LOCAL RULES – T-BALL DIVISION – 2007-08

T-Ball is the beginning level of play.  Basic skills for hitting and throwing are taught.  Teamwork and sportsmanship are also emphasized.

A resolution by the Board of Directors of Davis Little League:  The primary function of the league is to be one of training and preparation of Little Leaguers in the mechanics, skills, knowledge, and sportsmanship of baseball.

Therefore, Davis Little League resolves that team managers should provide for an "adequate number" of team practices during the course of a season. An "adequate number" is defined as an average minimum of three (3) "contacts" (games and practices) per week or a minimum of thirty (30) practices/games during the course of a season (which includes the pre-season period).

GAME TIMES:
All games are limited three innings. A game may start a third inning if managers agree after the end of two innings.

THE VISITING TEAM:

THE HOME TEAM:

1. Listed second on the schedule.
2. Sits on the first base side behind the set-back line placed at about five feet from the first base line.

THOSE PERMITTED ON FIELD:
Players, coaches, and parents of the fielding team placed next to their players to provide protection in the case of hard hit balls.

 UMPIRES:

1. There are no umpires for T-ball.  Each manager or coach is responsible for calling foul balls and setting up the ball on the tee or pitching.
2. The base umpire makes calls at 1st and 2nd base and keeps track of runner’s positions at the conclusion of each play.

PLAYING TIME:

1. Players bat through the line-up at each at-bat.
2. All players take the field when their team is in the field.

 GAME RULES:

1. A foul ball is any normal foul ball, as well as a ball hit less than 10 feet. There should be a 10-foot arc, which marks this distance.
2. Managers or coaches may pitch only during or after the 6th game of the season regardless if players can hit a coach pitch or not. When manager/coach-pitching is allowed, a batter is given no more than 3 pitches to hit before hitting off the tee.  The tee must be brought in immediately if a player has missed 3 coach pitches.

SPORTSMANSHIP:
DLL has adopted the Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA) program for purposes of training and certifying managers, coaches, umpires, etc.  The PCA principles of Honoring the Game are to be modeled by all those involved in DLL.

1. A player may lose his/her privilege to play in one or more future games for disciplinary reasons provided that the Director of Baseball approves such action in advance. Before such action is taken, every effort should be made to resolve the problem by talking with the parents, Director of Baseball, etc.
2. Poor sportsmanship (by managers, coaches, players, or spectators) can result in ejection from the game and/or removal from the park. Examples of poor sportsmanship include: throwing equipment, using illegal equipment, bad language, opposing players or spectators.

Miscellaneous other stuff to know:
T-Ball fields will be marked - North, Center, and South.
Notes:

• There will be a 10-foot arc out from home plate. Balls hit within this line are to be called foul by the batting team's coach and the batter gets to keep trying until the ball is hit fair.
• There are two lines set back from the first and third base lines which mark the safety line that waiting batters need to sit behind. You should get a parent to supervise this area and keep kids sitting. There is to be no swinging of bats by anyone except the batter. Look out for siblings taking warm-up swings too.
• Only the home-first and third-home base lines are painted. There's no line from first to second or second to third, with big arrows saying, "run this way". They still may need some guidance. You will observe about every base running error possible in just one game, including running from home to third, overtaking the runner in front (during the last batter scenario), and running from third to the sit-down line.

Please continue to bring your bases and the tee to the games. There will be a white base square drawn in paint, but that just marks where you put your base.

SAFETY NOTE #1:
If you have players who you believe might not be able to react quickly enough to a hard hit and get their glove on the ball or duck in time, either put them in the outfield, or place a parent near them in the infield to provide a last-resort opportunity to knock a hit ball down that is headed toward a player's face or chest. Most baseball deaths actually occur due to the ball hitting the chest and stopping the heart.

SAFETY NOTE #2:
No team should be pitching a ball to players until at least the sixth game. Managers can begin tossing a ball to players only starting the sixth game, and even then, a manager can opt to keep it tee-only or to provide a tee for certain players who can't yet make contact. There are plenty of kids who are ready to hit a pitched ball now. That's great and we're all proud of them, but that's not the point to this rule. Safety and Newton's third law of physics is the rule, and the hit ball is going to be coming off the bat much faster on a pitched ball than one hit off a tee. For many players in the field, this difference in ball speed presents a considerable safety issue at any time of the season, but for at least the first five games, holding down the speed of the hit balls allows players a margin of safety to start to learn how to make a play on a hit ball.

SAFETY NOTE #3:
If you have a batter with high bat speed, who could pretty well knock a ball at a speed that would put infield players at danger, then alert the opposing manager with the not-so-subtle "big hitter" or “bat speed” and the opposing manager should either move back the players that wouldn't be able to safely play the ball, or place parents near them.

Outs and last batter:
Players are not called out even if a play is actually made to put them out.  At this age, they do little running as it is in the game, so let them all run the bases.
Also, the last batter is allowed to get a home run, so all players on base keep running after the last batter has hit. It's customary for the batting team's manager to yell "last batter" so that the outfield team knows that there is about to be a homerun.

SCORES:
With 10 players on a team, if anyone was actually keeping score (which gets old after a while), all games should end in a score of 20 to 20 or 30 to 30, thus there is no need to keep score or report these scores to the Davis Enterprise.

LENGTH OF THE GAME:
It is customary to play two full innings, then gauge the time after completion of the second inning. If the game has gone on less than 45 minutes, both managers meet, scratch their chins, look at the setting sun and the amount of distraction in their players' eyes, and make a decision as to whether to play a third full inning. If you are hearing a lot of "I want treats now" or "Can we go to Rainbow City instead of playing in the outfield", then you may want to call the game after two innings. If you hear that from the parents, then it's an even bigger clue.

Exact location of fields:
Community Park – directly south of the Art Center and East of Rainbow City.  They will be marked with paint, but for those of you with a GPS, here are the locations of the home plates for the T-ball fields, accurate to within 10 yards:
Waypoint TBALL N N38 33.566 W121 44.729
Waypoint TBALL C N38 33.544 W121 44.726
Waypoint TBALL S N38 33.529 W121 44.712