OFFICIAL 2010 PLAYERS SOFTBALL ASSOCIATION RULES

PSA TOURNAMENT ENTRY FEES: To be set per director of tournament.

TEAM REGISTRATION: A $30.00 sanction fee must be paid prior to playing in the first tournament. This includes initial player ID cards for everyone on your team at their first tournament played. Out of State teams may play in the 11 tournaments offered and can accumulate points to play in the PSA finals.

PLAYER ID CARDS: Everyone who participates in PSA receives their first Player ID Card Free of charge BUT if you do lose it. The cost to replace it will be $10, so please don’t lose it. You will be asked to show your card to the scorekeeper prior to every game you play. If you get moved up a class your team will receive all new ID’s free… if you petition to move down a class every player must buy a new ID.

ROSTERS: Rosters MUST be entered on line at www.playpsa.com, printed off and brought to the tournament and turned in before the first game. No more than 22 players are allowed on a roster. First and last names, address, date of birth, and signatures (Legible) must be on all rosters with no nick names. Managers are responsible to ensure this is done. Managers must sign each roster turned into to the tournament director. If no roster is turned into the tournament director and there is a protest, the team is ejected from the tournament and placed last in the standings with no PSA points being awarded. ROSTER SECTION WILL BE UP IN FEBUAR BEFORE FIRST TOURNAMENT.

QUALIFIED ROSTERS: After the first 6 tournaments scheduled Rosters will start to freeze. Players are bound to this roster unless released with the proper release form; players moving up a class still must get the proper release form. Any team beings re-classed to a lower class will have its roster frozen at that time. Any additions will have to be approved by the board of directors. If your team has a qualified roster and out of pickups (which is 22) and can’t field a legal team, then you can re-sanction the team ($30) however, your team will lose ½ of your points.
May 3rd, 2010 is the day your roster is set. Everyone on it may not transfer to another team without approval. You may add players but you must let us know ahead of time.

NO SHOW POLICY: Teams that do not show up for tournaments once entered will be required to pay ½ the entry fee if this is the first offense. The second offense will require full entry fee for that particular tournament before they will be allowed to play in another PSA tournament. Teams will be considered in a tournament once the draw is made and they receive their game time. Team and players will be suspended for any future events until the fee is paid.

NUMBER OF PLAYERS: A minimum of 8 players can start a game. These players must be present at the field. The 9th and tenth player can be added any time before the end of the game. A team that starts with 8, 9, or 10 players may never add the 11th or 12th player. Any team that starts with 10, 11 or 12 players may drop to a minimum of 8 players to finish a game; however, all vacant spots in the lineup will be declared an out. Teams may bat up to 12 players.

SUSPENDED TEAMS AND PLAYERS: Coach/manager is responsible to know what classification his/her players are listed in not the tournament director. If your team is caught with any player that is suspended from PSA you will need to pay the entire entry fee, or be ejected from the tournament with possible suspension. For the purpose of roster checks or protest a player shall be considered in the game if his name is listed on the score card, lineup sheet, played in the game under another name, or turned in on the roster.

PROTESTS: No protest will be allowed on umpire judgment calls. Any protest regarding application or interpretation of either official printed playing rules or ground rules or adopted ground rules must come from team manager or coach. Any protest regarding eligibility will require a protest fee of $75.00 per protest for the tournament. If the protest is upheld the entry fee will refunded. All players participating in a PSA tournament play shall have their player ID card available(Driver’s License if not available), failure to do so results in the player and team ejected from the tournament. (The offending team loses the game, is ejected from the tournament and forfeits all awards and points for that tournament) and placed last in the standings.

PROTEST RULE: Any player playing in the starting lineup must be protested by the bottom of the third inning or no protest will be allowed. If an illegal player is entered after the 3rd inning he must be protested as soon as the defense has knowledge of the illegal player entering the game. A protest fee of $75.00 per protest must be given to the tournament director before a protest will be granted or denied.

PSA RELEASED PLAYERS: Any player released from his team must have the release form on him at all times and a copy sent to one of the board members before he can play with another team. If you are caught playing without the release form with you and the team you are playing on will be ejected from the tournament.

BAT PROTEST: Any team wanting to protest another teams bat, the protest fee will be $100.00. If protest is won the money will be returned, if not team forfeits the money. $50.00 will go to the owner of the bat if the bat comes back clean.

ALTERED BAT POLICY: The player must willingly allow the director on site to confiscate the bat in question so that it may be tested. If the bat is proven to be altered in any way the player is then suspended for a life term but after five years starting the day that the bat was tested, the player may apply to be reinstated. The player in question does have the right to appeal the suspension and may do so within 15 days of receiving a letter.

HIT PITCHER POLICY: After a pitch is released and the pitcher establishes himself in a set position any ball that can or does hit the pitcher and is not caught is considered a dead ball and the batter is out. An established position is at the discretion of the home plate umpire and includes any part of the pitchers body from head to toe. The pitcher must establish his position behind the mound and within 1 ft left or right of the pitchers box for the rule to apply. If a pitcher extends his arms or legs, or moves from his established position and the ball strikes him in the process it will be ruled a live ball. Any caught ball is considered live and all runners are at risk. The bat is automatically confiscated and sent in for testing. We will give you a receipt for your bat. If you refuse to hand over your bat you are automatically assumed guilty and you may no longer play in any PSA tournaments.

PROTESTING A PSA BALL: The penalties for using an illegal ball in the same game shall be: 1st offense: warning to the offending team 2nd offense: Strike will be called on the batter (batter will be called out if this is the third strike). 3rd offense: Coach will be ejected from the game and possibility the tournament. It is up to the pitcher from the opposing team to make the plate umpire aware of an illegal ball. Once the pitch has been thrown, any ensuing action will be counted. The ball will be removed prior to the next pitch.

BAD CHECKS: Anyone submitting a bad check will be suspended until the matter is taken care of. Each member of the team will be individually liable for an equal portion of the debt and will be suspended until the debt is paid in full. A $35.00 bad check charge will be applied to all bad checks. Players may be released for the suspension list by paying a $50.00 fee. No Personal Checks will be accepted unless submitted atleast one week prior to tournament date.

ENTRY FEES: Must be paid prior to a team’s first game in a tournament. Teams must be registered to participate in a PSA event. Registration fee is a once a year $30 dollar fee (this includes everyone on your teams ID cards free 1 time)

RUN RULE: 20 after 3, 15 after 4, and 10 after 5 innings. Run spots can not be figured in to the score when calculating a run rule.

MEN’S HOMERUN RULE: TBA

HIT AND SIT HOMERUN RULE: Add Hit and Sit Rule: On any homerun or 4 base errors, the batter and all runners may return to the dugout without advancing to the next base.

PITCH COUNT: 3 BALLS AND 2 STRIKES (YOU MAY HIT A FOUL BALL ON 2RD STRIKE, AFTER THAT YOU MUST PUT IT IN PLAY). Pitchers may pump fake BUT you must throw a pitch within 5 seconds of first pump.

PITCH HEIGHT: 4 ft to 10ft from the ground.

MISCELLANEOUS PITCHING: You may juke, pump fake, but you only have 5 secs to release the ball from first move. You can pitch from the rubber to 6 ft behind the rubber AKA floating rubber.

SAFETY BAG: Runners shall use the orange safety bag if available on close force plays at first base. If a fielder or runner needs to use another part of the bag in order to avoid a collision or other safety reasons they may do so. Interference will be determined at the umpires discretion if necessary.

PROFANITY AND TAUNTING RULE: Any team using profanity, abusive language or taunting of umpires, directors, players or teams, may cause their team to receive one warning. Warnings are a courtesy, and players can be ejected without a warning. Any team member after being ejected, who continues to use profanity will be ejected from the tournament; this could lead to suspension from future PSA sanctioned events. When a player, coach, or anyone affiliated with a team is ejected, that individual should immediately leave the field and get out of sight and sound or the team risks forfeiture of the game. NOTE: Use of profane or abusive language or taunting will not be tolerated. Violation of this rule could result in suspension and/or disbarment. This rule will be enforced before, during, and after a tournament. Any player, coach or other team member physically abusing an Umpire or Tournament/League official will be suspended immediately. Bad language will not be tolerated. The F-word, GD, BI, MF, SOB, S word, BS word and the N will cause ejections from the game without any warning.

DESIGNATED HITTER: The Designated Hitter can hit for one player the whole game. If the defensive player leaves the game the DH leaves with him. The DH can’t come in the game as a defensive player.

DESIGNATED RUNNER: The designated runner may run for the same batter more than one time per inning. Example: If you lead off and the Designated Runner is used and the teams bats around and the original batter gets another hit the designated runner may be used again for this player only. The designated runner may not come in the game to play Defense or Offense.

OFFENSIVE BLOOD RULE: Blood rule to include: while on offense if a player has to leave because of the blood rule while on base, he/she must be replaced with the last batted out or if there or no outs recorded in that inning then the runner must be the closest batter behind him that is not on base.

DEFENSIVE BLOOD RULE: If a defensive player has to leave the game because of the blood rule than he/she must be replaced with an EP until that player can become legal. If a team is playing with 10 or less than sufficient time must be given to allow for the player to become legal. If decided he will not become legal in a reasonable time then that team must play with the short handed rule.

ALCOHOL: determined per park rules.

BALLS: Must use the official ball of the PSA.

BATS: You can use any USSSA or ISA approved bat. If the bat is on either banned bat list then you may not use it.

TOURNAMENT FORMAT: The tournament director may change the format at any time, due to curfew, time, weather, Lights, or acts of God, or any reason the director feels the change in format is needed, including one pitch, (5) innings, or coin flip.

RULES FOR ROUND ROBIN FORMAT: The following criteria will be used to determine bracket seeding in a round robin event
1)Win %
2)Head-to-Head Competition
3)Runs For
4)Runs Against
5)Coin flip

EQUALIZER RULE: If for some reason we need to combine Divisions there will be an UPPER and LOWER division. 3 run’s per homerun difference.

PSA TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR: The tournament director has the right to make the tournament an equalizer if needed.

GRACE PERIOD: First game of the day may get a 10 minute grace period only, unless tournament director has stated differently prior to the start of the tournament.

PLAYER EJECTIONS: Any players ejected from the first inning until the start of the fifth inning must sit out that game only. Players ejected starting with the 5th inning until the end of the game inning will sit out that game and the next game.
Note: Once the game is over, if a player continues to make issues, he may be ejected from the tournament.

LEAVING BENCH AREA: No player shall leave the bench area and cross the foul lines of the playing field. Failure to comply with this rule will result in an immediate ejection from the game.

PSA TEAM EJECTIONS: Teams ejected for any reason in a PSA tournament will receive no points.

PSA POINTS FOR MOVING UP IN CLASSIFICATION: Teams that get moved up by the Classification Board will get all of their points towards the PSA finals.

PSA POINTS FOR MOVING DOWN IN CLASSIFICATION: Any team moved down by the PSA Board will take ½ points down with them. Their roster is frozen, however you may add players from the same classification or lower if they aren’t on a qualified roster.

PSA FINALS: You can only get into the finals by playing in 6 of the 11 tournaments. Everyone that plays in the 6 tournaments makes it. Byes ARE determined by what place you are in at the end of the regular season. For instance, if enough teams qualify, the top seeds may have 2 or 3 round byes. Upper Teams must play in 5 of 11 to make the finals. Women’s teams must play in 4 of the 7 tournaments to qualify.

PSA POINTS: Points will come from the amount of teams in the bracket. Example- If there is 10 teams and all teams show up the order of finish will determine what points you will receive. 1st place would be 10 points and so forth. If there is a tie in the order of finish position both will receive the same amount of points. If the winning team is undefeated they will receive a maximum of 10 bonus points.

PSA FINAL TIE BREAKER: In case of a tie the following tie breaker will be used:
A. Most PSA Series tournaments played
B. Head to Head Record vs the other team.
C. Then Most runs scored.
D. Coin Flip!

PSA FINALS LOCATION: August 28th, 2010 – Dellinger Park – Cartersville

PSA FINALS ENTRY FEE: $150