BSB FALL BALL RULES

GENERAL INFORMATION
The following rules supplemented by the Blue Springs Baseball rulebook, shall govern the play
and conduct of the teams and team officials in all division games played under the supervision
of Blue Springs Baseball. These rules have been drawn up in accordance with the purpose and
ideals of Blue Springs Baseball as set forth in Articles of Incorporation and By-Laws and shall
have as their basis, the development and teaching of good sportsmanship and play. It will be
borne in mind that the Blue Springs Fall Baseball Program has been instituted for the
development of all players participating. This “development” ideal has been used in making
these rules. Blue Springs Baseball recognizes that there may be so called “loopholes”. When
such loopholes are causing any individual player or team to lose a protest or defense, on
merely a minor technical point, which is contrary to tradition, fair play or good sportsmanship,
the spirit of development will be considered. The use of Blue Springs Baseball rulebook is also
to be used as a supplement. The rules contained herein shall be in effect until such time as
they have been revised and adopted by the Blue Springs Baseball Board of Directors.

SECTION I - Blue Springs Baseball

A. Blue Springs Baseball shall hereafter be referred to as BSB.
B. A second season referred to hereafter as Fall Ball is played only with the approval of BSB
Board of Directors and without objections of American Legion Stanley Pack Post 499.
C. Fall Ball shall be governed by rules approved by the BSB Board of Directors.
D. The Fall Ball Coordinator shall be appointed by the BSB Board of Directors.
E. The Fall Ball Coordinator, along with 2 other Board of Directors make up the Fall Ball
Committee.

SECTION II - Sportsmanship
A. No umpire, manager, coach, player, parent, or fan shall make physical contact or
threatening or abusive comments or actions towards another umpire, manager, coach,
player, parent, or fan, before, during, or after a game. The penalty for such actions shall
be immediate ejection from the game, field or complex and suspension of at least one or
more games as may be deemed by the Fall Ball Committee.
B. The manager is responsible for the behavior of his coaches, players, parents and fans.
Failure to maintain appropriate control shall lead to the managers’ ejection and suspension
of at least one game or as deemed by the Fall Ball Committee.

SECTION III - Players

A. All players must meet the age requirements of their respective division.
B. Players may play up during fall ball; however, players may not play down.
C. Players’ birth certificates are not to be turned into BSB, but must be made available on
demand by the fall Ball Coordinator.
D. All participating players must be on the roster by the final date of registration.
E. Players are recruited by team managers.
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F. A list of players looking for teams may be maintained by the Fall Ball Coordinator. These
individual players are asked to submit a Single Player Information Sheet.
G. Single players will be assigned on a first come, first basis to teams that request players to
complete their rosters.
H. All players become free agents after the Fall Ball season is completed.

SECTION IV - Teams
A. Team managers are responsible for recruiting their own team.
B. Team rosters may include as few as 7 players or as many players as the manager deems
appropriate. BSB recommends no more than 15 players.
C. The manager is responsible for verifying the eligibility of each player on his team and
provides such information upon request.
D. Failure to follow the age requirements will result in forfeiture of games played and up to
possible expulsion from the fall program.
E. Falsification of records will result in forfeiture of games played and up to possible expulsion
from the fall program.
F. Practice times shall be assigned to BSB Summer League team at the June General Meeting.
Practice times shall be assigned to incoming Fall Teams at the Fall Meeting when their
deposit has been paid. Teams will pick one-week night practice, or one-week end practice.

SECTION V - Managers and Coaches

A. Managers and coaches must be approved by the Fall Ball Committee and meet eligibility
requirements.
B. Managers or coaches, who have not filled out a Fall Ball registration and Code of Conduct
form, may not participate on any field sanctioned by BSB.
C. The use of tobacco, alcohol or illegal drugs, profane or abusive language by managers,
coaches or adult leaders will not be allowed on any field sanctioned by BSB. The use of
any of the above shall be cause for ejection and up to possible expulsion form the fall
program.
D. Managers and Coaches shall insist that every member of their teams acts to uphold all the
rules of conduct explained in the BSB rulebook.

SECTION VI - Divisions
Divisions are determined by the Fall Ball Committee. Every year the divisions may differ based
on the teams that register. The basic division breakdown is as follows:
 8U Machine Pitch - includes teams that would play in the 7 and 8-year-old divisions in the
following spring.
 10U – includes teams that would play in the 9 and 10-year-old divisions in the following
spring.
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 12U - includes teams that would play in the 11 and 12-year-old divisions in the following
spring.
 14U - includes teams that would play in the 13 and 14-year-old divisions in the following
spring.

SECTION VII - Player Uniforms and Equipment

A. Players must be uniformed in at least matching shirts.
B. All male players must wear a metal or plastic protective cup.
C. When batting, on base or in the warm up circle, players must wear protective head gear
that covers both ears.
D. Players may wear athletic shoes with ribbed or cleated soles.
E. Metal cleats are not allowed to be worn, except for the teams in the 14U division.

SECTION VIII - Games

A. All Divisions will play a ten game schedule, 5 double header games.
B. The Fall Ball Committee schedules all games.
C. All schedule requests will be attempted to the best of the ability of the Fall Ball Committee.
D. Rescheduling of rain out games will come from the Fall Ball Coordinator.
E. Rescheduled games will be scheduled during normal weekend times first, then to Sundays,
and then finally weeknights.
F. Games may begin with each team having only 7 players.
G. Teams are not to be penalized for having less than nine players participating in the game.
H. Late arriving players may be added as they arrive, to the bottom of the batting list.
I. Late arriving players must check in with the umpires and opposing team scorekeeper.
J. Players may leave a game without penalty to the team, except if it takes the teams’ roster
below 7 players.
K. Official Scorekeeper - It is the responsibility of the home team to supply the official
scorebook for the game. The scorekeeper shall track at bats, hits, runs, extra base hits,
strikeouts, walks, and innings.
L. All protests must be made to the Fall Ball Coordinator as soon as possible. If the Fall Ball
Coordinator is not immediately available, the game must continue. No protest will be
considered after a 24-hour period has lapsed. The protest will be decided on by the Fall
Ball Committee and their decision will be final.

SECTION IX - Game Duration

A. 8U games shall be six (6) innings or 1 hour 30 minutes.
B. 10U and higher games shall be six (6) innings or 1 hour 40 minutes “Drop Dead.”
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C. No inning shall start after the time limit has expired.

D. After the one hour forty-minute time period has elapsed, neither top or bottom of inning
will be played as this is a “Drop Dead”, game duration rule, regardless of tie or home team
inning not being played.
E. If a game is called for weather related reason, it shall be considered an official game if 4
innings have been completed or if after 3 ½ innings the home team is ahead.
F. When suspended play does resume, the game shall start exactly where play was
suspended as far as time, outs, scores, runners, etc. However, players may be added or
subtracted due to the roster flexibility of fall ball.
G. During regular fall ball games, 6 runs equal 3 outs.
H. The Fall Ball Coordinator may shorten the game times for special situations, i.e. makeup
games, weeknight games etc.

SECTION X - Pitching Rules

A. 8U batters will be allowed unlimited pitches with the following exceptions,
1) A batter swinging without making contact with the ball is issued a strike. Normal strike
rules apply.
2) A batter taking too many pitches without swinging, at the umpires’ discretion, may be
issued a warning that the next strike pitch that is not swung at, a strike will be issued
to the batter.
B. 10U Pitchers will be held to a 60 pitch maximum or 3 innings pitched per game, per
weekend. A pitcher may pitch in the second game, only if he has pitched less than 40
pitches and not more than 3 innings in the first game and then only up to the 60 pitches
and a grand total of 3 innings between both games.
C. 12U Pitchers will be held to an 80 pitch maximum or 4 innings pitched per game, per
weekend. A pitcher may pitch in the second game, only if he has pitched less than 40
pitches and not more than 4 innings in the first game and then only up to the 80 pitches
and a grand total of 4 innings between both games.
D. 14U Pitchers will be held to a 100 pitch maximum or 7 innings pitched per game, per
weekend. A pitcher may pitch in the second game, only if he has pitched less than 40
pitches and not more than 7 innings in the first game and then only up to the 100 pitches
and a grand total of 7 innings between both games.

SECTION XI - Additional Rules for 8U division

A. Each team may play 10 players during defense.
B. There shall be 4 outfielders. An outfielder may not assume an infield position.
C. Each teams batting order shall consist of every player on the roster. Late arrivals shall be
inserted at last batter.
D. One coach is allowed to be on the field to instruct during defensive play. The coach must
remain in the grass of the outfield.
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E. Each team at bat will provide a coach to insert the ball into the pitching machine.
F. There is no infield fly rule, bunting, base stealing or leading off allowed.
G. Batters may not advance to first base on a drop third strike.
H. All base runners may attempt one base on an overthrow, whether the ball is thrown from
the infield or outfield. If a play is attempted on an advancing runner and this play results
in another overthrow, runners may not advance again. Runners are limited to attempting
one base on the initial overthrow only.
I. Once an infielder has control of the ball in the infield, in fair territory, play is stopped and
runners cannot advance beyond the base they are attempting.
J. The pitcher must be positioned behind the legs of the pitching machine on either side.
Once the ball leaves the machine the pitcher may move forward.
K. A hit ball into the machine or into the pitching coach or into the field umpire or at the
umpires’ discretion of a dangerous play, the ball is considered a dead ball and the batter is
awarded first base. Base runners may only advance if they are pushed.

SECTION XII - Additional Rules for 10U division and higher

A. 10U Managers may take 3 charged visits to the pitcher, per inning, on the third visit, the
pitcher must be replaced.
B. 12U Managers may take 2 charged visits to the pitcher, per inning, on the second visit, the
pitcher must be replaced.
C. 14U Managers may take 2 charged visits to the pitcher, per inning, on the second visit, the
pitcher must be replaced.
D. Courtesy Runners may be used for the pitcher or catcher at any time. The courtesy runner
must be a player not currently in the lineup. If you are batting your entire lineup, the
courtesy runner must be the player who recorded the last out, unless that player is the
pitcher or catcher, and then you must use the player who recorded the previous out.
E. If declared before the game and you have at least 10 players for the game, the manager
may designate an “Extra Hitter”. If during the game a player must leave the game for any
reason, taking the team down to less than 10 players, the team will not be penalized for
this.
F. 9U/10U only. When a 9U team is playing a 10U team, the 10U base runners must not
leave the base until the ball leaves the pitchers hand. However, if a 9U manager wished to
allow stealing, then so be it. But this decision must be declared during the pre-game
meeting with umpire and opposing coach in clear understanding.