Valley Center Little League: T-ball

Welcome to VCLL T-ball. Here are the t-ball guidelines for the 2007 season. Its good to review the guidelines as they are quite different than MLB rules and regs. We are here to encourage and teach.

LOCAL RULES - Tee Ball DIVISON – 2007

Tee Ball is the beginning level of play. Basic skills for hitting and throwing are taught. Teamwork and sportsmanship are also emphasized.

The primary function of the league is to be one of training and preparation of Little Leaguers in the mechanics, skills, knowledge, and sportsmanship of baseball.

GAME TIMES

• All games are limited to three innings. A game may start a third inning if managers agree after the end of two innings. And the game has not exceeded 1hr.

 THE VISITING TEAM

• Is listed 1st on the schedule


• Sits on the third base side behind the set-back line placed at about five feet from the third base line.

 THE HOME TEAM

• Is listed 2nd on the schedule


• Sits on the first base side behind the set-back line placed at about five feet from the first base line.

 THOSE PERMITTED ON FIELD

• Players, coaches, and parents (w/volunteer forms turned in!) of the fielding team placed next to their players to provide protection in the case of hard hit balls.

 UMPIRES

• There are no umpires for t-ball. Each manager or coach is responsible for calling foul balls and setting up the ball on the tee or pitching.


• The base coaches makes calls at 1st and 2nd base and keeps track of runner’s positions at the conclusion of each play.

PLAYING TIME

• Players bat through the line-up at each at-bat


• All players take the field when their team is in the field.

GAME RULES

1. A foul ball is any normal foul ball, as well as a ball hit less than 10 feet. There should be a 10 foot arc which marks this distance.


2. Managers or coaches may pitch only during or after the 7th game of the season regardless if players can hit a coach pitch or not. When manager/coach-pitching is allowed, a batter is given no more than 3 pitches to hit before hitting off the tee.

SPORTSMANSHIP

• A player may lose his/her privilege to play in one or more future games for disciplinary reasons provided that the VCLL Board approves such action in advance. Before such action is taken, every effort should be made to resolve the problem by talking with the parents, T-Ball Coordinator, etc.


• Poor sportsmanship (by managers, coaches, players, or spectators) can result in ejection from the game and/or removal from the park. Examples of poor sportsmanship include: throwing equipment, using illegal equipment, bad language, opposing players or spectators.

Miscellaneous other stuff to know

For those of you new to t-ball, or who want a refresher as to what the lines are that you won't normally see on a baseball field, please note:

* There will be a 10 foot arc out from home plate. Balls hit within this line are to be called foul by the batting team's coach and the batter gets to keep trying until the ball is hit fair.

* Only the home-first and third-home base lines are chalked. There's no line from first to second or second to third, with big arrows saying "run this way". They still may need some guidance. You will observe about every base running error possible in just one game, including running from home to third, overtaking the runner in front (during the last batter scenario), and running from third to the bench.

* There is to be no swinging of bats by anyone except the batter.

SAFETY NOTE #1:
If you have players who you believe might not be able to react quickly enough to a hard hit and get their glove on the ball or duck in time, either put them in the outfield, or place a parent near them in the infield to provide a last-resort opportunity to knock a hit ball down that is headed toward a player's face or chest. Be careful not to place these players at 1^st. Most baseball deaths actually occur due to the ball hitting the chest and stopping the heart.

SAFETY NOTE #2:
No team should be pitching a ball to players until at least the 7th game. Managers can begin tossing a ball to players only starting the 7th game, and even then, a manager can opt to keep it tee- only or to provide a tee for certain players who can't yet make contact. There are plenty of kids who are ready to hit a pitched ball now. That's great and we're all proud of them, but that's not the point to this rule. Safety and Newton's third law of physics is the rule, and the hit ball is going to be coming off the bat much faster on a pitched ball than one hit off a tee. For many players in the field, this difference in ball speed presents a considerable safety issue at any time of the season, but for at least the first 6 games, holding down the speed of the hit balls allows players a margin of safety to start to learn how to make a play on a hit ball.

SAFETY NOTE #3:
If you have a batter with high bat speed, who could pretty well knock a ball at a speed that would put infield players at danger, then alert the opposing manager with the not-so-subtle "big hitter" (or in VCLL, it could be "bat speed" so that we don't offend the non-big-hitters), and the opposing manager should either move back the players that wouldn't be able to safely play the ball, or place parents near them.

Outs and last batter:
Players are not called out at 1^st even if a play is actually made to put them out for the first half of the season (10 games). But outs can be made at 2^nd, 3^rd and home by tagging the bag, OR the player. At this age, those players that are out may cry. If they do let them stay in as they do little running as it is in the game, so let them all run the bases.

Also, the last batter is allowed to get a home run, so all players on base keep running after the last batter has hit. It's customary for the batting team's manager to yell "last batter" so that the outfield team knows that there is about to be a homerun. The senior players will start to pick up on this and field the ball and wait for the runner at second base, then repeatedly tag them with the ball as they continue on to third, then home, making 12 outs along the way.

SCORES:
With 10 players ( we have more) on a team, if anyone was actually keeping score (which gets old after a while), all games should end in a score of 20 to 20 or 30 to 30, thus there is no need to report these scores to the VCLL so we don’t keep score – its non-competitive.

LENGTH OF THE GAME:
It is customary to play two full innings, then gauge the time after completion of the second inning. If the game has gone on less than 45 minutes, both managers meet, scratch their chins, look at the setting sun and the amount of distraction in their players' eyes, and make a decision as to whether to play a third full inning. If you are hearing a lot of "I want treats now" or "Can we go to Chuck E. Cheese instead of playing in the outfield", then you may want to call the game after two innings. If you hear that from the parents, then it's an even bigger clue.

HAVE FUN!!!

I’ll see you on the field!