While we wait on the Final Standings to shake themselves out, we look forward to the Closing Tournament next week – and a big finish to another successful ball season. The Tournament schedule has yet to be finalized and posted, but we can cover some rules and scheduling issues here to keep you in the loop.
Please be aware that there have been a lot of scheduling requests and, due to the unbalanced number of teams between divisions, the scheduling has been a challenge (to say the least!) and is as fair and balanced as could be achieved.
Tuesday & Thursday
Rather than fall back on the Riverside, ABB and St. James diamonds on Saturday, a decision was made to play all tournament games at the Guelph Lake diamonds. While taking advantage of the best diamonds available to us was a no-brainer, it meant we need to play some games on Tuesday and Thursday so we have enough diamonds to get the games in. Some B and C Division games will be played on Tuesday and Thursday nights.
Please email these scores in to gtcspl@slopitchcentral.ca so we can update the boards.
Basic Tournament Rules
- Team Numbers are based on seedings from the Final Standings (not team numbers as used throughout the season!).
- Home team will be decided by a coin toss.
- A game ball will be supplied (teams can throw in a good second ball).
- Teams will be responsible for putting in bases and lining diamonds prior to the first game on each diamond.
- The same rules apply for closing the diamonds after the last game – if you are the home team, put the bases away, turn out the lights and lock up.
Note: The light switch for diamond 4 is now located right behind the catcher/backstop area. – same key as all other diamonds.
Round-Robin Play
- Games will be 7 innings long – or one hour and 10 minutes. Hustle in and out so we do not fall behind! (If games start to fall behind, umpires will be enforcing the speed of the game and innings will be decreased in order to stay on time.)
- No new inning will start after one hour.
- Ties will stand after 7 innings in Round-Robin games.
- The Mercy Rule will be 12 runs after 5 innings.
- Maximum +/- is 7 (for scorekeeping purposes) – actual +/- will be used if necessary in the case of a tiebreaker.
- Home team does NOT bat if ahead going into bottom of 7.
Playoff Rounds
- The Quarter-Final & Semi-Final games will be one hour 15 minutes, with no new inning after one hour and 5.
- Tied Playoff games will use the International Tie-Breaker rule with NO outs.
- The Finals will be 7 innings – Mercy Rule will be 15 runs after 5 for the Finals.
Beer!
The beer tent will be open 5 pm to 11 pm on Friday and 11 am to 11 pm Saturday. ANY trunk bars will cause your team to be suspended from play immediately … no warnings! Even if your team is out of the tournament, it will jeopardize your standing for next year. The Executive puts a lot of their own time into organizing and setting up the beer tent and would appreciate your support (the League needs the support at the beer tent in order to keep your league fees from increasing).
SportZone
Mike Lorentz will have his Sportzone booth set up on Friday night and again Saturday until approximately 3 pm. I’m sure he will have lots of going out of season sales!
Keys
ALL KEYS MUST BE HANDED IN TO BRUCE or MIKE AT THE PAVILION AFTER YOUR FINAL GAME THIS WEEKEND – we need to return them to the City. If you do not have your keys then you will have to pay appropriate fine/replacement cost.
Make sure you hand them to the proper person as we will be checking your team off the list.
Banquet Reminder
Brandi will be sending banquet info out to all teams in a separate email. Please make sure to remind your team that it is on Saturday, October 24th at the Best Western (formerly Ramada).
Good luck to all teams in the Tournament!
