Swansea Little League

LOCAL RULES

The objective of Swansea Little League shall be to implant firmly in the children of the community the ideals of good sportsmanship, honesty, loyalty, courage and respect for authority, so that they may be well-adjusted, stronger and happier children and will grow to be good, decent, healthy, and trustworthy citizens.  To achieve this objective, Swansea Little will provide a supervised program under the Official Regulations and Playing Rules of Little League Baseball, Incorporated (“Little League Baseball”).  All Directors, Officers, and Members shall bear in mind that the attainment of exceptional athletic skill or the winning of games is secondary, and the molding of future citizens is of prime importance.  The Official Regulations and Playing Rules and the Little League Baseball Operating Manual, as published by Little League Baseball, shall be binding on Swansea Little League. 

This document sets forth the local rules and regulations for Swansea Little League, which are meant to augment and complement the Official Regulations and Playing Rules and Regulations of Little League Baseball.

Please read and familiarize yourself with the local rules and regulations of Swansea Little League below, and the rules and regulations of Little League Baseball. 

1.00      League Organization

The Swansea Little League is organized under the Constitution and By-Laws accepted by the League.  Elections of officers are held during the Annual Meeting at the conclusion of each season held in October. 

1.01      Contact information for League Officers is available on the web-site www.swansealittleleague.org.  If you have a disagreement with your Childs coach about playing time, the line-up, or another issue, your first step should be to address this issue with your child’s coach in a polite manner at an appropriate time. If the coach’s response is unsatisfactory, your next step should be to contact the Division Director. If that step is not satisfactory you may contact the League President who may bring the issue to the Board of Directors. 

2.00    Managers, Coaches Umpires and Volunteers

2.01 All League volunteers, managers, coaches, directors, adult umpires, concession workers score keepers and others must complete a volunteer application and submit to a CORI (Criminal Offender Record Information) check.  The Swansea Little League CORI Policy is attached. 

2.02 Managers.  All prospective managers must submit a notice of intent to the League President to be considered.  The president will appoint team managers as soon as practical. 

2.03 Coaches.  Managers may chose coaches to assist them during the regular season.  They must be from the approved CORI list.  Each team may consist of one manager and two rostered coaches.  The manager and 2 coaches shall have voting rights at all league meetings.  The Manager of any team may have as many CORI checked coaches as he wishes, only 2 will be voting members and their presence on-field or in the dugout shall be in compliance with Little League Rules. 

2.04 Umpires.  The umpire-in-chief will submit a list of all prospective umpires to the League President before the start of the regular season.  The President will appoint umpires prior to opening day.

3.00 Player Eligibility and Boundaries

           3.01 Residence.  Children who reside within the Swansea Little League boundaries (Towns of Swansea and Somerset) approved by Little League baseball shall be eligible to play.  Residence shall be established and supported by documents, dated or in force between February 1 of the previous year and February 1 of the current year with documents outlined in the Little League Baseball Official Regulations and Playing rules.

3.02 Age.  Children age four (4) to sixteen (16) by April 30 of the current year shall be eligible to play.  Age shall be established by a copy of the child’s birth certificate or by other means approved by Little League Baseball.

4.00 Player Registration

The League will open player registrations in January of each year for the upcoming season. On-line registration and walk-in dates will be scheduled.  Players registered before a set dead line will be provided with Raffle Tickets that they may sell to defray the cost of registration.  The raffle drawing shall be on or about Memorial Day. The current registration cost is $90 per player or a maximum of $135 per family.  NO PLAYER will be denied the opportunity to play for Swansea Little League based on their inability to pay the registration fee. 

4.01 Late Registration

The Swansea Little League will make every attempt to place players who register late on a team.  This is subject to available roster slots on the appropriate teams.  If there are no available roster positions those prospective players will be placed on a waiting list and called upon should a position open.  Players registering after the closing date will be charged a $10 late fee. 

4.02 Registration Refunds

If a registrant requests a refund of registration fees in writing prior to the player draft or assignment to a team they will receive a refund less a 5% service fee.

If a registrant requests a refund of registration fees in writing after the player draft or assignment to a team they will receive a refund of the registration fees less a 10% service fee, except in the case of a documented injury that precludes play. Then they will receive a 100% refund of the registration fee.

No request for refund will be honored after opening day except in the case of a documented injury, and then the refund will decided on a case-by-case basis.

5.00 Divisions of Play.  Divisions of play are defined by Little League rules.  The alignment of Divisions is largely dependent on the number of players registered in particular age groups.  Minor last minute changes in alignment may occur depending on the total number of players in each age group. 

Current Divisions are organized as follows:

5.01 “Playing Up”

Parents often request that their child be allowed to play in an older aged division.  Some exceptions are made during the season to allow children to do so with some limitations.

                        1.  ALL 4 and 5 year olds MUST play in the T-Ball Division.

                        2.  ALL 12 year olds MUST play in the Majors Division

Once the teams are drafted, and there are available openings on teams, consideration will be given to allow younger players to play in older divisions based on ability.  No child will be placed in an older division without parental consent. 

6.00 Assignment of Players

6.01 The T-Ball and Instructional Division randomly assign players to teams.  The League will attempt to accommodate special requests for teams or coaches in these divisions.  These requests should be forwarded to the Division Director.

6.02 Farm, Majors, Junior and Senior Divisions are organized under the “Draft” method.  Only the child of the Manager and one coach shall be placed on these teams prior to the draft.  All other player assignments will be subject to the player draft. 

6.03 The only other exception is for siblings.  The coach drafting a sibling has an option on the other.  If parents wish their sibling children to play on the same team they should inform the Division Director prior to the draft.

6.01 Tryouts

Tryouts will be held to evaluate player ability.  Each team manager will use a scoring system approved by the Division Director.  Managers and Coaches children will also be required to try out for purposes of ranking players in draft order.  In the event that a player is unable to attend the try out the Division Director and Division Managers will rank the player if any or all of them are familiar with his ability.  In the event that they are unfamiliar with the players ability an alternate try out may be scheduled prior to the player draft.  

6.02 Draft

Farm Division and Major Division teams will be re-drafted each year. 

Each team manager may name ONE assistant coach prior to the draft.  If so named, the child player of the assistant coach may be placed on the team. The manager’s child and coach’s child shall be placed in the draft order according to the average of their ranking of all managers.

The order of the selection by the managers shall be determined on the day of the draft by lot. The selection of players by managers shall be in a serpentine fashion (alternating from first to last, then last to first, in each succeeding round). However, in the final round of the draft, if there are fewer players remaining than teams drafting, selection shall begin with the team whose first round draft number corresponds with the number of players remaining and proceed to the team or teams with the next highest draft number in the first round (e.g., if three players remain in the final round, the team with the third draft in the first round shall pick first; the team with the second draft in the first round shall pick second; and the team with the first draft in the first round shall pick third).

When applicable new players to the League signing up after the draft shall be placed on teams at the discretion of the player agent/Division Director with approval of the league President. 

6.03 Trading

Following the draft, managers may, if they desire, trade players until 14 days after the first scheduled game.  All trades shall be made through and with the approval of the Division Director.  The following restrictions also apply.

1.     Farm Divisions players MAY NOT be traded for Major Division Players

2.    All trades must be player for player only. (Example: Two players from Team A could not be traded for one player on Team B.

3.    Trades involving a player for draft choices are NOT permitted. 

7.00 Equipment

Swansea Little League provides required headgear (batting helmets, catcher headgear), protective catcher equipment, baseballs, caps, shirts and socks.  Players provide baseball pants and the following:

Practice Gear   

Most coaches prefer that players wear baseball pants during practice

Gloves:  

If you are not familiar with sizing a baseball glove, you should go to a local merchant for help. For younger players, try to find the largest glove the child can close and open. It helps if gloves are a little bit floppy for the younger players. Gloves that appear proportionate to the player are almost never large enough. Remember, the ball is regulation in size. This is hard to catch with a small glove.

Bats       

For players12 and under, bats MUST be approved for Little League play. Note that some Composite bats are not allowed in Little League.  Refer to the Little League Web Site for a full list of approved bats. Seek the help of a local merchant in sizing a bat. You should never buy a bat without sizing it for your player. Bats with a barrel larger than 2 1/4" may not be used.

Cleats    

Little League (age 12 and below) DOES NOT allow the use of steel cleats.

Batting Helmet

Swansea Little League does provide batting helmets for requisite safety. However, we encourage players to provide their own helmet. 

8.00 Games and Practices

8.01   All games and practices are played and conducted at the Swansea Little League Complex located between Rt. 6 and Milford Rd. in Swansea, MA.   

o   Games are played Monday thru Friday at 5:30 and Saturdays as scheduled.

o   Practice slots will be assigned to all teams the day of the draft.   

o   Once the season begins practices are typically held on Saturday and Sunday.

o   Game cancellations due to weather or field conditions will be sent via League wide e-mail and posted on the League’s web site and Social Media sites at least 1 hour prior to game time.

8.01 Curfew.  From Opening day to May 31 no new inning shall begin after 7:20 pm.  From June 1 to the end of the season no new inning will begin after 7:45 pm.

8.02 Make-up Games.

Cancelled or postponed games will be made up during the Home teams scheduled practice slot.  If this is not possible it should be made up during the visitors practice slot or during a time agreed upon by both Managers.  In any event the game should be made up as soon as possible. 

8.03 Regular Season

The regular season in the Tball and Instructional Division shall consist of at least 16 games.

The regular season in the Farm, Major and Junior/Senior Division shall consist of at least 18 games

8.04 Conferring with Umpires

It is the goal of the league and of Little League Baseball to develop sportsmanship and encourage respect for authority in general and for umpires in particular.  All managers, coaches, parents and players are encouraged to read Rules 9.01 through 9.06 of Little League Baseball’s Official Regulations and Playing Rules.  Only the manager may confer with an umpire.  A coach may never confer with an umpire or dispute a call.  No adult may dispute an umpire’s call from the dugout.  The manager may only question an umpire as to a rules interpretation, not a judgment call, and may only do so after time is called and the manager approaches the umpire.  Managers and coaches shall refrain from making any statement or sound, or taking any action, which may influence a call (e.g. saying “Nice pitch” before the umpire has called a ball or strike; a base coach signaling “safe’ before the umpire has made a call, etc.)  No manager or coach shall be demonstrative towards an umpire (with exception of purely positive interaction).  Any violation of these policies may result in ejection.  When a manager, coach or player is ejected from a game, he or she shall leave the field immediately and take no further part in the game.  The ejected person may not sit in the stands and may not be recalled.  Any manager, coach, or player ejected from a game is suspended for his or her team’s next physically played game. 

No adult shall raise his or her voice with a youth umpire or pressure a youth umpire to make a particular call.  Adults must remember at all times that youth umpires are learning, and that mistakes may occur.  Managers and coaches shall not allow their players or parents to question an umpire.  Managers or coaches must not imply to their players a game was won or lost as a result of a single call.  Part of teaching sportsmanship is to teach players to respect the umpires and to teach them that calls sometimes do not go their way.

8.04 Play Offs

Farm and Major Divisions will conduct play offs at the conclusions of the 18 game regular season.  ALL teams will advance to the play offs using a single elimination model with final championship game or best of three game Championship series.

8.03 Inter-League Play                                            

The League may from time to time enter into inter-league play with other Leagues in the District.  The manner of play, rules and schedules shall be decided upon by mutual agreement between the Leagues involved and with the approval of the District Administrator.

8.04 Post Season Play

The Swansea Little League may from time to time offer Post Season play to its players.  This may be in the form of Summer Ball/Fall Ball/Pickup games/Inter-League or player Clinics.  Additional cost may be charged to players for this type of post season play. 

9.00 Division Rules

Each Division of play will have local ground rules regulating game play.  They should be reviewed and amended or modified as necessary before the beginning of the season by the Board of Directors. These rules are attached to this document. 

9.01 Continuous Batting Order.  All Divisions of play will use the continuous batting order as described in the Little League Rules 4.04

            9.02    T-Ball Division Rules

            9.03    Instructional Division Rules

            9.04    Farm Division Rules

            9.05    Major Division Rules

            9.06    Junior Division Rules

            9.07    Senior Division Rules (If separate from Junior Divison)

            9.08    Challenger Division Rules

            NOTE:  Division rules are attached and posted on the League web site.

10.00 All-Stars

District All-Star Teams are selected for age groups 9 thru 12.  The method of selecting All-Star Players is approved by the Board of Directors.  Some managers may chose to participate in non-Little League tournament play.  These teams are not in any way associated with the Swansea Little League, particularly with respect to player and manager selection.  They must also purchase their own uniforms and are required to carry their own Medical and Liability Insurance. 

The Swansea Little League All-star selection process will include an open tryout with input provided by all of the division coaches but the league appointed all-star manager shall have the final authority for selection of tournament team players.

11.00 Field Rules

·      Field Preparation/Maintenance

o   The home team will be responsible for dragging, raking mound and plate and lining the field prior to the start of each game.

o   The home team shall occupy the first base dugout.

o   Both teams must clean the field and dugouts after every game.

o   Smoking IS NOT allowed in the park during Little League events.  Please be respectful to players and parents. 

o   For the safety of all NO pets are allowed in the park during little league events.

12.00 Concession Stand

Our concession stand is staffed by volunteers.  We kindly ask that parents of players assigned to games on Field 2 volunteer at the concession stand during each game. 

Local rules accepted: Date: ____________________________________

President: ____________________________________________

Vice President: ________________________________________