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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

• 14U and Up
  • Your high school graduation year.
  • Or age, your age is determined by the May 1st date of that year 

• 14U-18U: All games will be played on 60’x90’ fields with a time limit of 2 hours.

Time limits:

• 13U and UP
  • 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
• The hitting team starts 1 out and every hitter has a 1-1 count
• Normal substitution rules apply
  
• 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

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.
• In the event of a delay, games that cannot be resumed within 1 hour will be considered an official game.  The tournament director can extend the 1 hour deadline if there are extenuating circumstances - working on the fields, lightning delay, etc.

Pitching: 

• The MLB balk rule will be enforced and will be LIVE, not a dead ball. 
  • 13U and under MLB Balk rule will continue to follow NFHS rules, which results in 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.

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. 
  • Lineups must include player name, number and position
  • Substitutions are not required to be listed on the lineup card
• 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.

14U and Up 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.

14u 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)

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 
• If you are hitting a continuous lineup that last batted out will be your courtesy runner
• Same player 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.

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.
• Tournament Director has the right to amend forfeit scoring.
• If a team forfeits a pool play game they will not advance to championship bracket 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.

Tie Breaker and Advancement Rules:

• Winning Percentage
• Head to Head 
• If three or more tied, if one team has defeated all other teams they are tied with, that team advances.  If not, next tie breaker applies
• Runs Allowed
• Runs Scored
• Runs Allowed, subtracting the game with the highest runs allowed
• Runs Scored, subtracting the game with the lowest runs scored
• 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.

 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 $200 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 $200 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. 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). 
  • Tournament Director has final say in penalty for any individual that gets ejected for a second time in a tournament.

Bats:

• 14u - 18U 
  • BBCOR  Only
• Some events are Wood Bat ONLY - please see event description for bat types allowed
• Baum Bats are legal

Banned Bats:

• These bats will be legal if Retooled.

Illegal Bat Penalty:

• It is the responsibility of each team's 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.
• Using an illegal bat is defined as stepping into the box with said illegal bat
  
• 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.