Intermediate League By-Laws

St. John’s Fast Pitch Association Intermediate Division

BY-LAWS

1) The Intermediate Division shall be made up of the following 8 teams:

Each team will be entitled to three delegates at all Association meetings, however only one will be permitted to vote on matters pertaining to the Intermediate Division.

Any new teams must submit their intention to play in the Intermediate Division by February 28. The new team must present a roster and formal letter of request to play. The new team must be voted upon by the executive of the St. John’s Fast Pitch Association. The new team shall not be formed due to the detriment of a roster to a previous team in the association.

2) The Executive Committee shall determine where all regular and playoff season games will be played. The Executive Committee may approve a game to be played at an alternative venue upon written request to the secretary/treasurer from an affiliated team.

3) All games will be played under the Official Fast Pitch Softball Rules as recorded in the Official Rule Book Of Softball Canada.

4) When an intermediate player signs to play with a team he may be granted his release by team Management or The Executive Committee up to July 15^th of each year to play with another team that season.

5) No player will be permitted to play unless his registration has been approved by the Executive Committee of the Association. It should be noted that this means a player will require a release before joining another team.

6) Teams may use a SNL registered player from a lower division, Midget & Bantam without formal Association approval. In the case of junior age players and above not on a teams original registration, approval will be required from Secretary-Register of the Association before being eligible to play.

7) All teams to participate in the Association Championship Series at the conclusion of the regular season. All series to be a best of three with the final series being a best of five. The home game advantage will alternate with the highest place finisher having this privilege to start each series.

8) To be eligible to participate in the play-offs a player has to be registered with the league by the final registration date of August 7^th, of each year and have played in at least ten games with no specific plate appearances or have played in five games with ten plate appearances. This does not apply to a player brought up from a lower division such as U21 or minor.

9) A regular season game that is tied after seven innings of play the International Tie Breaking Rule will apply. Should a game be stopped due to weather or any other reason, and five complete innings has been played, then the game shall be declared a tied game and each team awarded a point. All statistics will count. This rule does not apply to special playoff or championship series play.

10) A Championship Series game that is tied and is stopped due to weather or for any other reason and five complete or more innings has been played, will be declared a no contest and replayed. All statistics will count. The International Tie Breaking Rule will not apply to a game three (Best Of Three Series) or a game five (Best Of Five Series) of the Championship Series. For all other games it will.

11) The seven run rule only to apply after five innings for all League games including Championship Series.

12) The start times for regular season games in St. John’s will be 6:00 P.M. & 8:00 P.M. on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and Saturday 1:00 P.M. & 3:00 P.M. Playoff Games will be Monday to Sunday with times to be determined by the Executive Committee.

13) Games outside of St. John’s will take place at 7:30 PM on Monday and/or Wednesday. A written request must be made to play weekend games outside of the St. John’s Area and submitted to the Secretary-Treasurer

14) An illegal pitch will be called for any pitcher who does not have both feet on the pitcher’s rubber, does not pause and does not stay within the confines of the 24 inch shoot.  Umpires will not permit any digging out for back foot.

15) In all St. John’s Fast Pitch regular and play-off games, an illegal pitch will result in a ball on the batter and no base runner advances.

16) The BATTER’S BOX is the area within which the batter must take a position when taking a turn at bat.

a) Any player who removes the lines of the batters box will be ejected from the game without warning.

b) When there are no lines drawn, the plate umpire shall give a warning to the batter if they judge that they are not standing in the batters box. The player must correct their stance (the batters back foot must not exceed 36 inches from the back tip of the plate). 

c) The batter is OUT when his foot is completely outside the lines of the batter’s box and touching the ground, or any part of a foot is touching home plate when he hits the ball fair or foul (The ball is dead, runners must return to last base touched at the time of the pitch).

17) When a player is ejected from the game, he/she must leave the dugout area immediately. Failure to leave with-in a minute or reasonable amount of time will result in the team forfeiting the game. The player may remain in the park, however they are not to be involved in any way to the game. If the person continues to disrupt or become engaged in the game in a negative manner, the game will be forfeited. A player/coach ejected from a game will not be permitted to sit on their team’s bench; this also applies to suspensions.

A. Every ejection shall be reported on a Disciplinary Form

Standard Ejection Report (No appeals to be accepted)

·Swearing or Using Vulgar Language – No warning to be given

·Disputing the Umpires Judgment (warning may be given, but doesn’t need to) examples:

a) Balls/Strikes

b) Safes/Outs

c) Showing up Umpire (drawing a line in sand)

d) Kicking Dirt on Umpire

e) Throwing Equipment (inside diamond)

Consequence of Action:

1^st Offence: Removed From Game, No Further Penalty

2^nd Offence: Removed From Game, One Additional Game

3^rd Offence: Removed From Game, Referred to Disciplinary Committee

B. Disciplinary Ejection Report (Appeals)

·Throwing Equipment – Equipment leaves the playing area/over the fence (2 Games)

·Excessive Abusive Language towards an umpire, player, coach, or spectator (3 Games)

·Fighting with a player of the opposing team (4 Games)

·Throwing Equipment in the general direction or strikes a Player/Coach or Umpire (4 Games)

·Assault of an Umpire (Verbal or Physical)

All physical assaults are to be reported to police.

-May be Threatening Remarks that Warrant Assault Minimum (5 Games)

-Intentionally Throwing Equipment Striking an Official Minimum (20 Games)

C. Disciplinary Committee shall oversee disciplinary matters:

·Two members of the Executive

·Two members appointed by the Executive

·An Umpire appointed by the Executive (Note: If the appointed umpire filed the report on the player/coach involved, then the executive shall appoint an the report on the player/coach involved, then the executive shall appoint an umpire that was not involved in the situation)

D. Discipline Committee

Meet/discuss before the player/coach plays their next scheduled game to make a ruling on the ejection.  (Exception: If the individual was removed due to inappropriate language, and it is their first offence, the player shall be given a warning by the executive). The player/coach shall not play in their next game if the committee has not ruled on the ejection. If said player is awaiting an appeal, the player shall play until a final decision is made by the committee. Once the ruling is made the Discipline Committee is to notify both the player/coach involved and the president of Metro on their recommendation.

18) Appeal Process

Any player/coach may appeal the decision of the Discipline Committee. Appeals should be heard at the local level first. The individual shall present a letter to the Discipline Committee of the appeal. A hearing involving the player/coach and umpire(s) involved in the game shall be presented to the Discipline Committee. After the hearing, the decision of the committee is final.

19) Appeal Procedures

·All ejections shall be reported on a Disciplinary Form and passed to the scorekeeper after the game.

·An ejection of any player/coach (except on the first offence of inappropriate language) shall be heard before the player/coaches next scheduled game.

·A record of all ejections shall be maintained by the executive.

·When a player is ejected for the third time, the disciplinary committee shall determine that player’s status from that point forward.

·Suspensions shall carry over to all leagues, tournaments, etc…

Example - If the player is suspended for 3 Intermediate Games, they are to miss their next 3 games. The player shall not play any organized sanctioned softball until the three intermediate games are served. Note: This includes senior, tournaments, including SNL provincials.

·No team shall select a player from the stands that is not on the team’s roster to replace a player that was ejected

·If said player is awaiting an appeal, the player shall play until a final decision is made by the committee. 

20) Schedule to be drawn up by the associations Secretary-Treasurer on a monthly basis. Teams requesting change dates of must advise the scheduler by the 15^th day of the preceding month. Secretary-Treasurer will make the final decision on all change requests.

21) Postponed games will be re-scheduled at times available. No scheduled games will be changed in order to make room for any postponed games.

22) If possible each team to play a twenty game regular season with ten (10) home and away games.           

23) The regular season to start on or about June 1^st, and be completed by August 31^st. Games not played by the deadline date of August 31^st, will be dropped from the schedule.

24) Following forfeit of a game a $100.00 fine to be imposed. The second time a team forfeits a $200.00 fine will be imposed as well as the matter been reviewed by the Association for possible suspension. All fines are due and payable before team’s next game. Each team will be permitted a fifteen grace period (Thirty were travel is Fifty (50) kilometers or more) before a game is awarded by forfeit.

25) One new softball, two umpires and a scorekeeper to be provided for all League and Championship Series games. The official softball is the Worth K-Master F120WH. Umpires are encouraged to rotate the balls in a consistent manner. Time will not be permitted for pitcher’s to wait for out of bounds ball to be returned.

26) In the interest of safety, the Association will have a Bat Review Committee and bats they consider unsafe for play will be banned. association. A full-approved Intermediate Bat List will be provided at the start of each season.  The Association reserves the right to remove any bat from the approved list throughout the season if it’s in the best interest of Association play.

27) A team must be dressed in full uniform including coaches. The Uniform must be of the same design and color, with the type of footwear being optional. Rule 3, Section 8 of the Softball Canada Rulebook.

28) The wearing of a double earflap helmet is mandatory for a batter and a base runner. The helmet worn by a catcher may be the scull type without earflaps.

29) No infield or outfield warm up are permitted before any regular season or championship series games.  Game balls will be provided prior to the start of a game.

30) An official statistician to be appointed by the League annually. All game score sheets must be handed to him immediately following a game. For games played outside the City the home team has the responsibility of providing game score sheets within Forty Eight Hours (48) of the completion of a game.

31) A player, coach or team official ejected from a game for the second time in a season will receive an automatic one game suspension. If further ejections are received in a season a one game suspension will apply for each additional ejection. This rule in no way curtails the Association from taking further action for any or all ejections. A player, coach or team official ejected from a game more than three times in a season must have his case reviewed by the Association.

32) All protests on rule interpretations must be done at the time of the occurrence. A $100.00 deposit will be required to check the rule interpretation. The umpires shall stop the game, leave the field and check the rule book for the correct rule interpretation. Should a protest be upheld the deposit will be refunded. The monies shall be submitted to the executive within seven days.

33) All other protests must be submitted in writing within twenty-four hours of the completion of the game in question accompanied with a $100.00 deposit. All protests will be ruled on by the Executive Committee within seventy-two hours of receipt. Should a protest be upheld the deposit will be refunded.

34) St. John’s Fast Pitch Association Officers will oversee the Intermediate Awards  

Intermediate Division Awards will be known as:

• First Place (Pepsi Cola Trophy)
• League Championship (William J Barron Trophy)
• Individual Awards (Molson Awards)

35) For all games a team must start and finish with 9 players.

36) A team with pickups may represent the Intermediate Division in Eastern Canadian Championships

37) Statistics: for a player to be considered for the batting title the following calculation shall be used: 2.5 plate appearances X number of games the team was scheduled to play.

38) All players from a disbanded team will be placed in a disbursal draft. The selection will be in reverse order of previous years finish for all games played including tournaments. A player not drafted is eligible to play with a team of his choice.

39) Player Eligibility:

A) A player that is 21 and under is permitted to play in both leagues.

B) A five person committee to rule on the eligibility of intermediate players other than junior eligible players playing in both divisions prior to the start of season.

C) Intermediate players can play up to 5 senior games on a call up basis before losing there intermediate eligibility.  

D) Players approved by the committee to play senior & intermediate on a full time basis must meet the 5-10 rule in intermediate league play to be playoff eligible. 

Approved: May 07, 2013