TBALL PLAYING RULES A. The official playing rules, with the exceptions and variations contained in this book, shall be ‘‘Official Rules of Major League Baseball’’ completely revised, as released through the office of the Commissioner of Baseball. B. TBALL: The Tball Division will be divided into 2 groups if needed, AA and AAA. AA will consist of players with no or low baseball skill or knowledge. AAA will consist of players who have the ability and the skills to play at a higher level. Evaluations will be held for all 4, 5 and 6 year olds, teams will then be created and talent balanced by the Coordinator and Coordinator Director. Both Divisions will follow the same playing rules outlined in this document. C. TBALL: The entire roster of players present for the game shall be in the batting lineup. Ten players shall be used defensively. The four outfielders must be positioned 15 feet behind the baselines. The pitcher must wear a helmet and have one foot on the rubber until the ball is hit. The catcher shall wear protective equipment. D. TBALL: Batters are not permitted to bunt at the ball on batting tee. The batting tee shall be placed on home plate. The coach is responsible for removal prior to any play at home plate. The batter will not be allowed to adjust the tee or take practice swings after the ball is placed on the tee. A practice swing will be counted as a strike after the ball is placed on the tee. PENALTY: Strike. A 10-foot arc shall be inscribed in front of home plate, from the first to the third base foul line, and any batted ball which does not travel beyond that line will be considered a foul-strike for purposes of this rule. E. TBALL: The batter shall be called out after failing to hit the ball after three swings at the ball on the tee. Batter is not out on a foul or foul tip unless it is a third swing. F. TBALL: The catcher shall stand away from the plate until the batter swings, then field the position defensively. G. TBALL: Base runners are not permitted to steal bases and shall remain in contact with the base until ball is hit. PENALTY: If a runner is off the base and the ball is hit, the runner will receive one warning and the ball is in play. After the second offense the runner will be out. If the ball is not hit, the runner must return to the base and the ball is dead. H. TBALL: There is no infield fly rule. I. TBALL: Free substitution on defense including pitching position. A player can only sit on the bench 1 inning unless all other players have sat the bench in the same game. Players can’t play infield or outfield positions for more than 2 consecutive innings. J. TBALL: When the ball is in the possession of an infielder and, in the UMPIRES judgment, all play on the runner or runners has ceased and the ball is in front of the lead runner, the UMPIRE shall call "Time". The ball is dead and shall be returned to home plate. Players and Coaches are not allowed to call time out. Players should NOT be putting their hands up in the field and saying “Time”. K. TBALL: Pitching options: (a) The ball shall be hit off of a batting tee placed on home plate. The Coach is responsible for removal of the Tee prior to any play at home plate. (b) The batter shall not swing at the ball until the ball is on the tee and pitcher has 1 foot on the rubber. (c) The pitcher shall remain in contact with the pitcher’s plate until the ball is hit by the batter. PENALTY: A balk shall be called. EQUIPMENT A. TBALL: All divisions will practice and play games with regulation hard baseballs. B. Home team is responsible for lining the fields. Please line the batter’s box, foul lines, pitchers circle and 10 foot foul arc. Please do not make a mess with the chalk. Please do not chalk the grass. PITCHING RULES A. TBALL: Not applicable to this Division, pitching is not allowed by players or coaches in the tball Division throughout the entire Season. LENGTH OF GAMES A. TBALL: Once play has begun in a game the game shall be played to regulation length (six innings) unless the home team is leading and does not need its half of the final inning. Teams shall not score more than five runs per inning except in the sixth or extra inning, where they may score ten runs. Games shall be considered over when it is mathematically impossible for one team to catch up in six innings. B. TBALL League games shall be six (6) innings and shall not exceed nine (9) innings. C. If a game is called for any reason; it shall be a complete game if four innings have been completed, or if the home team has scored more runs in three innings or three and a fraction innings, than the visiting team has scored in four completed innings. D. If a game is called for any reason before it is a complete game, as described in Sections A, B and C, or when the score is tied, it shall be considered a suspended game and shall be resumed from the point of curtailment at the time scheduled by organization. E. If a game is called for any reason in an uncompleted inning, after having reached complete-game length as described in Section A, B and C and the visiting team ties the score or takes the lead in the uncompleted inning, and the home team does not tie the score or retake the lead in its portion of the uncompleted inning, the game shall be considered a suspended game and shall be continued from the point of curtailment at the time scheduled by organization league officials. F. Once a game is stopped for lightning, it cannot be resumed until 30 minutes after last cloud to ground lightning strike. G. Game length shall not exceed 1 hour and 30 minutes. H. Teams will keep score and will have 3 outs per inning, unless the run rule is in effect. Scores should be reported to the Tball Coordinator after each game so standings can be kept up to date. SCHEDULE A. Scheduling and rescheduling of Cal Ripken sanctioned organization league games shall be the responsibility of the officers and the executive committee and shall provide not less than an agreed upon number of regular season games for each team. B. Teams and or organization leagues of the same age brackets, operated by the same set of officers or sponsors or organization league from adjacent areas, may play an interlocking schedule as long as all teams are Cal Ripken sanctioned. C. TBALL: Under no condition shall organization league officers set up a schedule of games which would require a team to play more than one game in one day for regular season. Playoff’s and tournament play may have 2 games per day. (1) TBALL: No game shall begin after 7:30 p.m. local time. No inning should begin after 9 p.m. local time. .