Metro Schools Baseball & Softball League
2007 – 2008

GROUND RULES FOR PONY AND PALOMINO GIRLS DIVISION

Venue: Games may be held at the Ateneo De Manila University, Sto Nino Marikina, De La Salle Lipa and the Alabang Country Club.
Games may be moved to other venues from time to time. All teams involved will be notified ahead of time.

Official Balls: GS Pony Girls - 12” leather optic Softballs
.....................Palomino Girls -12” leather optic Softballs

TOURNAMENT FORMAT

GS Pony Girls Division: Double round robin regular season;
Three game playoff (1v4, 2v3; W1vL2, W2vL1; WvW, LvL)

HS Palomino Girls Division: Single Round Robin regular season:
Top 4 teams go to the Playoffs (1v4, 2v3; WvW, LvL)

NOTE: If any team sweeps their respective division, they will have a twice to beat advantage in the first game of the Playoffs.
Teams will have to play a double header should a second game be necessary.

Players: There shall be a minimum of 9 players in the line-up. Only players with complete documents will be allowed to play.
Teams are allowed to change players during the season for academic reasons and as long as they submit all the required
documents to the commissioner prior to the player in questions being fielded in the tournament. Teams with players found
to have been ineligible to play but who have played in any number of games will result in the forfeiture of the game the
player competed in.

Uniforms: All players must have a common shaded shirt and should have numbers on their playing uniforms that can be easily
identified by the officials.

Pitching Rules: A pitcher is only allowed to pitch a maximum of 3 innings in GS Pony Girls and 4 innings in HS Palomino Girls.
Pitchers taken off the mound but moved to another position on the field may return to pitch only if she has not exceeded her limit.
Pitchers who are taken off the field and substituted by another player may return to play only in another position provided the
player is one of the 1st 9 players fielded at the start of the game. The re-entry rule applies to all 1st 9 players fielded at the
start of the game provided that they take up the same position in the batting order. There is no limit to the number of hit by pitch
allowed a pitcher.

Batting & Runs Rule: 7 runs per inning limit will be followed except in the last inning of a game where no limit on runs
will be applied.

10-run rule will be applied as follows:

GS Pony Girls division: after 3 ½ or 4 innings if visitor team is ahead.
HS Palomino Girls Division: after 4 ½ or 5 innings if visitor team is ahead.

Base Stealing: Stealing will be permitted upon the release of the ball by the pitcher.

Regulation Game: A game is considered a complete game after 4 innings in the GS Pony Girls Division and 5 innings in the
HS Palomino Division. However, if a game is stopped due to unforeseen reasons before the end of the said innings, the game
shall be continued from where it was stopped. Should a game be stopped before the end of the 1st inning, then the game
will be replayed at a later date. The rescheduling of such a game shall be determined by the technical committee.

Game Time Limit: In the Elimination round (regular season) there shall be a 2 hour time limit/game. However, any inning that falls
within the last 20 minutes of the regulation game time will be considered the inning before the last inning of the game.

In such a case, rules pertaining to the last inning shall apply in the declared last inning. The scorekeeper shall be the person
responsible for announcing the time through the plate umpire. In the Playoffs, there will be no time limit imposed. Games will be
played to the maximum 6 innings for GS Pony Girls and 7 innings for HS Palomino Girls. The 10 Run Rule will be applied in all
playoff games.

Tie-breakers: During the elimination round, teams tied after the regulation game will be given 1 extra inning to break the tie.
However, if a game is still tied upon reaching the time limit, and an extra inning was already given to break the tie, the game
will be considered a draw and the corresponding point will be given both teams. As for the play off games, should a game be
tied after the last inning, extra innings will be awarded until a winner is determined.

Point System: A Win is 3 points, Draw is 2 points, Loss is 1 point and Default/Forfeit is 0 points. If there are any ties in the
team standing at the end of the regular season, the following metrics will be used to break a tie (by order of importance until
the tie is broken), head to head, least runs allowed, runs scored between teams involved, and if still tied, the last resort is a
toss coin.

Game Postponement: If an agreed schedule is postponed by the organizers, the particular game shall be rescheduled at a time
agreeable to the affected parties. However, if a particular team requests a postponement of an agreed scheduled game for whatever reason, the team should inform the commissioner in writing (state the reason for the request) not later than 12 noon of the Wednesday before the weekend game. If the commissioner deems the reason for the request to be a valid reason, the commissioner will seek the approval of the concerned opponent and reschedule their game at a date, time and place not in conflict with the leagues own schedule.
The party requesting the postponement of the game will shoulder the expenses such as venue fees, umpires & scorer’s allowances and other expenses of that particular game. Payment is to be made to the league president/treasurer prior to the rescheduled game.

Default Rule: A team without the number of players required to play at the time of their scheduled game will be given a 15 min
grace period to complete the minimum 9-player line up. If a team is still incomplete after the grace period expires (scorer’s time),
they shall be allowed to play an official game only if they have 8 players present, but consequently must have the required number
of players before the last inning of the game in progress or else they shall forfeit the game in favor of their opponents. If the team
in question has only 7 players, they shall be allowed to play a practice game, but their official game will be forfeited in favor of their opponent even if they are able to complete the minimum 9 player lineup before the game ends. If the team has only 6 players or less,
they shall only be allowed to play a practice game; their official game will be forfeited and they shall be fined Php 1,000.00 to be
deducted from the Default Fee Bond. If a team does not show up for an agreed scheduled game, they shall forfeit their game in favor
of their opponent and be fined a default fee of Php 1,000.00 also to be deducted from the Default Fee Bond.

Infield Warm up: A 5 minute infield warm up will be awarded each team prior to their game.

Protests: All protests must be made to the chief umpires prior to their leaving the field at the end of the game, noted on the score
sheet by the scorekeeper and signed by the team manager/coach filing the protest. The protest must then be submitted to the
Technical Committee thru the Commissioner in writing within 24 hours after the game in question. Protests sent by fax will be
considered valid as long as it falls within the 24 hour grace period. No protest on judgment calls of umpires will be entertained.
A non-refundable protest fee of Php 500 is required.

Mandatory Play: No mandatory play for all girls’ teams.