Tournament Format
- Teams competing in tournaments 9U – 12U will be subject to a 6 inning or 1 hour and 45 minute time limit. Teams competing in tournaments for 13U will be subject to a 7 inning or 1 hour and 45 minute time limit.
- Teams competing in tournaments 14U – 18U will be subject to a 7 inning or 2 hour time limit (high school rules).
- In the event a game is tied after 7 innings with time remaining extra innings may take place with extra inning rules being used.
- Teams advancing to the Championship round will not be subject to any restraints, weather and conditions permitting. Time limits may remain in place if required by field/playing conditions.
- Teams advancing to the championship rounds are based on seeding within pool and then against the field. (Example: If the top 8 teams advance from 4 pools the #1 seeds will be seeded 1-4 and the #2 seeds will be ranked 5-8 for overall seeding. If the top 8 teams advance from 5 total pools the pool winners will be seeded 1-5 and the top ranked pool runner ups will be seeded 6-8. A 3 seed from one pool can not be seeded higher than a #2 from any people regardless of record.)
- Run Rules: 15 runs after 3 innings of play – 10 runs after 4 innings of play – 8 runs after 5 innings of play.
- Events that are hosted on college fields have tournament details that include “guaranteed games on college field” for the first set of teams that are registered and paid in FULL. Guaranteed games are also dependent on weather and event coordinators will typically play the schedule as you see it from day to day in order to keep the event running smoothly. If your game was rained out on Thursday and that was your only game on the college field we apologize but we can not make those games up on the college fields in most cases.
- Pool play games can end in a tie with teams receiving half a win/loss.
Field Dimensions
- Teams 9U – 10U will compete on 46 – 65 dimensions. Rubber cleats.
- Teams 11U – 12U will compete on 50 – 70 dimensions. Rubber cleats.
- Teams 13U will compete at either 54 – 80 or 60 – 90 dimensions, check tournament details. Metal cleats.
- Teams 14U – 18U will compete on 60 – 90 dimensions. Metal cleats allowed except when noted on turf fields.
Pre-Game Timing
- Teams should be prepared and ready to play 15 minutes before their scheduled game is set to begin.
- Games completed early will result in an early start for the following games, weather permitting.
- The tournament director has the right to shorten or forfeit a game should teams not be ready to start their scheduled game on time.
- There will be a 15 minute period in between games to allow crews time for field maintenance.
Infield
- Unless otherwise noted by a Tournament Director, no infield practice will be allowed prior to the start of any game.
- Teams will be permitted to take ground/fly balls down the outfield lines prior to the start of their game.
- Pastime Tournaments uses some of the top fields in the country and we will abide by university/complex rules during our events.
- Teams will be given 15 minutes prior to the start of all games.
- Please remind your players and coaches NOT to use the infield prior to the game.
Home/Visiting Team Designation
- Pool Play: Coaches will be subject to a coin flip prior to the start of each game to determine who is Home/Visitor.
- Please complete this as soon as possible to provide pitchers an adequate amount of time to get loose.
- Championship Rounds: Teams advancing out of pool play will be seeded based on records, higher seed will have choice of home/away.
- Seeding will be made available to all advancing coaches as soon as possible to prepare their team.
Pitching Restrictions
- Pastime Tournaments does NOT have a mandatory pitching limit on innings pitched.
- HOWEVER, please remember that you are responsible for these young men and the futures they may have.
- BE SMART!
In-Game Activities – EH & DH
- Teams will be allowed to use a DH and/or an EH during any given game.
- Teams must designate who each player is and for what player the DH will be hitting for in the field of play.
- Should teams enter the DH into the field of play, the DH position will be eliminated for the rest of the current game.
- The EH may also enter the field of play but MUST remain in their current batting position.
- The player for which the EH has replaced in the field will now become the EH but will remain in the same batting position.
Example of an EH Entering the Field of Play
- Steve is batting in the 6th spot of the order, playing as the teams EH. Kyle is batting in the 2nd position and playing 1B. Steve can enter the field of play at 1B for Kyle which will make Kyle in to the new EH. Steve will remain batting in the 6th spot of the order while Kyle will remain batting in the 2nd position of the order.
In-Game Activities – General
- Age Restrictions: All ages are based on grad years and not solely on a player’s birth date (age on May 1 is your age for the year). Example…for the 2018 Summer players with a graduation year of 2018 are “18U”, 2019 grads are “17U” eligible, 2020 grads are “16U” eligible, 2021 grads are “15U” eligible, and 2022 grads are “14U” eligible. Regardless of age, no player having competed for an NCAA institution will be deemed eligible to compete in a Pastime Tournaments sanctioned event without approval. Players having graduated from high school, who are young Freshman in college will need written permission from staff to be deemed eligible to compete.
- Courtesy Runner: Must be used for catcher/pitcher with 2 outs. Optional for catcher/pitcher with less than 2 outs. Must be a player not currently in the game or the player who made the last out should a team not have an extra player on the bench.
- Intentional Walks: Automatic intentional walk rule may be used.
- Slide Rules: Players must try to avoid contact on all players during the game. Pastime Tournaments leaves it to the umpires discretion if there was intent to cause harm during contact. Players using intent may be subject to ejection from the current game.
- Head First Sliding: Players are encouraged to slide FEET first. Though we stress the safety of the players, there are times where head first sliding is acceptable and more comfortable for a player. Please advise your players to BE SMART when sliding head first and avoid sliding head first into home plate.
- Bat Restrictions: 14U – 18U will be subjected to the -3 BBCOR High School rules on bats or USABat stamped bats. If there’s a bat discrepancy we will refer to the NFHS bat regulations. Illegal bat use will result in an immediate ejection of the head coach, 2 offenses and the coach will be ejected for the duration of the event and no playoff opportunity will be available for that team. Teams competing in wood bat tournaments have no weight distribution limits. Pastime Tournaments will have wood bats available for purchase at several wood bat events. COMPOSITE wood bats are legal during all wood bat tournament play! No age division will permit -5 bats moving forward due to an increase in injuries seen and the removal of games from premier fields of non bbcor bats are used.
- Tie Breakers: Overall Record, Head-To-Head, Run Differential, Runs Allowed, Runs Scored, Coin Toss will be the order to determine tie breakers.
- Rosters: A player can not play for two teams within the same tournament.
- In Game Tie Breakers: Games reaching the 9th inning of play at any time will go in to the West Coast hurry up mode. The last batted out in the previous inning will start on 2nd base, regular ball and strike count applies. We will put players on 2nd and 3rd in the 10th inning and load the bases in the 11th. Championship games will NOT be subject to these rules, we will play the game normally.
- A team may start a game with 8 players.
- Forfeits: A forfeit will be scored based on the average run differential against said team, for losses, during pool play. Should the team go undefeated through pool play after the forfeit a score of 1-0 will be recorded for the forfeited game. (Example … Team A forfeits game 1 … loses 7-4, wins 12-4, loses 8-1 … the average RD in games lost is 5 (7-4=3 + 8-1=7 … 10 runs/2 games) makings the score for the forfeited game 5-0.) Should only one game be lost during the rest of pool play the RD for that single game will be used. A team may not compete past pool play with a forfeit during pool play for any reason.
Tie Breakers and Examples
- Overall Record, Head to Head Results, Run Differential, Runs Allowed, and then Runs Scored will be used to determine pool winners and set tie breaker policies.
- Two teams within the same pool, that played each other, with the exact same record will use head to head to determine the top seed.
- Two teams within the same pool, that did not play each other, with the exact same record will progress down the tie breakers to RD, RA and then RS.
- Three way ties will follow the same progressions with head to head being used when possible. With same records and each team beating the other RD will be used to determine the top team. Continue to progress down the tie breaker rules until 1 or 2 teams can be pulled from the group of 3 tied teams. If a top team can be pulled from the 3 at any point in the progression they will be the top seed. At any point where two teams remain, head to head will be used to dictate higher seed.
Rain Situations
- Rain can play a role in any tournament. If rain comes into play, we will try to play every game. If that is impossible, we will play as many games as possible and play the most important games first. Tie Breakers can become confusing.
- If all games can not be played within a pool we will use best judgement to determine pool winners following certain guidelines. The number of games we use for seeding will be determined by the lowest number of games played by a team who could mathematically advance. (i.e. Team A 1-1, B 0-4, C 3-1, D 2-1, E, 2-1 in this instance we would revert back to everyone’s record after two games as long as team A has not been mathematically eliminated).
- If a 3-0 team is playing a 2-0 team and that is the final game in a pool head to head will be the tie breaker still. So, if the 2-0 team wins they will be seeded higher than the 3-0 team. Head to Head will never be thrown out.
- Best/Worst Case Scenario – this scenario will take place when the following example happens during an event. If a the final pool play game, or two, are eliminated due to rain or unforeseen circumstances but there is a team that has clinched an advancing spot for bracket play that team will NOT be eliminated from bracket play when the rest of the pool reverts back to the number of pool play games needed to determine who has the best record from that point. Example: If a team is 3-1 through 4 games, a team is 2-1 and gets rained out of their 4th game, and a team is 2-1-1 through 4 games. The 3-1 team has clinched a spot in to bracket play and then the second place team will advance by reverting back to the first 3 games of play based on our regular advancement rules. Once the second seed, or however many seeds need to be determined, is determined the ranking of those top seeds will be done through the regular advancing system. In short – if at any point it is mathematically impossible for a team to be eliminated, regardless of the outcome of any remaining games, said team will be guaranteed advancement OR seeding within the top of their pool standings and then we will use standard seeding scenarios to determine who is the 1, 2, 3, etc, seeds within that pool
Seeding for Championship Round
- We seed within a pool first. We will seed out each pool 1-5. The one seeds will be the first teams taken into championship round. If there are 5 pools and we are advancing 8 teams. The five pool winners will be seeded 1-5 regardless if a pool runner up has a better record or an even record with a higher round differential.
- If all pool play games are not completed within an event. We will seed still in pool winner and then pool runner up order. The lowest number of games played by an advancing team within each group (Pool winners and pool runner-ups) will determine the number of games we seed off of. i.e ( A. 3-0, B 4-0, C 2-0, D 4-0, E 2-1 we would revert back to everyone’s run differential after two games for the pool winners and do the same setup for the pool runner ups.)
Weather & Game Delays
- Games will be “complete” with 4 1/2 innings of play during a scheduled 7 inning game and 3 1/2 innings of play during a scheduled 6 inning game (please check the table below for complete games based on time played).
- The score of the game will be frozen and picked up at a later time should play be suspended for any reason. The game may be subject to a shorter time limit and/or a shortened game to complete the game for seeding.
- Should the first game of the day be under a weather delay/cancellation, that game will take place at a later time during the tournament as we will try to keep all other games on their previously scheduled times. If we have a 2 hour rain delay and you start at 9 AM, we will contact all coaches that were scheduled to play at 9 AM and move those games to a different time period if/when possible. Teams that were scheduled at 11:15 AM should assume the start of their game is on time until otherwise informed.
Rainout Policy, Refund Procedures, and General Policies
- Weather plays a factor in any outdoor sporting event, the same holds true for our tournaments. Field crews will do everything, within reason, to complete each game and tournament to the best of their ability without risking the safety of anyone involved (players, coaches, fans, crews). Should weather play a part in the cancellation of any event, below are Pastime Tournament’s refund and rain out procedures:
- Should the weather cause an event to be completely canceled having played no games all teams will receive a full entrance fees credit, less the deposit, for a future event to take place within a full calendar year from the end of the canceled events date.
- Should an event be canceled by Pastime Tournaments for any reason other than weather, an act of god, or cancellation taking place due to a teams withdrawal from the event, prior to the start of the tournament, teams will receive a future credit!
- Should just one game be played before an event is canceled due to weather, a credit will be issued for 50% of the value the participating team paid to play in the event. (Same rules apply with the credit as indicated in point 1 listed above.)
- There will be no refunds or credits after the start of each teams’ second game.
- Should games be canceled during the Championship rounds awards will be given to the 2 highest remaining seeds.
- The deposit amount of ($250) associated with tournament entry are non-refundable and non-transferable unless an event is canceled completely prior to the start of the tournament by Pastime Tournaments. Teams withdrawing from an event at any time will forfeit the value of the deposit which will be applied to said teams account until paid. There are no refunds, credits, or transfer of funds available for National Championship events once payment is made.
- Teams having completed registration payment are expected to attend that event. Teams withdrawing 2+ months in advance will receive a FULL credit, less the value of the one deposit value, if the event has not been closed. In the event said tournament is FULL or closed and the vacant position can not be filled the full registration payment value will be forfeited. Once a schedule is released there are no refunds or credits.
- Teams withdrawing within 2 months of the tournament will forfeit all registration fees. There are NO refunds or credits for withdrawal within 2 months of the event.
- IT SHOULD BE NOTED THAT AS OF APRIL 1, 2009 THERE WILL BE NO REFUND ON THE $250 DEPOSIT TO RESERVE YOUR TEAMS SPOT IN ANY TOURNAMENT. TEAMS/ORGANIZATIONS WITHDRAWING FROM ONE EVENT AND WISHING TO TRANSFER PAYMENT TO ANOTHER EVENT WILL LOSE $250 DURING THE TRANSFER OR WITHDRAWAL. THE SAME TIME CIRCUMSTANCES LISTED ABOVE WILL REMAIN IN EFFECT.
- January 1, 2014 – credit values are non transferable and may only be used by the teams submitting the original registration and payment amount.
- Teams registering to attend Pastime Tournaments sanctioned events are required to stay at an approved listed Host Hotel through our website. Please contact a Pastime Tournaments representative for booking information and approved hotel locations.
- *Blue Chip registrations are non refundable. A credit value of 50% will be available after registration if attendance does not take place. Physical limitations with a doctor’s note may be considered for full credit value.
All Tournament & Complex Policies
- Many of our tournaments are hosted on college campuses and high school fields. These locations do NOT permit their players, parents, or fans to consume alcoholic beverages or smoke on the premises and we will enforce those policies at our events as well. Please remind your fans and players to respect these policies as improper conduct will be dealt with as needed. Law enforcement officials may be called if necessary. Ejection may take place for the remainder of the game or tournament at the tournament directors discretion. Any and all tournament injuries must be reported to the Tournament Director at the time of the incident. Failure to do so will leave all liability with the team and/or family responsible for the child.
- Metal cleats, sunflower seeds and gum are strictly prohibited from all venues that have artificial turf!
- There is a ONE time gate fee, seniors and children are free, at every tournament. This fee covers all fields and all games for the entire weekend. A wristband will be provided at the time gate is collected.
| RULE | 9U | 10U | 11U/12U | 13U | 14-18U |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mound/Base | 46/65 | 46/65 | 50/70 | 54/80 | 60/90 |
| Game Length | 6 or (1:45) | 6 or (1:45) | 6 or (1:45) | 7 or (1:45) | 7 or (2:00) |
| Comeplete Game | 3.5 or (1:00) | 3.5 or (1:00) | 3.5 or (1:00) | 4.5 or (1:00) | 4.5 or (1:10) |
| 3 Way Tie | In the event of a 3 way tie, three teams have the same overall record (3-1 for example), the team with the best RD will be the pool winner (unless said team beat both of the other 3-1 teams head to head) and the pool runner up will be determined by reverting back to the head to head winner for that matchup. | ||||
| Mercy Rule | All ages are subject to a 15 after 3, 10 after 4, 8 after 5 innings run rule. There is an 8 run cap on run differential. | ||||
| Balks | All ages are subject to balks with no warnings being issued. | ||||
| Cleats | Rubber | Rubber | Rubber | Metal | Metal |
| Bunting | All ages are permitted to bunt. | ||||
| Infield Fly | All ages are subject to the infield fly rule. | ||||
| Lineup | All ages may use a DH &/OR EH and may also bat the entire lineup if they wish. If a team chooses to bat all available players and someone(s) gets hurt an out will be recorded every time the injured player(s) comes to the plate IF you want the opportunity to bring that player back into the game at any point. As long as an out is recorded the injured player may re-enter his spot in the lineup at any time. However, IF the player is injured and deemed unable to compete the player will be dropped from the game and NO out will be enforced, for the sake of the game, but this player can NOT compete for the rest of the current game under any circumstances. | ||||
| Re-Entry | Starter may re-enter once, in their original batting position, for all age divisions. | ||||
| Courtesy Runner | P & C, madatory with 2 outs, optional with 1 or fewer outs. | ||||
| Game Play | A team may compete with no fewer than 8 players to constitute an official game. Every time the 9th player is set to come to the plate an out will be rewarded. Less than 8 players will constitute a forfeit. | ||||
| Mound Visits | The IN-STATE visitation rules will be used during tournament play. Please check with the umpires to clarify the number of visits permitted as each state may have different visitation rules! | ||||
| Ejections | Player/Coach/Fan must leave immediately to parking lot (IN CAR), MANDATORY 2nd game suspension and possible tournament expulsion at Tournament Directors discretion. IF at any time a coach, fan, or player makes intentional contact with an umpire that individuals tournament will be over (intent will be determined by the umpire and tournament director). | ||||
| Sliding | All ages are permitted to slide head first, at players own risk, and they must attempt to avoid contact! | ||||
| Appeal/Protest | There are NO appeals on judgment calls. $100cash to Tournament Director for all other appeals. Must be made at time of protested ruling. You may not protest after the fact…must be made before the next pitch is thrown. | ||||
Roster Submission & Player Waivers
- All teams must complete a roster online through their account no later than 48 hours prior to start of an event. Complete roster submission, and signing of coach/player waivers, is required to attend an event. Failure to submit a roster and complete the player waiver signatures may result in removal from the tournament and forfeiture of fees paid. It is the responsibility of each team registered to complete these items no later than 48 hours prior to the start. No refund or credit of registration, gate, or credits applied will be available.
