Softball Rules

Important Things To Know

Any rules not specificed on this page can be found at the WSL site.

NO ALCOHOL AT THE FIELDS!

Violations

Player suspensions are enforced based on incident severity. Suspended players cannot be replaced; teams must play with rostered players only.

• First Offense: Warning and removal from the current game.
• Second Offense: Half‑season suspension (3 regular‑season games; may carry into playoffs or next season). Reinstatement requires roster fee payment.
• Third Offense: Full‑season suspension; $100 reinstatement fine.
• Fourth Offense: League suspension; $250 reinstatement fine.

Game Play

Forfeits

• Teams must present an eligible roster within the 10‑minute grace period.
• An eligible roster requires 7 rostered players, including at least 1 female.
• Forfeits are recorded as 10–0.

Start of Game

• Home/away determined by Rock‑Paper‑Scissors (regular season).
• 10‑minute grace period for shorthanded teams.

Time

• Games are 50 minutes, finishing the inning with a maximum of 7 innings.
• Ties may occur; overtime only if time permits.
• Game clock begins when the home team takes the field or when the umpire starts the clock for shorthanded teams.
• The grace period counts toward the 50‑minute game time.

Scoring / Mercy Rule

• 15‑run lead after 4 innings
• 10‑run lead after 5 innings

Ball In Play

LIVE BALL:

• Returning the ball to the pitcher’s area may end the play.
• Any defensive throw contacting the net remains a live ball.

OUT OF BOUNDS:

• Balls over the fence, into the dugout, or contacting defensive players/equipment outside the dugout are out of bounds.
• Out‑of‑bounds results in a dead ball; runners advance to the base they were approaching plus one additional base.
• Offensive interference results in a dead ball; runners may be called out or returned at umpire discretion.

Equipment

EQUIPMENT:

• Athletic shoes required; metal cleats prohibited.
• Infield masks recommended; players without masks assume risk.

BATS:

• Only 240 or 220 USSSA‑stamped bats permitted.
• Officials may inspect bats at any time.
• Senior bats allowed for players 55+ (ID may be required).
• Swinging a senior bat under age 55 results in ejection and suspension.

BALLS:

• Teams must supply their own game balls.
• Men: 44 COR / .375 compression
• Women: 44 COR / .400–44 compression
• Balls available from staff for $7 each.
• Approved examples include: Short Porch, Dudley Thunder ZN Pro M, Worth Super Gold Dot Pro M, Trump X‑Rock, Evil Ball.
• Stadium and Classic M balls are not allowed; hitting a non‑approved ball results in an out and runners return to original bases.

Roster Requirements

Team Players

• No roster size limit.
• Lineup may include up to 4 more males than females (e.g., 7M/3F or 8M/4F).
• ​Adding an 8th+ male requires adding a female or taking automatic outs.
• Maximum 10 players on the field, with 7 males max; no female limit.
• Females may replace males, but not vice versa.
• Pickups allowed only when a team has fewer than 10 players.
• No automatic outs when fielding:
  • 6M/5F
  • 7M/4F
  • 8M/5F
• Minimum rostered players to start: 7, with automatic outs for missing players.
• All present players bat. Hitting out of order results in an out and skipped future turn.
• ​Late players may join at the end of the lineup before the 4th inning.
• You must have at least 10 players with the right ratio the lineup otherwise an out is taken in that missing players spot

TEAM CAPTAIN:

• Each team should have a team captain that is responsible for registering the team.
• The team captain needs to attend the captains meeting at the beginning of each game, and is the ONLY person that can speak to the umpires during the game about calls, fouls, etc. The team captain is expected to address the umpires and staff in a respectful manner.
• The team captain shall serve as the "liaison" between the club and their team, and is expected to attend captains’ meetings, and notify teammates of cancellations, changes, rules, policies, etc.
• Any disputes or contested calls must be addressed with the club officials and team captains.  The dispute or contested call must occur before the next pitch in an at-bat otherwise it is no longer valid and play resumes.

GUEST PLAYERS:

• Up to 3 guest players allowed (regular season only).
• No guest players allowed if both teams are shorthanded until equal strength.
• Guests bat at the end of the lineup and may only play outfield or pitcher.
• If all 3 guests are female, one may play catcher.
• ​Lineup rules may override guest‑player restrictions.

Defense & Fielding

FIELDING:

• At least 1 female outfielder at all times (when applicable).
• 5‑man defense permitted. If the female is the 5th infielder, she must start on the grass and counts as the required outfielder.
• Teams with 9 or fewer players must fill all standard defensive positions.
• Extra hitters (EH) are not required to play defense.
• Thrown balls contacting non‑official equipment result in a dead ball; runners advance one base.

CO-ED LINES:

• When a female is batting, all male outfielders must remain behind the 200' line.
• Female outfielders may play in front of the line.
• Violations award the batter first base.

FIRST BASE:

• First baseman must use the white bag, not the safety bag, when making a play.

CATCHERS:

• Must set up behind the batter and plate until contact.
• Cannot block home plate without prior possession.
• Foul‑tip outs only count if the ball rises above the batter’s height.

SUBSTITUTIONS:

• All present players bat in the designated lineup.
• If a player is injured during the middle of an inning, that injured player can be removed from the game and replaced with an eligible player, but won't be allowed to return for the remainder of the game. 

Pitches & Fouls

PITCHING:

• Underhand, slow‑pitch delivery required.
• Arc must be 5'–10' from the ground.
• Plant foot must be on the rubber or within the pitching area.
• Any spin allowed.
• Pump fakes prohibited: first offense is a warning; subsequent offenses award a ball.

FOUL BALLS:

• Batters begin with a 1–1 count plus one extra foul.
• After the extra foul, any additional foul results in an out.
• Balls contacting the pitching net are fouls and may result in an out depending on count.
• Foul‑tip outs follow the catcher rule above.

WALKS:

• Although discouraged, pitchers are allowed to intentionally walk a batter.
• If the male batter preceding a female batter is walked, the male batter gets second base and must touch the bases.  The female batter only gets the walk if there are 2 outs.
• If a male gets walked with 2 outs he only gets one base if the automatic out is next in the lineup.  GHOST OUTS DO NOT ASSUME A GENDER.
• Batters DO NOT need to touch each base they are advancing to when a walk occurs.

Offense & Hitting

LINEUP:

• No more than 3 males in a row.  If a team violates this rule, the current batter is out if they have been pitched to, and the lineup must be fixed.
• Subs still need to be added to the end of the lineup, but a rostered female or "ghost" player (out) will need to be added to satisfy the rule above.
• Lineups must be written and posted in the dugout and also exchanged if the other team requests.
• Hitting out of order results in an out for the batter that was out of order and the batters future turn is skipped.
• The lineup rule(s) above does not pertain to Free Agents (players assigned from the free agent pool to make the Free Agent team) and teams playing the Free Agent team.  Everyone assigned to the free agent team is allowed to hit in the lineup in any designated order.  The opposing team may also bat all their rostered players.  Both teams still need to have 3 females and will take automatic outs for missing females.

HITTING:

• Bunting is not permissible.
• Batter must stand in the batters box when making contact.

HOME RUNS:

• The following home run limits (over the fence) are in effect.
  • A league: 4 team home runs
  • B league: 2 team home runs
  • C league: 1 team home run
• Any home run exceeding the limit is an out.

SAFETY & NON-PLAYERS:

• Bat bags, coolers, personal belongings are to be stored in the teams dugout or out of play. The exceptions are club equipment and club personnel equipment. Violation of this rule can cause gameplay itself to be paused but running clock still in effect.
• For safety and overall gameplay, players not in play, with the exception of club officials/ deemed personnel, are NOT allowed behind or around the home plate area during play. "Home plate area" spans the area around home plate to the backstop all the way to the dugout. Violation of this rule could induce subsequent interference calls based upon umpire discretion.
• For players with children, they must be OK’d by the umpire to be in the dugout.
• No animals in the dugouts or fields unless they are a service animal.

Running / Scoring

BASE RUNNING:

• Ties DO NOT go to the runner.
• There will be NO SLIDING allowed into 1B when running from home plate.
• All hitters running through 1B must use the safety base or they will be called out. Runners looking to round the base can use the inside base.
• NO leading off when pitcher has ball until ball is hit by bat.
• Runners must stay within 3ft of the baseline/vice versa for fielders. Exceptions are made when rounding bases at full speed.
• Base runners leaving early while a player is hitting will be called out, and play is dead. Batter must re-hit.
• Sliding is allowed as long as NO CONTACT with any fielder. Violation of this rule will result in an out and possibly an ejection or suspension.
• Fielders CANNOT block any base on a play at the base. If an errant throw leads them into the runner's path then they must make every effort possible to get out of the way of the runner after making the catch.
• Infield fly is in effect (multiple base runners in force out situation means batter is automatically called out) with less than 2 outs.
• If a hitter runs through first base, and turns around back to base, they must show intent to run to second to be considered in play.

TAGGING UP:

• Tagging up is permitted.

PINCH RUNNING:

• Injured players may get a runner from the fence during their at-bat. The runner will count against their pinch-runner inning limit for that specific gender. That runner will only be allowed to advance up to 2nd.
• Pinch runners must be of same gender.
• Limited to one per inning per gender.
• Females can run for males but males cannot run for females.
• In the event of an in game injury, player may be removed without penalty (as long as game minimum requirements are met), and cannot reenter.

Interference

• Runners' interference is safe to base (catcher making contact with hitter while hitter is making contact with the ball or a fielder impeding the baseline). If referee deems that runner could have another base as a result, another base can be awarded.
• In the event a runner and fielder collide in the base path or on the base, the runner is automatically safe (unless the fielder has the ball in clear possession which results in an out) and could be awarded the next base if deemed necessary by referees.
• Overthrows over the fence are out of bounds and give a runner an extra base and dead ball. (1 extra base past the one they are heading towards).

Playoffs

• All playoff games are subject to mercy rule. 15 run lead after 3, 12 after 4, 10 after 5.
• Teams are allowed to pickup to 9 players but must still have 7 from their original roster to avoid a forfeit.
• Outs will be taken for missing players.
• Any "ghost" players do not assume a gender.
• Home and Away and field assignments will be determined by higher seeds. Captains must be at the field 10 minutes prior to game time to go through the process.
• An eligible roster player is someone who played and was counted as present on the signed roster sheet at least 3 times during the season to be eligible for playoffs or seek Club Representitive approval.
• In extra innings, the last batter of the previous inning will start on 2B.
• This runner cannot be pinch ran for and the inning still starts with no outs.
• If last "batter" was an automatic out to end the previous inning, then no runner starts on 2B.