Illinois State Games

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Prep Baseball Report Tournament Playing Rules

Prep Baseball Report and the on-site tournament director reserves the right to amend these rules at any time for specific tournament play. NFHS rules will be enforced with the following exceptions. All teams and coaches need to review their event rules prior to the start of each tournament.

Age Restrictions: Either/Or

• Your high school graduation year.
• Or age, your age is determined by the May 1st date of that year (Updated 7/16/2020)

Rosters: 

• All rosters should be submitted prior to the start of the tournament. 
• A player may not be listed on more than one roster per age division. 
• Playing a non rostered player will result in removal of the player from the contest, cannot participate. If a team has multiple non rostered players participate, this will result in a forfeit. Once a player plays in the event,  
• Each manager is responsible for all aspects of his roster and must carry photocopies of birth certificates and/or high school transcripts to provide proof. 
• An illegal player may be suspended until documentation is provided or removed from the entire tournament if proven illegal.

Mercy Rules:

• 15 runs after 3 innings
• 10 Runs after 4 innings
• 8 Runs after 5 innings

Coin Flip: In Pool Play home team is determined by a coin flip. The home team will be the official book and will record game start time when announced by umpire. All teams need to be prepared to start 15 minutes prior to their official start time.

Field Dimensions:

• 9-10U: All games will be played on 46’x65’ fields with a time limit of 1 hour and 45 minutes.
• 11-12U: All games will be played on 50’x70’ fields with a time limit of 1 hour and 45 minutes.
• 13U: Games will be played on 54’x80’ or 60’x90’ fields depending on the tournament listing with a time limit of 2 hours.
• 14U-18U: All games will be played on 60’x90’ fields with a time limit of 2 hours.

Time limits:

• Pool Play will have a strict 2-hour time limit with no new inning starting after two hours. Time will be announced and kept by the home plate umpire and/or the PBRT field manager. If a game is tied after complete 7 innings, then the game will end in a tie. In the case of a tie, each team will receive ½ a loss and ½ a win.
• Time will begin on First Pitch
• Playoff games will continue to follow the 2-hour time limits, except for Championship games. Rule is subject to change. 
• The higher seed is the home team throughout the ENTIRE playoffs.

Extra Innings (Playoff Only):

• Last hitter from previous inning @ 2nd base
• Normal substitution rules apply
• The hitting team starts 1 out and every hitter has a 1-1 count
• Play continues until one team is ahead at the end of the inning
• Semi-Final and Championship will be played with regular extra innings.
  
  • Tournament Director has right to decide to move the game to Extra Inning Rules stated above if the games go beyond 2 extra innings

 There is no time limit in the Championship game but run rules will stay in effect.

Complete Games and Extra Innings:

• In the event of inclement weather, all rainout games may not be made up due to time constraints and/or field availability. 
• If rain or weather suspends a game in a 6 inning contest, 4 innings (3 1/2 innings if home team is winning) could be considered a complete game. 
• If rain or weather suspends a game in a 7 inning contest, 5 innings (4 1/2 innings if home team is winning) could be considered a complete. The host facility and tournament director will make the final decision on all complete games.

Number of Players/Forfeits: 

• A game can start with 8 players. However, if a team drops to seven or less, the game will become an automatic forfeit.  The tournament director and committee reserves the right to look at and rule on all forfeits. 
• If you start game with 8 the 9th place in the lineup will be an automatic out.
• A forfeit score will be scored as 7-0.
• If a team forfeits a pool play game they will not advance to championship bracket play.

Injuries: 

• If a team is hitting a continuous lineup and a player gets injured and can not continue to play, his spot in the batting order will be skipped with no penalty. Once a player’s spot in the batting order is skipped, the player is out for the remainder of the game and can not come back into play.

Pre-Game Infield/Batting Practice:

• No pre-game infield or batting practice on the field will be allowed during any tournaments unless noted by the tournament director.

Intentional Walks: 

• Head Coach needs to inform the umpire of the intentional walk and the hitter will be awarded 1st Base. No pitches need to be thrown.

Courtesy Runner: 

• Courtesy runner is optional for pitcher/catcher of record at anytime. 
• The courtesy runner must be a legal sub or the last out if you are batting a continuous lineup.  
• Same guy is allowed to run for the Pitcher and Catcher
• If an error is made on a courtesy runner, it is a correctable error and the runner will be replaced with correct runner
• The courtesy runner will never be mandatory.

Tie Breaker and Advancement Rules (Within Pool):

• Win Loss Record
• Head to Head 
• If three or more tied, record vs. teams tied with *only applicable with common opponents for all teams* 
• Runs Allowed
• Runs Scored
• Runs allowed in games against teams tied with
• Runs Scored in games against teams tied with
• Coin Flip

Pool Winners will always be the higher seed than a non pool winner.  From there all wild card teams will be determined based on the rules below. After Pool winners, pool seed will have no barring on who advances, i.e a 2-0 team who finished 2nd in there pool will be seeded behind a 1-1 team who wins their pool.

Tie Breaker and Advancement Rules (Wild Cards) pool seeding does not matter for Wild Cards:

• Win Loss Record
• Head to Head 
• Runs Allowed
• Runs Scored
• Runs allowed in games against teams tied with
• Runs Scored in games against teams tied with
• Coin Flip

Pitching: 

• The MLB balk rule will be enforced and will be LIVE, not a dead ball. 
• 3rd to 1st pickoff move is ILLEGAL.
• Coaches are allowed a total of TWO (2) mound conferences per pitcher, on the third conference the pitcher must be removed.
• The second conference of an inning, a pitcher must be removed.

All teams in PBRT events are strongly encouraged to follow the USA Pitch Smart guidelines that are displayed below. PBR Tournaments officials will not police these, they are simply guidelines to take care of your pitchers arms.

Protests: 

• A protest is only available for a violation or misapplication of a rule, not for coach/fan/player disagreement with an umpire’s judgement call (ie. ball and strikes, out and safe, interference, etc). Pitching limitations are not eligible for protest. Protests must be filed and ruled on before the next pitch if during a game, or before umpires leave field if after a game. The team protesting must make cash payment of $100 at the time of protest and the protest will only be heard and ruled upon by the tournament committee. If the protest is ruled in the protesting team’s favor, the $100 will be refunded to the team.

Sportsmanship:

• It is required that all teams, coaches, and fans comply with all tournament and facility rules. Team managers/head coaches MUST have full control of their players and parents at all times. This means “on” and “off” the field. Tournament directors and hosts have the authority to eject a player, fans or team anytime during the tournament for threatening with physical harm, physical attack, abusive language, destruction of property, or failure to pay. The tournament committee reserves the right to eject any person from the site for unruly or unsportsmanlike behavior. Any physical altercation between two teams before, during, or after a contest could result in the removal of both teams from the remainder of the event and future events.

Ejections: 

• Any player, coach, manager, spectator and fan that is ejected from a game shall be suspended and removed for the remainder of that game only. Any individual ejected must leave the complex and exit to the parking lot. *If a team is hitting a continuous lineup, the ejected player’s spot in the lineup will remain and his team is forced to take an out. Any player or coach that acts maliciously or performs an act with intent to injure, the tournament committee has the final say in the penalty for that individual(s). Any individual that gets ejected for a second time in a tournament shall be removed and eliminated from participating in the remainder of that tournament.

Hitting Lineups: 

• All coaches/teams must turn in a lineup card to the umpire at the plate meeting prior to the start of each game. Once the first pitch has been thrown, the number of batters must stay the same for the entire game and the lineup is locked in.

You will have three lineup options:

1. Hit 9 hitters with a DH or no DH. We will honor the High School DH Rule.
2. Use one EH and hit 10 with or without a DH
3. Use one EH and XH and hit 11 with or without a DH.

15u and up will play by a modified College DH rule where the pitcher can be P/DH. (This means that once you pull the pitcher out of the game he can remain in the batting order as the DH.) (Can DH for anyone, not limited to the pitcher) 

Bats:

• 13u BPF 1.15 or BBCOR.  Max Difference of Drop 8
• 14u - 18U BBCOR 
• Some events are Wood Bat ONLY - please see event description for bat types allowed
• Baum Bats are legal
• **Effective immediately, the 33" Louisville Slugger META composite bat is BANNED from all events (3/1/2020)**

Illegal Bat Penalty:

• It is the responsibility of each teams head coach to monitor bats  that are in play. If a player uses an illegal bat. The umpire must be notified prior to the first pitch of the next batter or before all defensive players leave fair territory.
• If the bat is found illegal, the batter will be ruled out and runners will not be allowed to advance.
• If a team has three illegal bat rules infractions the Head Coach will be ejected for the rest of the tournament.

Skunk in the Outfield Play - 

• Play where the runner on 1st creates his own path in the baseline by backing up in the outfield WILL NOT BE ALLOWED. Runner must take a lead with a direct line from 1st base toward 2nd base.
• First Offense, Umpire will call time and issue an official team warning putting all players back to their starting base.
• Second Offense, Runner will be declared out and any pitch or action by other runners will be nullified.

Refunds:

1. If Zero Games are played 75% of entry fee will be returned as a credit for a future event run by PBR Tournaments
2. If 25% of your guaranteed tournament games are played 50% of entry fee will be returned as a credit for a future event run by PBR Tournaments.
3. If  33% of your guaranteed tournament games are played 40% of entry fee will be returned as a credit for a future event run by PBR Tournaments.
4. If you play 2 or more of your scheduled games, that is considered a full tournament.
5. Credits are valid for 12 months from the time of the cancelled event.

Gate Fees are non refundable. PBR Tournaments will do everything we can to play all scheduled games.

Teams that pull out after an event is sold out will not receive any refund or credit.

Teams that pull out with 90 days of an event will not receive any refund or credit.

Teams that pull out prior to the 90 days of an event will receive a refund minus their deposit.