General
- Teams competing in tournaments for 13U will be subject to a 7-inning or 1 hour and 45 minute-time limit.
- Teams competing in tournaments for 14U – 18U will be subject to a 7-inning or 2-hour time limit. (high school rules)
- Teams advancing to the championship rounds are based on seeding within the pool, and then against the field. (Example: If the top 8 teams advance from 4 pools, the #1 seeds will be seeded 1-4, and the #2 seeds will be ranked 5-8 for overall seeding. If the top 8 teams advance from 5 total pools, the pool winners will be seeded 1-5, and seedings 6-8 will be the next top teams unless specified differently.
- Run Rules: 12 runs after 3 innings of play – 10 runs after 4 innings of play – 8 runs after 5 innings of play. Pool play games can end in a tie with teams receiving half a win/loss. If the game is tied after 2 hours, the game will end in a tie. All bracket games must have a winner. (International rules will apply.) All other rules not listed here will follow NFHS guidelines.
Pre-Game Timing
- Teams should be prepared and ready to play 60 minutes before their scheduled game is set to begin unless they have a game on another field.
- Games completed early will result in early starts for the following games, weather permitting.
- There will be a 15-minute period in between games to allow crews time for field maintenance.
Infield
- Unless otherwise noted by a tournament director, no infield practice will be allowed prior to the start of any game.
- Teams will be permitted to take ground/fly balls down the outfield lines prior to the start of their game.
- NET Elite Tournaments use some of the top fields in the area, and we will abide by university/complex rules during our events.
- Please remind your players and coaches NOT to use the infield prior to the game. Some fields that have turf will allow you to hit baseballs in the infield.
Home/Visiting Team Designation
- Pool Play: Coaches will be subject to a coin flip prior to the start of each game to determine who is Home/Visitor.
- Championship Rounds: Teams advancing out of pool play will be seeded based on records. The higher seed will have the choice of being home/away.
- Seeding will be made available to all advancing coaches as soon as possible to prepare their team.
Home/Visiting Team Designation
- NET Elite Tournaments does NOT have a mandatory pitching limit on innings pitched.
- HOWEVER, please remember that you are responsible for these young men and the futures they may have.
- BE SMART!
In-Game Activities - EH & DH
- Teams will be allowed to use a DH and/or an EH during any given game.
- Teams must designate who each player is and for which player the DH will be hitting for in the field of play.
- Should teams enter the DH into the field of play, the DH position will be eliminated for the rest of the current game.
- The EH may also enter the field of play but MUST remain in their current batting position.
- The player for which the EH has replaced in the field will now become the EH but will remain in the same batting position.
- Each team can hit as many EH as they would like. (e.g.- EH, EH2, EH3, etc.)
In-Game Activities - General
- Courtesy Runner: Must be a player not currently in the game, or the player who made the last batted out should a team not have an extra player on the bench. (Only for pitchers and catchers.)
- Intentional Walks: Automatic intentional walk rule may be used.
- Pitching Visits: The second time a visit occurs in an inning with the same pitcher, he must be pulled. For example- bottom 5th, you come out and talk to your pitcher. Then, a batter later, if you come back out, you must pull your pitcher. Remember, the 3-1 move or fake to third are currently still legal in NFHS rules. The same applies to our events; they are LEGAL.
- Slide Rules: Players must try to avoid contact with all players during the game. NET Elite Tournaments will leave it to the umpire’s discretion if there was intent to cause harm during contact. Players using intent may be subject to ejection from the current game.
- Bat Restrictions: 13u is drop -5, and then 14-18u is BBCOR Only. If the event is wood, any wood bat is legal. COMPOSITE wood bats are legal during all wood bat tournament play!
- Tiebreakers: Overall Record, Head-To-Head (please see example below of how to apply head-to-head), Runs Allowed, Runs Scored, Run Difference, Coin Toss will be the order to determine tiebreakers.
Example of Head-to-Head: If 3 teams have the same record and one team has beaten the other two teams, they will hold the tiebreaker. IF a team has beaten one team but not the other, or they haven’t played the other team, head-to-head will be thrown out, and runs allowed will determine who holds the higher seed. For example- if 3 teams have the same overall record at 4-2, and all 3 of the teams played each other an equal number of times, and one team’s record against the other two was 2-0, and another was 1-1, and the other was 0-2, this tie breaker would order them accordingly. If all three teams had identical 1-1 records, this tiebreaker would not be used. It should be noted that this tiebreaker is completely ignored if all of the teams tied do not play each other an equal number of times. For example- if there are 3 teams tied, and one team played the other two, but the other two did not play each other, this tiebreaker will be ignored (regardless of the outcome of the two games played by the first team.)
Roster changes: Teams may change up their rosters until they start their first game. A player is eligible to compete in multiple divisions in the same tournament but cannot play on more than one team per division in which they are eligible. In order to be eligible for playoff participation, the athlete participating in two different divisions must have appeared in at least two pool play games for the team he wishes to compete for. Division of play can be determined by graduating class or age cut off. The age cut off will be May 1 of every year. For example, a 17-year-old sophomore is eligible to participate in 16U tournaments.
- Age Eligibility: A player’s age on May 1 of the season will dictate his age group for that season. A child’s grade may also be used for all age groups. A child may play one (1) year down in an age group if they are eligible for that grade, but they cannot play two (2) age groups down even if eligible for that grade.
- e.g.- A 9U child may play 8U if they are in 2nd grade but would not be allowed to play 7U even if in 1st grade. A player can always play up in age divisions.
- Tie Breaker: If after 7 innings in Championship Rounds (excluding the championship game), the two teams are still tied, the following tiebreaker rules will go into effect.
- The base runners will be placed as follows: Start a runner on second base (the last batted out)
- Forfeits: All games must be started with at least eight (8) players. A game can be finished with seven (7) players, but no less than (7). The player leaving the original lineup cannot return, and his spot in the hitting lineup will be recorded as an out. In the event of forfeiture, the score is recorded as 7-0. IF a player is injured and is taken out of the game and there is no one to replace him, he will be an out when he comes to the plate.
Rain Situations
- Rain can play a role in any tournament. If rain comes into play, we will try to play every game. If that is impossible, we will play as many games as possible, and play the most important games first.
- In case of rain: Time constraints will determine the status of all rain out games. It is solely the team’s responsibility to ensure they are aware of any scheduling changes. All information will be posted netelitesports.com under the tournament and weather page as soon as it becomes official.
- A complete game is 5 innings, or 4 ½ innings if the home team is winning. IF a game has been played over 1 hour and 15 minutes, NET Elite can call it a complete game if one team is winning by more than 6 runs.Suspended games will resume from the point of suspension as determined
by the director unless they are called a complete game.
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