Softball Bylaws and Sport Handbook

SPORT CHAIR: JOE WITTEN, IU SOUTHEAST SPORT RATER: CHRIS HAMMOND, AD SPORT LIAISON: JEFF LANHAM, UNIVERSITY OF RIO GRANDE COMMISSIONER: MICHAEL SCHELL LAST UPDATED: OCTOBER 25, 2018 I. Playing Rules/Resources

A. The River States Conference plays under NCAA rules with approved NAIA-SCA modifications. The current NCAA playing rules and interpretations can be found at http://www.ncaapublications.com/productdownloads/SR19.pdf.

B. Complete information (including the Coaches’ Manual) on NAIA can be found in the Coaches’ Corner section of the NAIA website.

1. NAIA Softball Coaches' Corner 2. NAIA Softball Coaches' Manual

II. General Information

A. Personnel 1. Sport Chair – Joe Witten, IU Southeast 2. Rater – Chris Hammond, University of Rio Grande 3. Ratings Oversight Committee a. Tripp Swisher, b. Cory Gardner, Christian University c. Traci Smith, 4. Sport Liaison – Jeff Lanham, University of Rio Grande 5. Umpire Assignor – Ed Clark, Ken-Ten Umpire Association

B. Participating Teams 1. Asbury (Ky.) University 2. Brescia (Ky.) University 3. Carlow (Pa.) University 4. Cincinnati () Christian University 5. University Southeast 6. Midway University 7. Ohio Christian University 8. Point Park (Pa.) University 9. University of Rio Grande (Ohio) 10. West Tech

III. Regular Season Competition

A. Each participating conference member plays every team two games (one doubleheader) during the regular season. Teams will alternate home/ away every other season.

B. All scheduled conference games will be seven-inning games and conference doubleheaders will be scheduled on Friday, Saturday or Sunday. Games will be played to completion (i.e. no international tie-breakers).

C. Conference schedules will be created by the Schedule Committee in two-year cycles and at least one year in advance. All conference schedules will be reviewed by the Administrative Council and all coaches.

D. No regular-season conference games can be scheduled or made up after the Sunday prior to the start of the conference tournament. Coaches are encouraged to make up weathered-out games within a five-day window immediately following the scheduled doubleheader. In some cases, teams must reschedule non-conference games in order to play rescheduled conference doubleheaders. If two teams cannot agree on dates, the rescheduled date will be set by the conference schedule committee in consultation with the sport chair, sport liaison and conference commissioner.

E. Except in the case of an emergency, a visiting team will forfeit the first game of a doubleheader if they are more than 30 minutes late for the contracted start time of the first game. After 75 minutes, both games are forfeited.

F. Any team that fails to complete the full conference schedule will be ineligible to participate in the postseason tournament. Exceptions to this policy are allowed only by recommendation of the Championship Committee and a vote of the Administrative Council.

G. Umpires for conference games must be assigned by the registered conference umpire assignor. Umpires must meet all conference and NAIA standards.

H. Host facilities/playing fields must meet all NAIA and NCAA guidelines/standards.

I. The team with the best winning percentage in conference play will be the conference regular season champion and the #1 seed in the conference tournament. If there is a tie in the regular-season standings, ties will be broken using the following tie- breaking criteria (in the listed order):

1. Head-to-head results 2. Head-to-head runs allowed 3. descending order, victories versus first-place team, second-place team, and so on through the last team (Administrative Council Winter 2018) 4. Overall regular-season winning percentage 5. Coin toss administered by sport chair/liaison/commissioner

IV. Conference Postseason Competition

A. The official ball for NAIA National Championship play shall be used for all conference tournament games and is recommended for use in all River States Conference regular-season competition.

B. The River States Conference tournament will be a six team, double-elimination tournament. The tournament can be postponed and rescheduled up until the NAIA conference qualification deadline. No team will be required to play more than four games in a day during the tournament.

C. The team with the highest winning percentage in regular-season conference play will be the regular-season champion and the #1 seed in the tournament.

D. The conference tournament will be scheduled on the first weekend in May (Friday/Saturday format).

E. The site for the conference tournament will rotate alphabetically among conference schools if a neutral-site facility is not selected.

i. The neutral-site location for the River States Conference Softball Championship Tournament for 2018 & 2019 will be at the City of Vienna Softball Complex in Vienna, WV.

ii. If the designated host school is unable to host the tournament, they must inform the commissioner according to the conference guidelines/timeline. If a neutral-site facility is not in play, the following host calendar will be used and then continued alphabetically as long as facility meets NCAA/NAIA requirements:

1.) 2.) Cincinnati Christian University 3.) Indiana University Southeast 4.) Midway University 5.) Ohio Christian University 6.) Point Park (Pa.) University 7.) University of Rio Grande (Ohio) 8.) Tech 9.) Asbury (Ky.) University 10.) Brescia (Ky.) University

F. Seeding for the conference tournament will be determined by the final regular- season conference standings. In the event of a tie for a position/seed, the tie- breaker method outlined in III.I will be used as used. Any disputed seeds will be resolved by the Championship committee, in consultation with the sport chair, sport liaison and commissioner.

G. The conference tournament field/seeds will be officially approved by the conference commissioner, conference SID, AD sport liaison and sport chair at the end of the regular season.

H. Officials/umpires for the conference tournament will be assigned by the conference Coordinator of Softball Officials.

I. The following operational/financial procedures will be used for conference tournament play:

1. Umpire fees will be paid by the conference office. TwoThree-person crews will be used for conference tournament games except for the final game and “if necessary” game. (Administrative Council 2018)

2. The host institution is responsible for paying a conference host fee. The host school retains all gate receipts, concessions, etc.

3. The host institution is responsible for providing scorers, scoreboard operators, statisticians, sports information personnel, athletic trainers, and other personnel in hosting the championship.

4. The host is responsible for providing a live video stream for all postseason games. Postseason games will be broadcasted on a pay-per-view format on the conference portal via Stretch Internet. The conference will retain all revenue from video streaming subscriptions/sponsorships.

J. The conference tournament champion will be the automatic qualifier to the NAIA National Championship Tournament. If the conference receives two automatic qualifiers, then the tournament champion AND the regular season champion will receive the two bids. If the same team wins both the regular-season and conference tournament, then the tournament runner-up receives the second automatic bid.

K. Contingency plan – The tournament will be rescheduled if necessary to determine a champion prior to the qualification deadline. If the tournament is not completed to the point of determining the national qualifiers, then the top two seeds will receive the automatic qualifying berths. (Administrative Council Fall 2018)

V. Conference Ratings

A. Each sport committee will elect a member to serve as rater. If a sport cannot elect a rater, then the commissioner will appoint a rater after consulting with the sport chair and oversight committee. Qualifications/criteria for serving as a rater include:

1. Raters must be head coaches with at least one year of head coaching service in the conference.

2. Raters will serve a term of two (2) years.

3. Raters may serve additional terms; based upon recommendations from the coaches and satisfactory evaluations from the sport oversight committees.

4. If two divisions exist in any conference sport, then the division that does not include the rater will select a coach to serve on the oversight committee.

B. Raters will familiarize themselves with and adhere to established NAIA and River States Conference ratings policies and procedures. Raters will serve the best interests of the River States Conference and the NAIA at all times.

C. Raters will provide ratings and justification to members of the Oversight Committee for review before they are submitted to the NAIA. This e-mail communication must be sent to the conference sport oversight committee no later than 9AM on Monday (or a minimum two hours prior to the deadline for submitting conference rating).

D. Raters will practice transparency by sharing conference ratings and justification with fellow coaches when requested. The conference sport oversight committee must be included in this process.

E. The commissioner will appoint a three-person conference ratings oversight committee. At least one member of the oversight committee must be a head coach in the respective sport.

F. The conference office will coordinate an end-of-season evaluation process for all raters. The process will include input from the conference sport oversight committee and focus primarily on the following criteria:

a. Consistent weekly submission of conference and national ratings on or before posted deadlines.

b. Consistent and active participation in ratings conference calls and national ratings committee meetings.

c. Consistent communication with coaches’ group(s), sport/conference oversight committees, and the conference/national office.

VI. Statistical Reports

A. Scores must be reported to the conference website through the SIDHelp Admin portal ASAP after each game and no later than 24 hours after competitions. Scores must be reported by Sunday at 7 p.m. ET for the purposes of weekly conference rankings.

B. All statistics must be reported to the NAIA Dakstats Websync site by Mondays at 5 p.m. ET. Statistics that are not reported by then are subject to the penalties outlined by the NAIA in the NAIA SID Manual for non-reporting.

C. All Player of the Week nominations must be made at the NAIA SIDHelp Admin portal by Monday at 12 p.m. ET. Voting for Player of the Week takes place between 12-3 pm ET.

D. Failure to report scores to the conference website within 24 hours or to report statistics to the NAIA Dakstats Websync site would result in the following sanctions:

1. First Miss – Email Reminder

2. Second Miss – Probation letter from conference commissioner

3. Third Miss – Student-athlete ineligible for postseason awards

4. Fourth Miss – Team ineligible for postseason competition.

E. The conference SID will be responsible for releasing Player of the Week awards and weekly reports.

F. Each school is responsible for posting its team schedule and rosters to the conference website through the SID Help admin portal by September 1 of the season.

VII. Awards

A. The conference provides the following softball awards. Awards will be ordered and distributed by the conference commissioner. It is the responsibility of the sport chair to coordinate the awards nomination/selection process with the commissioner and the conference SID.

B. Below is the complete breakdown of individual and team awards:

1. All-Conference Teams – 1st and 2nd All-Conference teams consisting of twenty (20) players selected by vote of the coaches. Each All-Conference team will be comprised of three pitchers, two catchers, five infielders, four outfielders, one designated player, one utility player and four at-large positions. If no DP and/or Utility player is nominated, the selection committee will select an additional one to two at-large players.

a. Each coach may nominate any number of players that are worthy of all-conference consideration from their team.

b. All nominated players will be placed on a ballot and coaches will vote for the top 20 players. Coaches will not be allowed to vote for their own players.

c. Ballots will be collected/compiled prior to the start of postseason play and the all-conference team and special award recipients will be announced during the tournament. Athletic Directors will be copied when sending voting emails to head coaches. (Administrative Council Spring 2018)

d. After the first team has been selected, those players with the next highest votes by position who are not 1st team will be designated as second team and will receive a certificate.

e. Per conference awards committee guidelines, final ballot voting will be shared with all coaches.

2. Player of the Year – Must be a 1st-Team All-Conference selection and voted on by the coaches prior to tournament.

3. Pitcher of the Year – Must be a 1st-Team All-Conference selection and voted on by the coaches prior to tournament.

4. Newcomer of the Year – voted on by the coaches prior to tournament.

5. Coach of the Year – voted on by the coaches prior to tournament.

6. River States Conference Softball Scholar-Athlete Team. All players who have a cumulative minimum 3.25 after two completed semesters at a conference institution shall be named to the Scholar-Athlete Team. The list of qualifiers must be submitted to the conference SID by April 1.

7. Tournament champion and runner-up trophies will be awarded.

8. Conference regular season champion will also be awarded a plaque.

9. Champion of Character Award. Each team will select an individual to receive this award. The recipient will best model the NAIA’s five Champions of Character core values and will also be eligible to receive the annual Conference’s Bill Melton Champion of Character Award. The Melton Award (male or female) recipient will be nominated by the conference for the NAIA’s national award (Dr. Leroy Walker Character Award).