The South Shore Softball League is an independent league.  We use the Minnesota ASA/USA softball rules as our guide and have adopted our own league specific rules where they are needed. 

 

Minnesota ASA/USA Softball rules

 

Fields:

• Alcohol, tobacco, or any other drug is prohibited from being on the field or in the dugouts
• Teams and players are expected to clean up the dugouts after their game(s)
• Excelsior Only
  • Excelsior City has a strict "lights out" rule by 10:00pm
  • If a ball hits a tree branch that over hangs the field of play it will be ruled a dead ball and foul.

General Game Play:

• No new inning will start after 55 minutes.
• If a completed inning has not happened by 65 minutes, the umpire will immediately stop the game and the scores will revert back to the last completed inning's score
  • If the umpire determines a team is deliberately slowing a game for the purpose of reverting a score; the umpire can issue up to three outs to the offending team's next at bat.
    • In this case, the batters will still bat in their current order, the inning will start with the respective number of outs issued.
• Mercy Rule
  • 20 runs after 4 innings
  • 12 runs after 5 innings
• To conserve time, if the home team is losing heading into the final inning, the umpire can flip flop the teams.
• Home runs are limited to 3 per team
  • If both teams hit 3 home runs each team will get 1 additional homerun as long as each team will have at least 1 more at bat. (the home team will not get an extra home run if they hit their 3rd in the bottom of the 7th)
  • there is no limit to the number of additional homeruns allowed as long as both teams continue to hit them and it doesn't happen in the bottom of an inning.
• In field Fly rule is only in effect if there are one or zero outs and you have runners on first and second or first, second, and third.
  • The Umpire is to call infield fly if a fly ball is hit in the infield and should be a routine play with reasonable effort.  The batter will automatically be out regardless if the ball is caught.  The runners do not have to run, but can try to advance at their own risk.
  • If the infield fly rule is called, but the ball is dropped/missed and it results as a foul ball.  The infield fly is removed and the result of the foul ball is played.
• one extra Inning will be played in the event of a tie and if the game is not beyond the 55 minute time rule.
  • Each team will start with a runner on second base and 1 out.  The last batter from the previous inning will be the runner at second base
  • If the game is still tied at the end of the extra inning the game will remain a tie

Equipment:

• Men's balls are the 12" Tattoo 52 COR/300LBS synthetic ball
• Women use the 11" Tattoo 44 COR/375LBS ball
• All bats must have the ASA or USA stamp
• Challenging a bat:  it is up to the each team to challenge a bat.  To challenge a bat it must be clearly expressed to the umpire on the field that you would like to "challenge" or "check" the bat being used.  there are two times a challenge can take place. 
  • 1) before the batter has been pitched a ball.  In this case, if the bat is un-approved the batter can change the bat for a legal bat.  The offending team will be issued a team warning.  A second sucessfull challenge to the use of an un-approved bat by any player from the warned team will result in an out and an ejection from the game.  If the bat is deemed to be a legal bat.  The challenging team will be issued a delay of game warning.  If the challenging team challenges another bat and that bat is proven to be a legal bat, the challenging team will be issued an out in their next at bat.
  • 2) the batter has been pitched a ball: in this case if the bat is un-approved the batter will be called out and a team warning will be issued. A second sucessfull challenge to the use of an un-approved bat by any player from the warned team will result in an out and an ejection from the game.  If a ball is batted with an un-approved bat any runners will be returned to the bases they occupied prior to the batted ball and an out will be recorded for the use of the un-approved bat.  The out will be the offending players at bat.  If the challenge is unsucessful, meaning the bat used was determined to be an approved bat.  The challenging team will be charged with an out and start their next inning with 1 out.

Pitching:

• Pitching rules are a hybrid of both ASA/USA and USSSA rules.
• Minimum pitch height is 3 feet from the point of release
• Maximum pitch height is 12 feet
• Umpires will only call illegal if a pitch is above the maximum height.  Pitches can be call illegal for being flat, but the umpire will not call it illegal in the air. (keep in mind umpires do not have measuring tapes.  one umpire's perception of 12 feet may be different than yours.  We strive for each umpire to be consistant in their own judgement of what is a legal pitch so teams can adjust accordingly).

Strike Zone:

• A Mat place behind home plate will be the strike zone.
• If the pitched ball lands on the mat a strike is called; unless the pitch was called illigal
• If the pitched ball lands anywhere other than the mat, a ball is called

Sliding and lanes to the bases:

• base runners are expected to slide for close plays.  Failure to slide could result in an out call if the umpire deems the play was dangerous due to the non slide.
• fielders should give a clear path to their respective base.  Only when the player has the ball can the fielder close the path. A runner can be ruled safe if the umpire deems the runner was not given a fair path to the base resulting in a dangerous play.
• a base runner advancing to second during an attempted double play, must either slide or move out of the way of the fielder at second base's throwing lane to avoid being struck with the ball.  Failure to move or slide will result in an out at first base in addition to the out recorded at second base for an unsafe play/obstructing a fielder's play.