Hoosier Classic Tournament Rules

TOURNAMENT STRUCTURE:

TOURNAMENT STRUCTURE:

  • The Hoosier Classic Tournaments are structured as 5-Game Minimums
    • With the exception of the 11U-12U events which are a 4-Game Minimum.
  • Every event is structured as Pool Play followed by Championship and/or Consolation Rounds

FIELD DIMENSIONS:

  • Ages 11U - 12U:  50 ft Mound / 70 ft Bases
  • Ages 13U:  54 ft Mound / 80 ft Bases
  • Ages 14U:  60.6 Mound / 90 ft Bases (Intermediate Size Fields)
  • Ages 15U - 18U:  60.6 Mound / 90 ft Bases (High School & College Fields)

2012 TOURNAMENT RULES
NFHS RULES apply
with the following exceptions & clarifications

GAME LENGTH:

  • All Ages:  7 Inning Games
    • Subject to:  2 Hour Time Limit (Ages 11U - 18U)
      • Championship Game - No Time Limit (Weather permitting)

GAME TIMES:

  • Head Coaches should be present one-hour prior to their 1st game of the tournament for rules briefing.
  • Teams should be present and ready to play 30 minutes before all games 
  • Games completed early may result in an early start for the following games, weather permitting.
  • Teams not available to start with in 15 minutes of their scheduled start time will be subject to a forfeit at that point.
  • There will be a 30 minute period in between games to allow site directors time for field maintenance.

PRE-GAME WARM-UPS:

  • Teams will be allowed a 5 - 7 minute pre-game infield/outfield prior to a team's 1st game of the day (WEATHER PERMITTING).  If inclement weather occurs, site directors have the ability to cancel pre-game warm-ups.
  • The 2nd game of the day for each team we will allow a pre-game warm-up if time permits.

HOME / VISITOR DESIGNATION:

  • Pool Play: Home & Visitors will be pre-determined by tournament director.
  • Championship / Consolation:  Higher Seed will be Home Team. 
    • If same seeds are playing then teams will flip for home/visitor.

TIE BREAKER RULES:
Teams with overall best record will be placed in highest seed.  For seeding purposes the following tie breakers rules will be used.

  1. Most Wins
  2. Fewest Losses
  3. Two Way Tie:  Head to Head
  4. Three / Four Way Tie:  Head to Head   *Tournament Director will clarify for this scenario
  5. Fewest Runs Allowed in All of Pool Play
  6. Most Runs Scored in All of Pool Play

RUN RULES (MERCY RULE)

  • 12 Run Rule After 4 innings or 8 Run Rule After 5 Innings
    • All Games:  Pool Play and Championship/Consolation Rounds 

PITCHING RULES

The Hoosier Classics do not have a mandatory pitching limit.  Coaches are responsible for player safety!

COURTESY RUNNERS

  • Courtesy runners for Pitchers & Catchers anytime. 
    • Mandatory for Catchers with 2 outs
  1. Courtesy Runners need to be any player currently not in the game
  2. If teams do not have any bench players then they may designate the last batter to be out as the courtesy runner.
  3. The same player may serve as the Courtesy Runner multiple times


OFFENSIVE LINE-UP OPTIONS

Ages 11U - 18U

  • Continuous Batting Order - Optional
  • Designated Hitter - Optional
  • Extra Hitter - Optional
    • Coaches simply need to clarify offensive lineup with Umpires and Opposing Coach prior to the start of the game
    • Offensively players MUST stay in their original offensive spot in the line-up.

SUBSTITUTIONS

Ages 11U -18U

  • Free Substitution for both starters and substitutes players in regards to entry and re-entry into the game. 
  • Offensively players MUST stay in their original offensive spot in the line-up.

INTENTIONAL WALKS

  • Automatic intentional walk rule may be used.

SLIDE RULES:

  • Head First Sliding: Players are encouraged to slide FEET first. Though we stress the safety of the players, there are times where head first sliding is acceptable and more comfortable for a player. Please advise your players to BE SAFE & SMART when sliding head first and avoid sliding head first in to home plate.

BAT RESTRICTIONS:

  • Bat Restrictions:
    • Ages 11U - 13U:  No Bat Restrictions
    • Ages 14U - 18U:  - 3 oz Bat Differential (Aluminum)
      • Woodbat Tournaments:  All woodbats are legal, Composite woodbats must be BESR certified

WEATHER & RAIN DELAYS:

  • If inclement weather occurs, games are subject to being "complete" if the losing team has hit through 5 complete innings or 1 Hour and 15 Minutes has been played.
  • If inclement weather occurs and games are not officially complete, then we will treat that game as a "suspended" game.  That game will then be finished by picking up exactly where the game was ended due to weather if the completion of the game is necessary for Seeding Purposes.
  • If a game is delayed for 30 minutes or longer due to inclement weather than that game is subject to being declared a "complete" or "suspended" game.
  • New Rule:  The National Federation of High School (NFHS) has implemented a Thunder & Lightning rule that requires teams to clear the field for 30 minutes if Lightning is seen or Thunder is heard.  Our tournaments need to abide by the liability coverage of our umpiring staff on the safety issue regarding inclement weather.  We apologize for the inefficiences that this new ruling may create with the addition of the "Thunder" clause.

EJECTIONS:

  • If any player, coach, or fan is ejected they are required to leave the baseball complex to a parking lot.  We feel these situations are unfortunate but we must remove the individual so that it mimizes any esclating situations that lead to poor examples set forth for our youth.
    • If a 2nd Ejection occurs, the player, coach, or fan will be subject to expulsion from the tournament
  • If any player, coach, or fan makes intentional contact with an umpire then that individual will be removed from the event (intent will be determined by the umpire and the tournament director).

AGE RESTRICTIONS:

  • Elgibility is determine by each player meeting one or both of the following requirements:
    • The player is the appopriate age based on the April 30th cutoff date    OR
    • The Player is in the appropriate Grade for that particular event.
      • For 2012:
        •    Showcase = Graduation Year of 2012 or younger
        •    18&U = Graduation Year of 2012 or younger
        •    17&U = Graduation Year of 2013 or younger
        •    16&U = Graduation Year of 2014 or younger
        •    15&U = Graduation Year of 2015 or younger
        •    14&U = Graduation Year of 2016 or younger
        •    13&U = Graduation Year of 2017 or younger
        •    12&U = Graduation Year of 2018 or younger

RAIN OUT & REFUND POLICY:

Due to the potential of inclement weather the Hoosier Classic Baseball Tournaments have created a standard cancellation policy for all of our tournament events. Refunds stipulated in this policy refer to the individual team's entry fee money.  Once a Tournament Begins there are no Gate Fee / Admission Fee refunds.

  • Full Refund (100%) of Entry Fee & Gate Fee if any tournament is cancelled prior to the 1st Day of the event.
  • Fifty - Five Percent (55%) Refund of Entry Fee if any tournament is cancelled on the 1st Day of the event of which no games have begun.
  • Forty Percent (40%) Refund of Entry Fee if any tournament is cancelled and only one (1) game has been started.
  • Fifteen (15%) Refund of Entry Fee if any tournament is cancelled and only two (2) games have been started.
  • No Refunds (0%) once a third game begins.
  • Team forfeits count as a competed game.

Thankfully we have only had to cancel three tournaments in seventeen years due to rain!