Glory Days Softball League Playing Rules

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SENIOR USA RULES apply except for these 50+ and 60+ Division Rules that supersede Senior USA Rules

 

WAIVER AND ROSTERS: Men who are, or will be, 50 years old during the calendar year and only 3 - 45+ men are eligible to play in the 50+ Division and 60 years old for the 60+ Division. Each player must sign a Town of Aurora waiver form before playing.  Managers can have ID's checked by the umpires.  Players can play for only one team per season unless they are released by the team manager.  Players that come into the league as individual free agents through the website will be drafted into the corresponding 50+ and/or 60+ Division. The team that came in last place, in the last completed season will get the first selection.  The selections will continue with the second last place team and on up the reverse order of the regular season standings.  If there is a potential manager who desires to build an expansion team, all the free agents will be assigned to him as they come in, until he has a 14 player team.  

 

DIAMONDS: We play at diamonds 1, 2 and 3 at JP Nicely Memorial, Westfalls Park next to the Aurora Waldorf School on West Falls Road. Park ONLY in the gravel lot north of the school, NOT in any of the paved parking lots around the school. Diamond 1 right field any ball hit into the woods is a ground rule double.

 

DRIVE CAREFULLY to and from the park/diamond site and observe park rules as posted.  Always display a courteous attitude towards town personnel, park users and neighbors. The parks are open dawn to dusk as carry-in, carry-out.

 

EQUIPMENT: All bats will be wood and will be supplied by the league.  All softballs will be supplied by the League and will be a 12” slow-pitch ball, in optic yellow, with a .40 cor and 325 lbs. compression.  Strike mats are supplied by the league. 

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The 3 diamonds have the bats designated and the home team ONLY is responsible for getting them to the field and back into lock-up. Lock-up is the small room that each of you has keys to, not the club house main room. Often times someone from your team will help take equipment back, but they don't always put away in the lock-up. You are responsible for the bag, mat, bats, extra plate, etc. If this equipment disappears, you are out $1000. 

 

Bat bags are assigned to each field so there will be equal usage of all bats by all teams.

• Orange bag is for Diamond 1. (The Hill)

• Blue bag is for Diamond 2.

• Green bag is for Diamond 3. (The School)

 

Steps Below: 

1. First Home team manager to the diamonds, unlock the door to lock-up and leave open.

2. Take your bag and 1 bucket of practice balls

3. 2 new balls should be on top of the bucket, if not, there are balls on the shelf

4. There are sheets in the lock-up telling what bag goes to what diamond 

5. Return your bag of equipment and bucket of balls to the lock-up

6. When the last manager returns his equipment,(3 bags should be in there) he should lock the door

 

Reminders: If a bat breaks, let me know so I can replace it. DO NOT TAKE BATS FROM ANOTHER BAG! Also, we go through 150 balls a year, Every player must already have a dozen at home. Please put some back in the practice buckets.T

 

PITCHING/BATTING:  Any legal pitch hitting the plate or the strike zone mat supplied by the league, is a strike. As stated in Senior USA rules, a legal pitch is between 6 and 10 feet from the ground.

Regular Scheduled GAMES start at 6:30 PM.  Managers should receive a text message by 4:45 or sooner if games are postponed or canceled. Double Headers will be scheduled to begin as early as 6:00 PM.  The first team representative to arrive can claim and hold his team's side of the field for the game.

 

UMPIRES: Umpires receive $24 per team and will be paid cash before the first pitch. If the field becomes unplayable prior to the game (not canceled with the STUA office) the umpires receive a $25 appearance fee ($13 from the home team and $12 from the away team).  Once a game starts, the umpire is entitled to his fee, even in the event of a mid-game rain-out. If no umpire shows, teams will supply umpires. Catchers may not be umpires, and no cancellation may occur because of no umpire.

 

FORFEITS: Games begin at 6:30 PM unless otherwise scheduled. A team with fewer than nine players can request a catcher from their opponent, who will not be asked to make plays at that position. If a team can’t field eight players by fifteen minutes after a scheduled start, the team will forfeit with a 7-0 score.  In the 60+ Division, the forfeit score is 5-0.  The Umpires would be paid their appearance fee.

 

LINE-UPS: Teams have unlimited batters, but cannot drop below the number in the starting batting order.  All starting players must be listed in both score-books before the game begins.  Late players must be added to the bottom of the lineup. Bench players may be added to the bottom of the line-up as extra players and teams may finish with more players than they started with.  Players leaving the game will be deleted from the lineup and no out will be assessed.  Last names must be in the books.

BASERUNNING: Runners cannot be thrown out at first base on a ball touched by one of the four outfielders unless the runner turns toward second base.  All fielders are allowed to shift or defense the batter as they wish.  Sliding is legal. On a swing and miss runners will be allowed to take 1 step off the base.                                 

 

COURTESY RUNNERS: As stated in ASA Rules, anyone on the team's roster may become a courtesy runner. We allow unlimited courtesy runners, however, a player can only run one time per inning.  Substituting a courtesy runner for the original courtesy runner is not permitted unless the courtesy runner becomes injured. 

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DH: Here is how it should appear in your scorebook: Smith/Jones where Smith is the player in the field, and Jones is the hitter.

1. They cannot alternate hitting and fielding

2. If you sub in a player, you must use line below and let other team know who they are subbing for

AVOIDING COLLISIONS at HOME PLATE AND OTHER BASES is the responsibility of both runner and catcher or covering fielder. Calls will be at the discretion of the umpire. In the 60+ Division, you have an extra home plate to avoid collisions (a runner's plate and catcher/fielders plate). Any play at home is a force out if the catcher or other player, secures the ball and touches the normal home plate(Including the strike zone mat). He may not tag the runner in any way to make the out. If the runner touches the outside plate before any player touches home plate with the ball, he is safe. A line of "no return" will be marked 20 feet from the normal home plate up the 3rd base line. If a runner crosses the line, he must continue home. He may return to 3rd base if he does not cross the line. The purpose of these rules are to avoid contact and are for the safety of all players, umpires, on deck batters, etc.

 

RUNS in the 50+ Division: A team may score a maximum of 7 runs per inning, EXCEPT in the final inning or extra innings.  In the 60+ Division, the ruling is the same, except they use a maximum of 5 runs per inning.

 

PLAYER RE-ENTRY: The starting players, including an extra player, may be substituted and re-entered once, provided players occupy the original batting positions in the line-up.  The starting player(s) and the substitute(s) may not be in the line-up at the same time.  

 

GAME LENGTH: 7 innings. A complete game will be 4 and 1/2 innings if the home team is ahead, five innings if the visitors are ahead.

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DOUBLE HEADERS and make-up games: If a game is postponed in the 1st meeting(s) of two teams, a doubleheader will automatically be scheduled when the next corresponding rematch games are scheduled, with make-up games being the second game played. If there are more than two rounds of match-ups scheduled, make-up games will be scheduled so there is a home and away game for both teams in the resulting doubleheader.  In the final round (last meeting of the match-ups) postponed games will be re-scheduled to an available make-up week.  If there are no make-up weeks available, the games would be canceled out, in order to keep the scheduled playoff start date intact.  With a make-up week scheduled, the first missed doubleheader games will take priority over the first missed single games. Double Headers will be scheduled to begin as early as 6:00 PM. New start times will be updated on this website, should a doubleheader need to be scheduled. The doubleheader will consist of both games being played in the speed-up format with innings 1-6 played two innings at a time before switching the batting team to the field (and vice versa), also clearing the bases after the third out in each inning.  

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Hurry Up . The format is as follows.

Visiting team will bat 3 outs, or to max runs per inning.

Home team will bat 6 outs, same run max per inning.

This will continue with each team getting the 2 innings until the 7th where the home team will get 3 outs if needed.

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PLAYER CONDUCT: No alcohol consumption by players during the game. Violators will be ejected. Breaches of the standards of good sportsmanship, be they toward other players, umpires, fans, other park users, neighbors or town officials will result in suspensions in length determined by the Board of Directors. Alcoholic beverages after the games are allowed by a special Town of Aurora permit until dusk. Likewise, the South Wales Community Center Board has been notified that we do drink alcoholic beverages after the games on the park grounds but only until dusk and we do clean up afterward.  Food and drinks after the games are recommended by the Board of Directors to foster camaraderie and fellowship.  Only cans or plastic containers are allowed and all empties must be removed.

 

YOU CAN USE THIS AS A GUIDE:

https://seniorsoftball.com/wc/wc2019/SSUSA-Rulebook-2019-Web.pdf

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Glory Days Softball, Inc. Operational Rules

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THE LEAGUE is operated by Glory Days Softball, Inc. (a NEW YORK STATE-registered entity). The League is governed by a Board of Directors consisting of one manager from each team, plus the Commissioner that also makes purchases and oversees the functioning of the league.  Team Managers report to the Commissioner and are responsible for relaying all-league directions to the players on their teams. All managers or team representatives will turn in their official scores after their games whether they win or lose.  If scores are not turned in by the Saturday following the game, wins will not be acknowledged on the website, which represents the official standings for the league.  Highlights from the games, stories about players and the league should be forwarded to the Commissioner or directly to a website coordinator to promote the GDSL, Sponsors and give player recognition.  These articles and photos taken at the games could be submitted to print publications, this website, Facebook and more. 

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RULES: Rule changes can be submitted to team managers for approval by a majority vote of the managers at an annual meeting before the season begins.  Players can propose their own rule amendments or changes to the managers at a meeting or have their manager do it for them.  The Commissioner can vote in both the 50+ and 60+ Division if he isn't already casting a vote as a manager.

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Grounds Manager for 50+ and 60+ Divisions: Check diamonds on game days to see if playable and maintain fields so we can play on them. Communicates with Commissioner, back-up Grounds Managers, and groundskeepers to get games played or get umpires canceled and teams.

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League Fee checks of $300 should be made out to Glory Days Softball, Inc.

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PLAYOFF ELIGIBILITY:  Players must play in 4 games of their team’s games to be eligible for the playoffs. One of those games must be in the first half of the season (injured players may attend a game in the first half, be notated in the scorebooks as attending the game with both managers signatures).  Playoff rosters will be submitted and checked for playoff eligibility discrepancies and waiver form signatures by all the other managers in an email including all managers.

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PLAYOFF DETERMINATION: The highest winning percentage in standings, will determine the seeding order for the Playoffs.  Seeding order is determined from the regular season schedule and will be used throughout the playoffs.

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Multiple or 2 Team Tie Breakers in order of precedence:

1. Overall head to head record against teams in the tie is used to advance the team with the best record.

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2. Schedule Strength (the average winning percentage of all opponents played. -the higher the number the better) advances the team in the seeding.

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3. The records of the tied teams vs. team occupying the highest position in the league, continuing down through the division standings until one team gains an advantage.

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4. Cards will be drawn from a deck of 52 playing cards, with the highest card determining seed advancement (Aces, king, queen, jack, 10, 9 etc.)

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Note: Runs and run differential is not being used.  So running up the score on an opponent has no effect on seeding.

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