10-09 FINALS: Congratulations to Sparta Little League on a wonderful championship run ending with a 5-4 win over a talented Lackawanna squad. We wish you the best of luck on your short trip to the sections (hosted by Newton Little League and District 20).
SECTION 1 10-09: Information has been posted in the Schedules and the Handouts.
11-10 FINALS: Congratulations to Sparta Little League on being crowned the 11-10 champions for 2009 with their 9-5 victory over Vernon on Sunday night. Wish you the best of luck in the Section!
10-09 BRACKET: The suspended game from 07-26 between Lackawanna and NorthWarren will be resumed on 07-27 in Sparta at 7:00. The Finals will be 07-28 in Sparta at 7:00.
RULE 4.11(d): Here is an often misinterpreted rule. "A called game ends at the moment the umpire terminates play. EXCEPTION: If the game is called during an incomplete inning, the game ends at the end of the last previous completed inning in each of the following situations: (1) The visiting team scores one or more runs to tie the score in the incomplete inning and the home team does not score in the incomplete inning. (2) The visiting team scores one or more runs to take the lead in the incomplete inning and the home team does not tie the score or retake the lead in the incomplete inning." So, hypothetically, let's say that after 4 complete innings, the visiting team is leading 9-6. The visiting team bats in the 5th and make the score 16-6. The game in terminated by the umpire for darkness during their at-bat. The final score is 16-6. Why? Because 4.11(d) says that a game ends at the moment the umpire terminates play AND neither of the exceptions given apply because the visiting team was already ahead at the end of the 4th inning.
A FEW WORDS: Well since no one answered the recent want ad, I guess you all are stuck with me. I do so enjoy it. It's has been great getting to see familar faces and meeting new ones. As our season winds down, I just wanted to thank everyone for another wonderful season (now don't blow it over the last remaining days! - LOL). It takes hundreds of volunteers from the coaches, to the presidents, to the parents, to the umpires, to last but not least us - the district staff to pull off 235+/- games in a 4 week period. We wouldn't do what we do if we didn't love the game of baseball and love the kids as well. Sure, we can all get competitive, but at the end of the day, it's simply kids playing a game they love. Please join us in Newton in the first week of August as we host the 10-09 Sections. I'd love to show them "city-folks" that we northerns in the sticks can put on a show with the best of 'em. Hope to see some of you in the fall - the rest can wait until next summer ;) - just kidding.
UPDATES COMPLETE: The updates are done. (a) Throw out the old brackets. The brackets in the "Handouts" mostly have new dates for the remaining games especially for the 10-09s. (b) We can extend the 10-09s a bit longer into July. Since Newton is hosting the Section, we know exactly when the district champion is playing (August 1). (c) Any more rainouts may force us to forego the better seeds hosting and move games to other locations.
14-13 FINALS: Congratulations to Stillwater Fredon Little League on becoming our district champion in the Junior Division with a 12-7 victory over Sparta in the finals. Good luck to Stillwater Dreon in the Section!
12-11 FINALS: Congratulations to Vernon Little League for becoming the 2009 District 20 Champions after posting an 11-4 victory over Sparta Thursday night. We all wish you the best of luck in the Section!
10-09 SECTION: District 20 is pleased to announce that District 20 along with Newton Little League will be host to the 2009 10-09 Section. Beginning July 31, the district winners from districts 1,2, 4, 17, and 20 will vie for the opportunity to advance to the state final four. I will be posting the bracket here soon. We could use as many volunteers as possible to help with various duties.
ALL TOURNAMENT PERSONNEL: Please go to "My Site News" for a special announcment pertaining to injured players and substitution.
STANDINGS: Contrary to popular belief, I do other things other than baseball. Therefore, I can't always wait up until the wee hours of the evening for managers to send me scores. Logically, I can't update the standings unless I have all the scores played that night for a particular pool. So please, if you are the winning team, email me the score the same night your game is played.
ABOUT STANDINGS: In the posted standings, the eteamz program only recognizes some generic options like wins, losses, etc. It can not discern important items for tournament play like head-to-head and runs against ratio; the key tie-breakers. I can manually adjust the standings, but sometimes I don't always catch the little tie-breakers on a day-to-day basis. I do my best to keep the standings as accurate as possible. If you ever have any questions as to where your team is in the standings, please do not hesitate to email me. Thanks.
QUICK RULE NOTE: Tournament Rule 10 replaces Regular Season Rule 3.03. A starter and his/her substitute, married to a spot in the batting order AND both having obtained their mandatory play of 1 at-bat and 3 consecutive defensive outs, may then interchange at will during the remainder of the game. However, they can only both be in the game at the same time when (a) when one is utilized as a special pinch runner or (b) when one needs to enter the game for an injured player and no other players are available. IF YOU RUN INTO A PROBLEM at a game, you have every right to stop the game with a protest no matter what the score is. The head table will be forced to start making the necessary calls.
RUNS AGAINST: For the first time, I'm trying to list the defensive innings for each game. I think the best way to view it is to (a) click on "schedule", then (b) click on the division, and then (c) click on an individual game. You will see the R for Runs. That's kind of obvious. Since we don't track hits per game, that is where I put the defensive innings.
2009 TOURNAMENT SEASON: Just a reminder that every effort should be made to play the games on the dates and times assign. At this point, only weather will cause a game to be delayed or the schedule altered. If you are having a conflict, whatever the reason, you must notify me and Lori. Coaches and leagues are not authorized to change the schedule. Any changes must be approved by the proper district officials.
REPORTING DEFENSIVE INNINGS: When emailing me a score, I not only need the score but the defensive innings played by both teams. The reporting of defensive innings is almost as important as the score itself. Here's why: When teams are tied in the standings, the first tie-breaker is head-to-head. However, this does not always break the tie. The second criteria is the Runs-Against-Ratio or RAR for short. The RAR is a mathematical formula which is the number of runs allowed by a team divided by the number of defensive innings played. If you have any further questions about RAR, please do not hestitate to email me. Thanks.
