T-Ball and Coach Pitch Division Local Rules

These local rules are designed to make the sport of baseball fun for our T-Ball and Coach Pitch  players. Please follow them faithfully. The Board of Directors is asking the parents who serve as volunteer umpires in these games to take the leading role in enforcing these rules. Please also review the League Wide Rules. These are designed to help maintain the condition of our playing fields, to help ensure everyone's safety, and to supplement the League's "Good Neighbor" Policy. Enforcing these general rules, at games and practices, is everybody’s responsibility.

Goals & Logistics

• The T-Ball and Coach Pitch divisions are non-competitive; no score will be kept.
• Head coaches will have some latitude with respect to games scheduling. Games can be moved, re-scheduled, or cancelled with the agreement of the other coach and the Commissioner of your division, pending field availability. Rainouts will be called on a hierarchical system in the following order: Head Groundskeeper or a representative thereof, Boys Baseball Committee Chairperson, Division Commissioner, or a representative from the Home Team. If for some reason one of these individuals in unavailable or time is of the essence, responsibility will fall to the next member of the chain. All coaches and players should assume the game will play unless notified.
• Keep a copy of each player’s registration/medical form with you at all times (practices and games).
• T- Ball and Coach Pitch use a diamond approximately 50-feet in length. The pitching mound should be approximately 35 feet from home plate. Home team sets up the field and returns the bases and pitching machine after the game.
• A manual pitching machine, provided by SYA, will be used during game play at all times in the Coach Pitch divisions – no exceptions.*
• The batting team is responsible for monitoring the home plate area to ensure kids are swinging the bat safely. The home plate monitor should be an adult. Teach the kids not to throw the bats: correcting this tendency early makes a world of difference when the kids are older.
• Coaches are encouraged to work in the infield & outfield as base coaches and to help direct play. A maximum of 2 coaches per team (excluding the pitcher and home plate monitor) will be allowed on the playing field at any given time.
• Helmets will be worn at all times on the base paths.
• Kids must have a helmet on their head before being handed a bat. When a team is batting, only one player may be outside the dugout area; there is no “on-deck” batter.
• The home team is responsible for providing the umpire for the game. Any parent or coach should be sufficient.

Coach Pitch Division Game Rules

• Game Duration
  • T-Ball - Each game shall consist of 3 innings, or 60 minutes, whichever comes first. The last player up in a half-inning hits a “home run”. The team in the field should wait for the last batter (during his home run sprint) to touch home plate before exiting the field.
  • Coach Pitch - Each game shall consist of 4 innings, or 90 minutes, whichever comes first. A half-inning is complete once three outs have been recorded or when everyone on a team has batted once. Once the final play has come to its natural conclusion, the defensive team will exit the field.
• You can have a maximum of  10 players in the field per ½ inning. Rotate all players to all positions during the course of a season.
• All players are eligible to bat in a ½ inning, whether they are playing in the field that inning or not.
  • T-Ball bats through the entire batting order every ½ inning.
  • Coach Pitch bats through the entire order, or until 3 outs have been recorded.
• The batting order should be rotated throughout the season so that each player bats in the first, middle, and bottom third of the order approximately the same number of times. This is not only “fair” but it also provides the kids with a better learning experience.
  • Many coaches will arrange the batting order by jersey number, and follow the rotation in that manner. Player # 1 bats first for the first game, player # 2 bats first for the second game, player #3 bats first for the third game, and so on. Once a player has batted in the first position, they should move to the back of the order.
• Any hit ball traveling less than 5 feet in front of the plate is considered foul. This is a safety consideration to avoid collisions at the plate. No bunting.
• A player may take as many bases as possible on a ball hit into the outfield. When the ball is retrieved and thrown into the infield, all runners should stop at the base they are standing on or the base they are running towards.
• No extra bases on overthrows to any base.
• There is no stealing of bases. No sliding is allowed.
• The first time a player throws a bat, there will be a warning.  The second time in the same game that the same player throws a bat, that player will be called out.
• Coach Pitch Divisions Only:
  • Outs are recorded, and if a batter or runner is out via a put out, a force out, or a caught fly ball, the batter/runner is retired. This reinforces the defensive concept of trying to get base runners out and keeps the defense interested in the game. Put outs from a runner failing to tag up on a caught fly ball are not called – the runner returns to their original base without penalty.
  • Each player is allowed three swinging strikes. Only swinging strikes count - There are no called balls and strikes. If the player hits the ball foul on the third swinging strike, they will be allowed to try and hit the ball into play on another pitched ball until they swing and miss for a third time.
  • Coach Pitch 1 only: If, after three swinging strikes, the player fails to hit a fair ball, then that player may hit off a tee. The player is allowed only one swing from the tee. If they miss, or hit the ball into foul territory, they are out. The home plate monitor from the team at bat is responsible for setting the tee, and then removing the tee immediately following the swing.

* = Should, for some reason, a pitching machine be unavailable at game time, each team may choose one of their coaches to pitch for their team while at bat. The pitcher should pitch overhand to the batters.  Coaches are encouraged to pitch from one knee so that the players face pitching from the same level as the pitching machine or a pitcher their own age.