Games: 4 games guaranteed, weather permitting. Age Eligibility: 2018 Graduate or younger or born on or after May 01, 1999 Format: 4 Pool Play Games followed by Single Elimination Bracket Teams competing in tournaments 14U - 18U will be subject to a 7 inning or 2 hour time limit (high school rules). Teams advancing to the Championship round will not be subject to any restraints, weather and conditions permitting. Teams advancing to 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 regarldess 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. 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. 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 in to 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. In-Game Activities - General Age Restrictions: All ages are based on grad years and not solely on a players 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 sanctioned event. Players having graduated from high school, who are young Freshman in college and did not compete for an NCAA institution, 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. Intential Walks: Automatic intentional walk rule may be used. Slide Rules: Players must try to avoid contact on all players during the game. Pastime 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 in to home plate. Bat Restrictions: No bat restrictions for teams 9U - 13U and 14U - 18U will be subjected to the -3 BBCOR High School rules on bats or USABat stamped bats. If their is a bat discrepancy we will refer to the NFHS bat regulations. Teams competing in wood bat tournaments have no weight distribution limits. Pastime will have wood bats available for purchase at several wood bat events. COMPOSITE wood bats are legal during all wood bat tournament play! 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.