Guns & Hoses Softball – Tournament Rules

1. Teams must consist of “Public Safety Personnel” only. Department issued ID is required and enforced. To be considered “Public Safety” one must be a Federal, State, or local level Police Officer, Firefighter, Corrections Officer, EMS, or Military Personnel. Teams will be allowed to “combo”, meaning they can have players from various agencies/departments as long as they are within the realm of the “Public Safety” community mentioned above.
2. Team Captains are responsible for ensuring all team members have checked in and signed the team waiver roster at the registration table 30 minutes prior to the start of their first scheduled game.
3. All G & H tournaments will be played under “SCMAF” rules and ASA bat restrictions.
4. A coin toss prior to each game will determine home team.
5. Game times will be 1 hour or 7 innings, which ever comes first. No new inning will start after the 55th minute of the game. This includes the final game.
6. Batters will start with a 1 ball and 1 strike count.
7. The pitching arc is a 6 foot minimum and a 12 foot maximum height limit.
8. The pitch must contact the plate or mat to be ruled a strike.
9. Pitchers are allowed to pitch from as far as 8 feet “directly” behind the pitching rubber.
10. Pitchers are allowed 5 warm up pitches before they pitch the first inning. One warm up pitch is allowed before all other innings.
11. Once a batter has “2” strikes, the ball must be hit in fair territory. A foul ball with 2 strikes will be ruled an out.
12. Courtesy runners are unlimited.
13. A runner may only leave his base once the ball crosses the plate. No lead offs. If a runner leaves early, he will be called out.
14. The “out of play” lines are the fences that run parallel to the base lines and extend out on an imaginary line. Umpires will determine if a ball is “in” or “out” of play.
15. On a “catch and carry”, we rule the player, not the ball. If the fielder catches the ball while still standing in fair territory, it will be an out. If the fielder continues out of bounds, each runner will advance one base (unless the player intentionally carries the ball out of play, it will be 2 bases.)
16. The dugouts are considered “out of play”. A ball that enters the dugout will be considered a dead ball. If the fielding team is responsible for the ball entering the dugout, all runners will advance one base. Any equipment left out of the dugout can only hurt the team that left it out (umpires ruling). Umpires should make sure all bats, etc., are brought into the dugout.
17. All outfield light poles that are in fair territory are “in play”. If a ball hits an obstacle in the field of play, it is considered “live”. The exception is if a ball is caught after hitting an obstacle and before touching the ground it is not an out, but is still considered live.
18. Metal cleats are not allowed and shoes and shirts must be worn at all times.
19. If a ball hits any part of a tree that is extending over the fence into fair territory, it will be the umpires decision as to the ruling on that particular field. For example, if the tree is over the fence in the outfield and a batter hits a ball that would normally be a home run, but the tree prevented the ball from going out of the park, the hit would be ruled a home run.
20. The batters “box” will be enforced. If a batter steps out of the box before making contact with the ball, it will be ruled an out. If a batter steps on home plate prior to contact, it will be ruled an out.
21. No game can end in a tie. G & H “Do or Die” rules will apply. The next batter that is due up in the order for the visiting team will be up. The batting team will load the bases (unlimited runners). The batting team will start the inning with “2” outs. The batting team will continue to bat until the third out of the inning is made. Same scenario applies to the home team.
22. Any player ejected from a game will be prohibited from playing the remainder of that game. The next time (only) he is due up in the batting order will be considered an out. The sub for the ejected player will have to wait for the batting order to come around again before being able to bat.
23. No refunds will be made once the tournament pools have been drawn.
24. All calls made by the umpire are final. If there is a specific rule in question, time can be called and the tournament director will make the final decision.
25. Any foul ball hit into the street will be ruled an out.
26. At the Huntington Beach SportsPlex, “ANY” foul ball hit onto the street (specifically fields #1, #4, #7 & #8) will be ruled an out. On field #7, if the ball is hit foul into the children’s playground area this will also be ruled an out. For fields #2 & #3, if the ball is hit foul over the second fence and into the pond area, this will be ruled an out. For field #5, if any ball is hit into the landfill area on the other side of the fence adjacent to the right field line, this will be ruled an out. For field #4, any ball hit into the parking lot will also be ruled an out.
27. Only “1” “over the fence” Home run per team per inning. Any “over the fence” home runs after the initial home run of the inning, will be ruled an out.
28. Game time is “forfeit time”. If you do not have enough players to start the game at the scheduled game time (when ump says its Start time) then your team will forfeit that game. Ensure your team is ready to go at game time, to avoid this ruling.



ILLEGAL BAT LIST

Guns & Hoses follows ASA bat restrictions.