must Slide Rules: Players must avoid contact at all times. Sliding is one form of avoiding contact. It is the umpire’s discretion as to whether the contact was avoidable. If it was deemed avoidable, the offending player is out and removed from the game.

Spikes/Cleats: Metal spikes are permitted for ages 13U and older only.

Intentional Walk: Requires 4 balls to be thrown.

Protests: Protests will be handled on field only by contacting a tournament official thru the scorer’s tent at each location. Tournament official ruling will be final with no opportunity for appeal. No protest can be filed once play has resumed.

Home Team: Home Team will be decided by a coin toss during pool play. During the semi-finals and finals, the higher seed will be the home team. Where multiple pools are involved it may be possible for seeds of the same ranking to meet each other in the final playoff games. If that occurs the seeding tie-breaker below will be use to determine home team.

Seeding Tie Breaker Rule: For determining seeding for the playoffs (when all teams have played an equal number of games).

Winning percentage is the first tie breaker, followed by number of wins (ties are considered ½ win, ½ loss for determining winning percentage). A 1-1 record is considered a better record than 0-0-2.

After winning percentage, if at each step further breakdown is necessary, head to head will be used whenever it can be applied. It can only be applied when one team beat all other teams (one or more) it is currently tie with.

If head to head cannot be applied – runs allowed (average per game) is the next tie breaker. If, at any point after using runs allowed to determine the first team, head to head can be applied again, head to head will take precedence.

If runs allowed does not determine a seeding order (due to a tie), runs allowed after throwing out the highest runs allowed in any single game will be used. If, at any point after using runs allowed to determine the first team, head to head can be applied again, head to head will take precedence.

If all of the above does not yield a seeding order, a coin toss involving the teams still tie will be used to determine the final order. Tournament officials will represent any team not present in the coin toss.

In the event that pool play games cannot be completed due to conditions such as weather, seeding rules will be adjusted to account for unequal number of games. In those situations, teams with loses will be penalized more than teams who could not play their games when determining final seeding. If playoff or consolation games cannot be completed, higher seed will be declared the winner.