2012 League Rules
The current rules of A.S.A. are in effect with the following notes or exceptions:
1.- League Structure The league utilizes the 8U/10U/12U & 15U formats. Girls are allowed to play in any league in which their age is equal to or less than the league maximum (ie. A 11 year old girl may play in the U-12 league or try-out to play up in the U-15 league based on talent and available roster spots)
2.- Number of Girls Per Team The number of girls on each team will be determined by registration. Once a team composition reaches 13/14 players, an Executive Board Meeting will determine number of teams.
3.- Coaches League teams will have 1 manager and a maximum of 3 assistants. Only the manager or designee may confer with the opposing coach and umpires during the game. No coach can be added to a team between tryouts and the draft.
4.- Tryouts All new players, transfers and any girl interested in playing in an older division must attend tryouts. With the exception of automatically assigned players, girls not at the tryouts will have their names put into a hat and drawn by a coach at the draft. Coaches may draft from either the hat or those girls that were at tryouts in any sequence in the draft.
5.- Sisters & Daughters: Sisters will automatically be placed on the same team (either one being drafted before the other or an older sister already on team). Daughters of existing coaches will be placed on the coaches team.
6.- Games Games will be played on Sundays and Weeknights.
7.- Base Path Length 55 feet for both 10U 60 feet for both 12U & 15U
8.- Softball 10U 11 inch Official ASA softball 12U & 15U 12 inch Official ASA softball
9.- Pitching Distance 10U 35 feet 12U & 15U 40 feet
10A- Bunting: Bunting is allowed in all leagues.
10B- Slap Bunting Allowed only in 15U league.
11- Sliding: Sliding is allowed in all leagues. Sliding is encouraged in all leagues at or over 10U to reduce potential collisions at bases as well as teach the girls the fundamentals of proper sliding techniques.
12 - Stealing - (#12 and 13 updated for 10U division on 4/11/2012)
10U division can only steal 3rd base after pitched ball crosses home plate. Runners cannot advance any further on a steal regardless of the outcome of the throw to third. Runners cannot steal 2nd base.
12U Division. Can steal any base after pitched ball crosses home plate.
15U division Can steal any base after pitched ball leaves pitcher's hand.
13- Passed Balls 10U division Runners can only advance to third base only. 12U & 15U divisions Runners can advance to any base including home.
14- Batting Order All leagues will use a Continuous Batting Order to allow all girls to get opportunity to bat as many times as possible.
15- Minimum Number of Innings and positions All players will play a minimum of 3 defensive innings per game assuming a complete game. In addition all players must play one inning in the infield in the first 3 innings and must play 2 innings in the infield in a complete game.
15A - Updated 4/11/2012
In the 10U, 12U and 15U division players are limited to pitching only 4 innings per game. In addition any player in the 10U or 12U divisions who also pitches for a tournament team (Beverly or other) is only permitted to pitch 2 innings in a game. In the 15U division the limit per game is 3 innings.
16- Regulation Game 10U games will consist of 6 innings of play. Must complete a minimum of 3 and half innings if the home team is ahead or 4 innings if the visitors are ahead (10U only). If, after a game becomes regulation, a team is leading by 12 or more runs, the game is officially over. All 12U & 15U games will consist of 7 innings of play. Must complete a minimum of 4 and a half innings if the home team is ahead or 5 innings if the visitors are ahead. Same applies to the 12 run rule.
17- 12 Run Slaughter Rule If after a game becomes regulation and a team is leading by 12 or more runs, the game is officially over. If the team which has lost wishes to complete the rest of the game, no additional scoring or batting records will be kept by the coaches. The team that is declared the winner will limit its team to one-at-bat per girl per inning for the remainder of the game. Innings pitched after a game is declared over will still count.
18- Six Run Rule Six Run Rule is in effect for every innings except for the last inning (last inning means the last official regulation inning or a mutually agreed upon last inning by the coaches and/or umpire). After the 6th run crosses the plate in any half inning the side batting will return to the field. The play in progress will continue until its end, however for scoring purposes a maximum of six runs will be recorded.
19- Number of Players on Field.
10U division had 10 players defensively with the 10th player having to play in the outfield.
12U & 15U divisions play 9 players defensively only.
Rule 20 was updated on 5/20/08
20- Start of an Inning All Other Leagues. No top of an inning will start 1:45 hours after the first pitch of the game. Both coaches will meet with the home plate umpire before the start of the game and mutually agree on the start time. For games scheduled to start at 6:00PM, regardless of what day of the week it is, no top of an inning will begin after 8:00 p.m. (edited on 5/22)(excluding games played at Harry Ball Field see 20A).
If a game has not reached regulation game status, then the game will be replayed at a later date from the point of suspension.
Rule 20A was added on 5/20/08
20A. Games at Harry Ball Field: Harry Ball field lights will be turned off at 9:30PM without exception. No inning should start after 9:15. If any inning starts and is not completed the score will revert back to the last full inning completed and the leading team at that time will be declared the winner (as long as they have met the regulation game requirements; see rule 16).
21- Infield Fly Rule Rule will be in effect for 12U & 15U leagues only.
22- Dropped 3rd Strike Rule Rule will be in effect for 15U leagues only.
23- Pitcher Warm Up Pitches Pitcher is allowed 1 minute of warm-ups before each inning.
24-Look Back Rule
There is no lookback rule in the 10U division.
12U & 15U division the look back rule is in effect. This rule applies to a base runner between bases when the pitcher is within the pitching circle. See ASA rulebook for detailed explanation.
25- Hit Batsmen There is no limit to number of batters a pitcher can hit during a game. It is the responsibility of the manager to take their pitcher out of the game if the pitcher is wild and injuring the opposing batters. The umpire can remove the pitcher from her position if in his/her opinion she is making no attempts to correct problem.
26- Forfeiture of Game A game is forfeited if one team is not ready to play within 15 minutes after the scheduled starting time.
27- Miscellaneous This league has a rule preventing anyone (coaches, players and team followers) from harassing any individual player or umpire verbally or physically (all players and parents have signed Code of Ethics Form from City of Beverly which prohibits these actions). Chanting in unison against your opponent is not allowed, only chanting for your team is allowed. SWING is not to be said by catcher or any other person during the actual pitch.
28- Playoffs Format to be determined by Executive Board prior to beginning of season. Any and all rules listed above that are incorrectly stated or are in opposition to established ASA rules should be brought to the attention of the league.
Rule 29 added on 5/20/08
29. Courtesy runner for the catcher. In order to move the games along more quickly a courtesy runner may be used for the catcher. The courtesy runner must be the player on the offensive team that made the last out (this may have occurred in the last inning if there are no outs in the current inning).
Rule 30 updated 4/15/16
30. With the expansion of the 15U division to Senior, no player who plays for their high school varsity team is eligible for BGSL.