Ames Little League Baseball

Ames Little League Baseball (A.L.L.B.) is organized exclusively as a non-profit organization providing instruction and training in the game of baseball for children between the ages of five and sixteen years of age. The objective of A.L.L.B shall be to implant in participants, through the activities of the league, the ideals of good sportsmanship, honesty, loyalty, courage and respect for authority, so that they may be well adjusted, stronger and happier children and will grow to be decent, healthy and trustworthy adults. With this objective in mind, managers and coaches with A.L.L.B. shall bear in mind that stressing exceptional athletic skills or winning games is secondary, and that the type of leadership extended to participants is of prime importance.

General A.L.L.B. Policies:

1. One member of the Board of Directors, designated as the "Officer of the Day", will be present at the Hunziker Youth Sports Complex ("HYSC") whenever regularly scheduled league games are being played. The Officer of the Day is responsible for the general welfare of Ames Little League Baseball and its members.

2. In the event of lightning, practices or games must be suspended immediately and can not resume until 30 minutes after the last time lightning was seen. The Officer of the Day will enforce this policy for all games being played at HYSC. It is the responsibility of the managers and coaches to comply and support the ruling of the Officer of the Day. It is the responsibility of the managers and coaches to strictly enforce this policy for team practices and games in which they are participating that are not being played HYSC. Umpires are not responsible for enforcing this policy.

3. Any adult who will have repetitive (more than twice) contact with the players is required to fill out the official little league volunteer application and submit it to the Division Vice-President (supervising, managing, coaching, and helping coach counts as contact). Once approved, this individual is a "Registered Volunteer".

4. Managers and coaches involved in A.L.L.B. are expected to conduct themselves in an exemplary way, setting an excellent example of sportsmanship, tolerance of individual differences, and commitment to instruction. When setting this excellent example of sportsmanship, managers and coaches are expected to model, encourage and require good sportsmanship by players, parents and other coaches.

5. Players involved in A.L.L.B. are expected to conduct themselves by showing good sportsmanship, tolerating individual differences, and be committed to learn from instruction.

6. No manager or coach shall be allowed to manage and/or coach two teams in Ames Little League Baseball without approval from the Board of Directors. The Board of Directors will not grant this approval to any manager or coach who has not managed or coached in Ames Little League before.

7. First aid boxes are located in the dugouts of Hunziker Youth Sports Complex Fields 1, 2, 3 and 4. All teams are issued a first aid kit to keep with them at all Ames Little League Baseball events (meetings, practices and games). In the event of any accident requiring the use of first aid supplies, an accident report will be filled out and the league safety officer will be notified.

8. Medical release forms for each and every player on the roster must be with the manager and coach at all Ames Little League Baseball events (meetings, practices and games).

9. Make-up games should be re-scheduled as soon as possible. As field usage is at premium, re-scheduled games take precedence over practices if necessary.

10. The home team is responsible for notifying the Director of Game Schedules of any cancellations, make-up dates and times.

11. Umpires will bring two game balls to the field prior to the start of Juniors, Majors and AAA Division games. The home team manager will bring two game balls to the field prior to the start of AA, A, and Tee Ball Division games.

12. The ball used must meet Little League specifications and standards. (Section 1.09 page 52).

13. Home team will occupy the third base dugout.

15. Home team will chalk the field at Brookside and North River Valley.

16. Home team rakes the infield after the game (the entire infield at Brookside and North River Valley Fields; only the low spots to fill in the holes at Hunziker Youth Sports Complex).

17. Visiting team patches holes in the pitching mound, rakes it smooth, waters it and tarps it after the game (Water is not available at Brookside Park).

18. Visiting team picks up trash around the field after the game.

19. In the event that a field has not been made ready for play at the HYSC (i.e., fields lined, pitching mound untarped, etc.), the managers and coaches of both the Home and Visiting team shall be equally responsible for making the field ready for play and for getting the game started on time, if possible. The Officer of the Day shall be responsible to make equipment available.

20. The "on-deck" position is not permitted. Only the first batter of each half inning will be permitted outside the dugout between half innings (Section 1.08 Notes 1 & 2 page 52). This rule does not apply to the Junior Division.

21. A League Official (Officer of the Day or Division VP) shall check all personally owned bats prior to use in a game. All bats must conform to Little League Rule 1.10 (page 52). Bats that pass inspection will be specially marked and will not have to be inspected again as long as the special mark is present. The Manager is responsible for ensuring that a League Official has approved all bats that are in use by that Managers team.

22. The batter, all base runners and player base coaches are required to wear helmets (Section 1.16 page 54). This includes practices and batting cage work. No exceptions.

23. The catcher is required to wear a catcher’s mitt (Section 1.12 page 53) except in the Tee Ball Division in which the catcher may use their own glove in lieu of the catcher’s mitt.

24. All catchers are required to wear a cup, chest protector, a catcher’s helmet with a mask and dangling type throat protector and shin guards during practice, warm-ups and games (Section 1.17 page 54) except in the Tee Ball Division in which the catcher only has to wear a catcher’s helmet with a mask and dangling type throat protector. The Tee Ball catcher is required to stand at least 10 feet behind home plate before the ball is placed on the tee and must remain there until the ball is hit.

25. The runner is out when the runner does not slide or attempt to get around a fielder who has the ball and is waiting to make the tag and the runner is out when the runner slides head first (Section 7.08 (a) page 81). Junior Division players may slide head first.

26. Any umpire's decision which involves judgment, such as, but not limited to, whether a batted ball is fair or foul, whether a pitch is a strike or a ball, or whether a runner is safe or out is final. No player, manager, coach or substitute shall object to any such judgment decision (Section 9.02 (a) page 93).

The AA Division is for players 8 years old who want to learn the fundamentals of hitting, fielding and base running. 7 year olds may play in this division with Board approval. The primary goals of the AA Division are to have fun, to teach the players the fundamentals of baseball, and to allow them to experience the value of teamwork in a non-competitive environment.

Game Procedures include:

1. Games shall be limited to 6 innings or approximately one and a half hour duration. No new inning should be started after 75 minutes of play (a new inning begins immediately after the final out is recorded in the previous inning). The game will end upon completion of any full inning after 75 minutes.

2. The side is retired when three offensive players are legally put out or when all players on the roster have batted one time in the half-inning (Section 5.07 page 72).

3. No score is to be kept and no winner is to be declared.

4. If a runner is put out by a defensive play, they shall return to the dugout.

6. The batter may advance as far as they want to on any hit to the outfield until the ball is in the infield then batter must stop at the nearest base. If play continues by an attempt to get the batter out or another runner out and an overthrow occurs, the batter may advance one additional base.

7. Runners may advance only one base on any hit in the infield unless an overthrow is made. The runner may advance one additional base on the first overthrow per batter. The runner may not advance on any additional overthrows.

8. The runner may advance as far as they want to on any hit to the outfield until the ball is in the infield then the runner must stop at the nearest base. If play continues by an attempt to get the batter or another runner out and an overthrow occurs, the runner may advance one additional base.

9. For Rules 6 to 9, an outfield hit is defined as any hit ball that makes it to the outfield grass in the air or on the ground.

10. Rules 6 to 9 do not apply when the half inning will be over due to all players on the team having already had their turn batting. The last batter and the runners on base during the last at bat of the half inning may advance around the bases until being put out or reaching home.

11. Ten players will play in the field defensively. However only 6 may be in the infield positions. The rest must be in the outfield grass.

12. All players must play at least two innings defensively each game (Section IV (i) page 36).

13. All players must sit out defensively equally over the season.

14. Over the course of the season, all Minor Division players must play all positions equally.

15. A continuous batting order that includes all players on the team roster present for the game shall be used. Each player is required to bat in his/her respective spot in the batting order. (Section 4.04 page 65).

16. No bunting is allowed.

17. There will be no stealing of bases or leading off.

19. For the last 8 games of the season, a player will pitch. Each player is limited to two consecutive innings or 50 pitches, whichever comes first, per game and they must have a game off before they pitch again. The player pitcher will throw up to 5 pitches to each batter. If after 5 pitches the batter does not strike out, ground out, pop out or reach base safely, the offensive team’s manager or coach will step in and pitch up to 3 additional pitches (more if the last pitch is fouled off). If after those 3 additional pitches, the batter has still not put the ball in play, then they are out and must return to the dugout.

20. Thrown and swinging strikes will be called. Three strikes and the batter is out. The manager or coach from the batting team will call strikes.

21. Balls will not be called and walks are not allowed.

22. The batter will be allowed to advance to first base if they are hit by a pitch thrown by a player.