Rulebook

Elite Baseball Official Rulebook

Rules for All Tournaments

All games will be played under Federation Rules
Game Balls for tournaments will be provided by Elite Baseball

Ejections

If a player or coach is ejected from a game, he will be asked to leave the field immediately and remain off site for the remainder of the game. The coach or player will also be suspended for the following scheduled game. (If a team has 9 players and a player is ejected, the team may still play with 8 but will surrender an out when they reach the ejected players spot in the lineup.

IMMEDIATE EJECTION OF ANY COACH CAUGHT VIDEOING THE OPPOSING TEAM DURING THE GAME. THIS WILL FOLLOW WITH A 2 GAME SUSPENSION FOR THE COACH CAUGHT VIDEOING THE OPPOSING TEAM. WE WANT A FAIR AND EVEN PLAYING FIELD FOR ALL OF OUR PARTICIPATING TEAMS. PLEASE USE GOOD SPORTSMANSHIP. THIS IS A ZERO TOLERANCE RULE. NO WARNINGS WILL BE GIVEN.

Home/Away

Decided by coin flip before game (In Championship Rd for tournament games higher seed is Home)

Pre-Game

There will be no infield/outfield taken by either team prior to the start of the game for all levels. Ground balls and fly balls may be taken down the left field or right field lines.

Arrival

Please be sure to arrive at your appropriate field 30-45 minutes prior to the scheduled game time. In some instances, games may be started a few minutes early depending on the previous games.

Special Requests

All special requests will need to be made 3 weeks prior to the start of the tournament. We will try our best to accommodate any requests that coaches may have but there will be no guarantees.

Cancellation Policy

If a team backs out 30+ days before the tournament they get a credit for another Elite Baseball Tournament. The credit will be valid for 12 months from the date of the intended tournament. If the team backs out within 30 days of the event there is NO refund.

No refunds will be issued at any time after payments are made. Credits may not be transferred to another organization and any credit must be used within 1 year. ABSOLUTELY NO EXCEPTIONS TO THIS POLICY. Teams who are on the waiting list for a tournament will be contacted as soon as a slot has opened. 

Should an event be cancelled by Elite Baseball for any reason other than weather, an act of God, government mandate, or cancellation taking place due to team withdrawal prior to the start of the tournament, teams will receive a full refund of the total tournament entrance fee.

Inclement Weather Policy

If weather causes an event to be completely canceled having played no games all teams will receive a full credit for a future event to take place within a full calendar year from the end of the canceled events date.

Should just one game be played before an event is canceled, due to weather, a credit will be issued for 50% of the value the participating team paid to play in the event.

There will be no refunds or credits after the start of each teams’ second game.

*We do not control the weather and we will try everything we can to makes games up. This may mean games will get rescheduled and we may have to change the time limits (we will never go below 1 hour 30 min time limit) or format of the tournament to accommodate as many teams and games as possible*

17u/18u Showcase Tournament Rules

Showcase Format- Update-  August 1, 2022

Games will be 7 innings each inning will be 3 outs or 5 batters whichever comes first.  This will allow teams to play more innings and showcase their players to college coaches. College Coaches will umpire the games.

There is NO mercy rule in SHOWCASE TOURNAMENTS

Lineups have to have at least 9 batters, but there is no limit to how many they can bat as long as that number stays consistent throughout the entire game.

Pitchers and catchers may have a courtesy runner at any time. Courtesy runner can be anyone. BBCOR Bats must be used at all showcase tournaments

Time Limit
7 inning games: No new inning after 1 hour 50 min, drop dead 2 hours
9 inning games: No new inning after 2 hour 20 min, drop dead 2 hours 30 min

10u-12u Tournaments

Time Limit

Each game will be 6 innings or 1 hour and 50min. No new inning will start after 1 hour 50 minute except for the championship game. Any inning started prior to the 1 hour and 50 minute time mark will have to be completed for tie- breaker purposes. Mercy Rules- 15 runs after 3rd inning , 10 runs after 4 innings, 8 runs after 5 innings.

Field Dimensions

Teams-10U will compete on 46′-60′ dimensions. Rubber Cleats. 

Teams -12U will compete on 50′ – 70′ dimensions. Rubber Cleats.

Base on Balls – 10U – There will be no advancing to second after a base on balls. Once the batter reaches first the play is dead until pitcher addresses the rubber for next pitch. All base-runners will be allowed to advance up to 1 base.

Leads/ Stealing –10U– Closed Bases (No Leads). Base-runner can steal when the pitch crosses Home Plate.

Drop 3rd Strike –10U – If the catcher drops the 3rd Strike the batter is out and any baserunner can attempt to advance to the next base.

Balks: 10u no balks. 12u one warning per pitcher. 

Bat Restrictions: 10u-12u: Any bat with USA or 1.15 BPF Certification.

13u-16u Tournaments

(For 10u-12u tournaments we will email the rules directly to the participating coaches)

Time Limit

Each game will not be allowed to start a new inning after 1 hour 50 minute except for the championship game. Any inning started prior to the 1 hour and 50 minute time mark will have to be completed for tie- breaker purposes.

Field Dimensions

60ft 6in 90ft

Bat Restrictions

13u- no restrictions
14u-16u BBCOR -3, unless otherwise noted as a wood bat tournament

Mercy Rule

15 runs after 3 innings, 10 runs after 4 innings, and 8 runs after 5 innings for all games. The home team will not bat if ahead by mercy rule. The home team will bat if the visiting team goes ahead in the top of the mercy inning.

Tie Breakers

1. Head to Head
2. Runs allowed
3. Runs differential

Pool play games are allowed to end in a tie. Regardless of time, if a game ends after 7 innings in a tie no new inning will start. If there is a tie at the end of time or 7 innings in a championship round game, we will go to the international tie breaker where the last recorded out will start the inning at 2nd base with 1 out.

Championship/ Consolation Rd

We usually have the top half of the teams in each tournament play in a championship round to determine a winner and the bottom half teams play one consolation game. For example, in a 12 team tournament 6 teams make the championship round and 6 teams will play a single consolation game. Due to field availability and weather concerns those scenarios can change and we may have more or less teams in the championship round. When we put the schedule for the tournament out, we will make all the participating teams aware of how many teams will make the championship round so they can plan accordingly.

Official Roster

Rosters are subject to change from tournament to tournament. After the start a tournament, teams may add a player to their roster provided that they are of age. A team may not add a player from another team in the same tournament. Teams may not add any players to their roster once pool play has been completed.

Age Restriction

To determine the correct age for a player, we will use the player’s age on April 30th of that year.

ALL age groups will move up to their next age level starting September 1st of the calendar year. For example, If a team played 9u in spring/summer they would move up to 10u in the fall.

Lineups

Coaches may bat 9 players, their whole lineup, or anywhere in between. Once a coach has determined their batting lineup, it must remain the same for the entire game. (For example: If a coach bats 10 players, the game must end with 10 players in the batting lineup). The only instance in which a coach can change the number of batters in the lineup without making that spot an automatic out is if the team is batting the entire lineup and a player has to leave the game due to injury. We encourage teams to play their players as much as possible and do not want to penalize a team for playing their entire team and then have to deal with one of their players getting hurt.

Coaches may play whomever they want defensively.  A player may be playing in the field defensively, but not be in the lineup.  This is to encourage more opportunities for players to be on the field.

Re-Entry

You will be allowed to re-enter the starter into the same spot in the lineup but will not be able to re- enter a substitute.

Pitching Restrictions

We do not have formal pitching regulations but do encourage coaches to use their best judgment when deciding how many pitches/innings a pitcher should throw during a weekend.

Courtesy Runners

Courtesy runners will be allowed for Pitchers and Catchers only at any point. A player not in the lineup must be used if available. If a team is batting everyone, then the last batted out will be used.

Balks

There will be no warnings issued.

Protests

The protesting coach or manager must inform the umpire of the protest before the next pitch or play begins. At that time, a $100 cash fee will need to be presented. If the protest is granted, the $100 fee will be returned. If it is not granted the $100 fee will be forfeited. The tournament director’s word is final.