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Rules

CRESCENT SOFTBALL 2024 RULES

(AMENDED April 27, 2022)


SPECIAL COVID-19 (CORONAVIRUS) PREVENTION GUIDELINES

These guidelines will be urged on all participants to ensure our games are conducted in a healthy and safe manner to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. These will be in effect until further notice.


SOCIAL (PHYSICAL) DISTANCING
All participants should maintain a reasonable amount of distance between each other (recommended at least 6 feet where possible). This also includes dugout spaces. They should also not congregate prior to, during and after games.

HAND HYGIENE
Please keep your hands clean as often as possible and avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth. Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when you cough or sneeze, or use the inside of your (left) elbow. Each team is recommended to keep a supply of hand sanitizers/wipes in their dugouts.

ENSURE CLEAN AND HYGIENIC SPACE
Disinfect hard surfaces when arriving at team seating areas, such as benches, railings and equipment racks, and clean and dispose of all trash when departing practice or games.

AVOID CONTACT
Avoid any form of physical contact such as handshakes, high-fives or fist-bumping. If necessary, “elbow bumps” with right below would be the safest form of contact and can be used in place of customary handshakes at the end of games.

AVOID SHARING FACE GUARDS
Pitchers should avoid sharing face guards as much as possible. If a team enters a new pitcher into the game and the same guard is worn, please ensure to disinfect before using. It is also recommended to keep an additional guard in case there is a change in pitcher.

FACE COVERING
A face covering should be worn by participants for any situation where distancing is not possible, especially in dugout spaces. However on the field, a covering will be optional.

PARTICIPANT PLACEMENT
To avoid crowding around batter's box/homeplate area, catchers will be suggested to receive pitches further back behind homeplate. In addition, umpires will be suggested to make calls at a safe distance behind the pitcher. If umpires accept this change, please be reasonable with them on their calls to ensure a positive experience for everyone.

STAY HOME WHEN APPROPRIATE
Stay home if you are showing symptoms of, have tested positive for, or have had close contact with a person with COVID-19. You should also check your temperature before leaving home and should stay at home with any reading of 100.4 Fahrenheit or higher. If a player is feeling ill, he should stay at home. A modified version of the inactive player rule will be instituted for these players. A sick player will be allowed 3 PA’s administered for only one doubleheader. Just note on stat sheet the player’s name and that he was unable to play because he was sick. If a player has tested positive for COVID, he must quarantine for at least 5 days or show negative test result to be allowed to play.

 


A. SPORTSMANSHIP

A1. CURSING / CONDUCT - All players are to adhere to local park regulations, refrain from alcoholic beverages, and profane language on or near the fields. Any assault on an umpire will be automatic ejection from the league. Foul language will be warned by the umpire and may lead to ejection at his discretion. Any threats to another player may also result in ejection and possible future suspensions by the league.

A2. UMPIRES - The umpire has the final say in all on field calls. Prolonged arguments with the umpires will lead to ejection and loss of game time that will not be given back. NO EXCEPTIONS.


B. TIME OF PLAY

B1. TIME LIMIT - All regular season games will be limited to 1 hour and 15 minutes from their scheduled start times, where no new inning will start after this limit. The inning that’s in play at the time this limit is reached will be allowed to finish. If home team is winning and time limit is reached, home team will not need to bat and game will be called.This will be strictly enforced. Umpire will have the discretion to extend if there are no conflicting games that follow on the same field.

B2. PUNCTUALITY - Games will start promptly at scheduled start time and encouraged to start earlier if all parties are ready and willing, with no conflict. Delay on start by either team will cost game time that will not be given back. On this note, both teams and umpire must agree and record actual start time.

B3. POSTPONEMENTS & MAKEUPS - Postponements (mostly rainouts) will be determined by the commissioner. Will be announced at least 2 hours prior to start time. Rainouts must be reported to the league as you do game results. League will make every effort to have rained out or postponed games made up. This will include reserve dates in schedule for makeup as well as nights if fields/times are available and impacted teams agree. If playoff games are postponed, the make up for these games will be the following week under the same time and field if available. If impacted teams agree on an alternative makeup date and field/times are available for this alternative, only then will the alternative be scheduled. If necessary, the subsequent playoff rounds will be pushed back to accommodate these makeups.

B4. OFFICIAL GAME - Official regular season game will be 4 full innings. If a game is shortened because of rain or time limit, 4 full innings will be an official game. No equal at bats are needed if the game is called after 4 complete innings. For the playoffs only, if the game is called at any point, a makeup game will be scheduled to finish the game. The makeup game will resume and continue exactly from the previous game was called). Same game situation.

B5. RAMADAN SCHEDULING - Games will be scheduled during Ramadan, but with flexibility for teams and players that may be impacted. The flexibility will include (1) a modified version of the inactive player rule where captains will just have to provide, in advance, a list of players that are out for Ramadan and these players will be given 4 PA’s in one of the games of each Ramadan-scheduled doubleheader, (2) allowance for teams to temporarily borrow outside players during the month in place of the players that chose not to play on a 1-to-1 basis, and (3) if a team has a majority of its players out and as a team chose not to play, then their match will be postponed and made up at a later date per policy in section B3.


C. EQUIPMENT

C1. BATS - Only USA or ASA certified bats will be permitted. It is the captain's and player's responsibility to check any and all bats used to make sure they are legal. If a banned bat is used, the batter and the manager will be ejected for the remainder of that day and the next doubleheader. If an umpire or the league coordinators are not sure if a bat is legal or altered, it may be removed from play. In addition, the league coordinators and/or Long Island ASA Commissioner may remove any bat that appears to be legal, but is reacting out of character and determined to be dangerous from play and be banned from use in this league. A bat must be free of audible rattles when shaken. If it sounds like there is something loose or any sound of something coming from the inside of the bat, the bat will be removed from play.

C2. BALLS - Only USA or ASA certified softballs will be permitted. A new ball for each game must be provided by the captains to the umpire and that ball must be used in play throughout the game. If that ball becomes unavailable during the game, only umpire determines the appropriate backups/replacements.

C3. FACE GUARDS - Pitchers must wear protective face guard when pitching to the opposing team.

C4. CSL JERSEY – Matching CSL jerseys must be worn during all games. If a proper jersey is not available, player must wear his team’s color. If neither jersey nor at least team color is worn, one run will be given to opponent for each violator. This rule will take effect upon opening day unless otherwise announced, and will be strictly enforced all regular season and playoffs. The rule will also cover teams that choose to arrange their own jerseys directly instead of through the league, so these teams will be responsible to wear their jerseys or team colors by the time the rule takes effect. No outside league branded shirts will be allowed.


D. GENERAL GAME FORMAT

D1. PITCHING - The pitching distance shall be 50 to 56 feet. The distance from home plate to the pitching mound will be 50 feet minimum. The pitcher may pitch from as far back as 56 feet. The pitcher may move forward or back within this 50 to 56 ft. range. The pitching arc is set from 6 feet to 12 feet.

D2. PITCH COUNT - One and one count will be used in all games. If you hit a foul ball with 2 strikes, you do NOT get an extra strike. You will be out. This includes the playoffs.

D3. BATTING ORDER - You may bat as many players as you like. The number of fielders will remain at 10. You may substitute batters for fielders or players not in the game for other batters and fielders, but the batting order must remain the same. If you take a batter out of the game, and do not have a replacement for that batter, the penalty will be an out for only the next time up for that batter. If a batter or player is ejected from the game with no replacement, the team will receive an out every time that batter is due up at bat.

D4. DESIGNATED HITTER - There is no DH in this league--If you play the field, you must bat.

D5. FOUL TIP - Foul ball must be over the batters head to be caught and called out.

D6. COURTESY RUNNERS - Courtesy runners will be limited to MAX 3 players per game. The runner must be the last batted out. You may “deactivate” one courtesy receiver in favor of another player (“activated”) who is injured during the game one time during a game in an emergency only.

D7. RUN RULE - If a team is leading by 20 or more runs at the end of the 3rd or 4th innings (equal at bats), or by 12 runs after 5 innings (sudden death) the game will be over.

D8. HOMERUN RULE - We are using the 3 hr limit + 1 up. This means if one team hits 3 hrs, the 4th homerun will be call out until their opponent has hit 3 hrs.

D8. PROTEST - In the event a game needs to be protested, both teams should play the game and protest the game afterward. If a team refuses to play due to a protest, that team will be given the loss. Examples of a protest: --If a player is not on your roster or doesn't have qualifying PA’s, or added after roster freeze, and plays, your team will be given the loss for that protest.


E. FORFEITS

E1. FORFEIT TIME - 20 minutes after scheduled game time.

E2. FORFEITED GAME - At least 8 players must be present on the field and ready to play at the start of the game for a forfeit to be avoided. When there are only 9 players, the catcher must be the 9th. When there are only 8 available, that team still must field the position on plays at the plate, but the opposing team should retrieve pitches.

E3. FORFEIT TIMING & UMPIRE FEE - Cut-off to forfeit without paying umpire fee is 8pm the Friday night before game. Otherwise, forfeiting team is responsible to pay umpire fee after this cut-off time.

E4. FORFEIT STAT RECORDING - Team that wins via forfeit will be allowed 3 PA's per player, per game of that doubleheader for each player on its roster at the time forfeit is declared.


F. ROSTER PROFILE

F1. MUSLIMS/NON-MUSLIMS – Effective SuFa 2021, this will be a goal requirement on the league as a whole to have at least 50% of rostered membership to be of Muslim players (including grandfathers). For as long as this is maintained, a requirement by team will not be needed. However, new Muslim and new Non-Muslim players will be rated accordingly (please refer to K6). In addition, the Muslim players will be indicated with an asterisks (*) in team profiles on website.

F2. GRANDFATHER STATUS – Non-Muslim players with grandfather status will be considered as honorary Muslims, in which they can be counted towards the requirement described in section F1. Grandfathers will also be indicated with a double asterisks (**) in team profiles on website. To qualify for this status, the player must exhibit at least one of the following: (1) is a captain or was a captain of a team in this league, (2) he has played continuously in the league for at least 5 seasons, (3) has dedicated a valuable amount of time and energy towards the management and improvement of the league, (4) maintains status by doing any of the above for at least 50% of a season within a 3-year span.


G. STATS

G1. STAT KEEPING - Captains must keep proper stats to every game, or have such responsibility assigned to a teammate. A sacrifice only occurs when a fly ball to the outfield (grounders or infield flies don’t count) results in a successful run scored on a tag-up. A player who gets a hit and is tagged out while attempting to extend it to a double or more should be marked down as getting to the last base he safely reached, in terms of stats. E.g. tagged trying to get to 2nd is marked down as a single.

G2. STAT SHEET CAPTAIN'S SIGN-OFF - To ensure integrity of stats, captains must take photos of opponent’s scorebook at the end of each doubleheader, and subsequently submit these to the league, in addition to team’s scorebook.

G3. STAT SUBMISSIONS - Starting 2020 season, a designated league member will enter stats into website on behalf of captains. Therefore, captains will only be required to submit photos of their stat sheets. Stat sheet photos must be submitted to commissioner before the end of the weekend of the games played. They must be legible with photos taken clearly in landscape orientation as close as possible to printer-friendly format. Any illegible stat may result in loss of plate appearances (PA). Captains are still responsible for the accuracy of their stats, both on the sheets and on the website, so he should validate after they are entered. If stat sheet photos are not submitted by required due date, a warning will first be issued. If they are still not submitted by the end of the following weekend, the impacted games will be subject to forfeit with no recognition of the PA's done for that game.

G4. INACTIVE PLAYERS - Inactive players include players who are injured or do not wish to play. They can be allowed 2 PA's per game if they still show up to their team's game and participate in any non-playing tasks through the entire game. Non-playing tasks include captaining, stat keeping, 1st base coaching, 3rd base coaching, homeplate coaching and helping his fielders stay loose in between innings. Inactive players must be indicated in the game's stat sheet along with the non-playing task they were assigned, and this must be validated by opposing team captain or umpire of that match. INACTIVE PLAYER'S PA'S WILL NOT APPLY WITHOUT VALIDATION.


H. ROSTER & PLAYOFF QUALIFICATIONS

H1. REGISTRATION – Everyone must be registered before playing. The timestamp on the registration must be done before game time. If it’s discovered that a team has used an unregistered player during a matchup, that team will forfeit both games. If it’s discovered that both teams used unregistered players, both teams will receive double forfeits (each team will receive 2 losses each).

H2. ROSTER SIZE MINIMUM AND LIMIT – Starting 2021, each team must have a minimum of 12 players on their teams, and will be limited to a maximum of 18 (for Retro the max is 25, recommended at 18). Exceptions on the limit can be made on a case by case basis, but will primarily be to aid teams with struggling attendance. Any exceptions request must be communicated to and approved by commissioner to be official.

H3. WEEKLY ROSTER CUTOFF – All roster updates must be submitted to commissioner by 11:59pm EST on Thursday nights in to order to be included in the distribution of team roster tables that follows. After then, any needed change must be communicated in Captain’s WhatsApp chat, where impacted rating points will also need to be included, and cap restrictions are still applicable.

H4. ROSTER FREEZE – Captains can make changes to their rosters as long as they are within the limits of the parity guidelines and as long as there are no conflicts with other teams, through April 23, 2022. After this date, any requests to add or trade players must be evaluated and approved by commissioner. Approval will be on a case by case basis, but will also primarily be to aide teams struggling with attendance. ANY AND ALL CHANGES MUST BE COMMUNICATED TO COMMISSIONER TO BE OFFICIAL.

H5. PLATE APPEARANCES FOR QUALIFYING (AMENDED April 27, 2022) - For Elite: Minimum 40 plate appearances (PA's) or 12 games played by that player. For Retro: Minimum 32 plate appearances (PA's) or 10 games played by that player.


I. PLAYOFFS

I1. FORMAT - All 8 teams will compete in round 1. Tie Breakers will be determined by head-to-head record vs. higher seeds, then run differential. All post season series will be best of 3.

I2. GAMES - In the playoffs, the higher seed may be given the ability to choose fields from those that are provided to the league. The higher seed can select to be the home team for the 1st or 2nd game. If the third game is needed, the higher seed will again have choice of home or away team.


J. OTHER

J1. ACCOLADES - MVP, Sportsman, Manager of the Year and Finals MVP Winners will be selected by Panel of Captains.

J2. ALL-STAR GAME – All-Star game/event is not planned at the moment, but may be consider if there is enough interest and support. Any interests/inquiries to consider having it should be directed to commissioner.


K. PARITY

K1. PLAYER RATINGS - Starting 2021 season, a player rating system will be implemented to support parity across league. Logic for the ratings determination is detailed in the sub-sections that follow.

K2. OBJECTIVE RATINGS CALCULATION METHODOLOGY - Objective ratings for upcoming season(s) will be calculated based on the following: (1) 3-season rolling stats starting with the 2020 season. For example, 2021 preliminary ratings will be based on 2020 season, where 2022 ratings will be based on the cumulative 2020-2021 seasons. 2023 will be based on 2020-2022 and 2024 on 2021-2023. (2) To be rated, a player must have attended at least 6 games of the full prior season. (3) Batting Average, OBP, SLG and OPS will be the primary metrics used for the calculation and will be measured relative to respective league averages if league was assigned a constant rating of 5 in these areas.

K3. RATINGS COMMITTEE - While the objective calculation is a critical starting point in the ratings process, it is currently only based on offensive stats, and a player’s rating will encompass defense and speed in addition to offense. For this reason, a ratings committee will be assembled to further assess the results of the calculation, particularly to consider defense and speed along with any other factors that the calculation may fall short on. Upon assessment, the committee may choose to accept the calculated ratings as is, or adjust it as it sees fit with reasonable explanation. This committee will also be the body to receive and approve ratings appeals from teams (see section K5). The ratings will be final after committee’s review and approval of appeals, if any.

K4. TEAM RATINGS CAP – Upon the results of the objective ratings calculation and committee's review, committee will determine a team ratings cap. The cap will be based in terms of the top 12 players of each team. For the 2022 season, Elite will follow a weighted cap structure where the Flying Dutchmen, Wildcats and Yankees franchises will be required to maintain a 57 point cap and all other teams are required at 59 points max. For Retro, the cap will be 40 points for all teams. Each team’s top 12 players in their rosters cannot exceed their designated point cap.

K5. APPEALS – After ratings have been assessed by both calculation and committee, and that a team cap is set, there will be opportunity to appeal ratings on a case-by-case basis. Each team will be allowed 3 appeals which must be submitted, with justification, to and approved by the ratings committee. The teams must also have paid their deposits to the league before the first appeal is reviewed. The period for appeals will be open until roster freeze.

K6. ROOKIE/UNRATED PLAYERS – Rookies and unrated players will be defaulted to the following standard ratings: In Elite, new Muslim players will be rated 3 and new Non-Muslim players will be rated 5. For Retro, new Muslim players will be rated 2 and new Non-Muslim players will be rated 4. These players will be rated for the following season upon meeting the minimum games attended requirement stated per section K2.

K7. RETRO GAMEDAY FIELD REQUIREMENT – Effective immediately, a team must have at least 5 players rated 3 or below on the field at all times. If a team is unable to comply, that team must accept a 2-run penalty for each player short of this requirement. This must be declared during discussion of ground rules with umpire prior to series.

 

The commissioner will reserve the right to overrule on any conflict in order to maintain the integrity of the league.

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