2008 SUMMER LEAGUE REGISTRATION

Summer Leagues shall be limited to teams, comprised of participants in good standing, which submit their completed registration forms and entry fee in full.  Team registration shall begin Monday, January 14 and end Friday, April 4 or when the leagues / divisions are full whichever comes first.  Teams must submit registration forms and entry fees at the O'Brien Recreation Center.  The O'Brien Recreation Center is conveniently located at 321 E. Walter St.; South Bend.  The O'Brien Recreation Center is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 am until 4:00 pm.  Complete registration information and forms shall be available on our website: www.sbpark.org and at the O'Brien Recreation Center.

Entry fees shall be $475 if paid in full before 4:00 pm March 14.  After March 14 add $25.  All teams shall also be charged $100 player participation fee.  An additional $2 per waiver submitted after the teams' first game at the Belleville Softball Complex shall be assessed.  No player may be legally added after Thursday, July 3.

All teams shall be scheduled to play at least twelve (12) league games.  Actual team registration and league / division set-ups shall dictate the actual number of games scheduled which may be as many as sixteen (16).  An attempt shall be made to schedule at least half of those games, six (6), at the Belleville Softball Complex.  In general, higher levels of play shall play more games and shall be scheduled more often at the Belleville Softball Complex.  Games, which are cancelled or postponed by inclement weather shall be rescheduled into the regular season, or rescheduled on available weekends, added to the end of the regular season or cancelled at the discretion of the League Director.

The following leagues / divisions shall be offered as long as at least six (6) teams register per league / division.

Men's Slow Pitch

• Sunday Silver
• Sunday Bronze
• Monday Platinum / Gold
• Monday Silver
• Monday Bronze
• Wednesday Silver
• Wednesday Bronze
• Wednesday Wooden Bat
• Thursday Silver
• Thursday Bronze

Coed Slow Pitch

• Sunday Silver
• Sunday Bronze
• Tuesday Gold
• Tuesday Silver
• Tuesday Bronze
• Friday Silver
• Friday Bronze

Women's Slow Pitch

• Friday

Men's Church Slow Pitch

• Friday

As our reputation at the Belleville Softball Complex has grown, so to have the number of events on our calendar.  These events directly impact diamond availability for league play.  Therefore we will be scheduling league games on Friday, May 23, Thursday, July 3 and Sunday, July 6.  As always we will attempt, but not guarantee, to honor all special scheduling requests.  It is important that these requests be submitted in writing - on the team registration form, before schedules are generated.

A combination Platinum/Gold League shall be offered on Mondays.  This league will be divided into two divisions and is reserved for premier teams.  Games will be scheduled as double-headers.  The League Director must approve all teams that play in this league.

Teams wishing to participate in the Friday Men's Church League must be comprised of church members as defined by the sponsoring church.  The season shall start on May 9 and most games shall be scheduled as double-headers.

We are offering a Wednesday Men's Wooden Bat League!  The League will provide all wooden bats and will sell bats to league teams for practice.  All games will be played at the Belleville Softball Complex.

Playing rules which are unique to leagues / divisions are:

Over the fence home run limits shall be:

Excess home runs shall be outs!

• All Coed and Women's games shall have a sixty-five (65) minute time limit.  No inning shall start more than sixty-five (65) minutes after the umpire has declared, "play ball".  Note: games may end in a tie!

New procedures / playing rules for 2008:

• All players must wear matching shirts.  All players must display a visible Arabic whole number (0-99) of contrasting color, or outlined in contrasting color on their uniform.  At no point may two players from the same team wear identical numbers in a game.
• Game time is forfeit time.  However, the umpire will wait ten (10) minutes before starting a game.  The result will be that the game will be a six (6) inning official game; with the best result the violating team(s) can achieve a "tie".  Under no circumstances will an umpire start a game after more than ten (10) minutes.  In case of a time limit game; no new inning can start after fifty-five (55) minutes.
• Forfeited games can quickly ruin the spirit of a recreation program.  Forfeits harm both the team that is short-handed and the team that showed up on time, ready to play.  In an effort to encourage teams to show-up on time and ready to play we will charge forfeiting teams a $25 fee which must be paid at the Belleville Softball Complex before the teams next game.  This fee may be waived, at the discretion of the League Director, if sufficient notice is given.
• A ten (10) run rule after five (5) innings and a fifteen (15) run rule after four (4) innings equal at-bats shall be in effect for all league games.
• In order to start a game at least nine (9) players must be present and available.  Teams starting with nine (9) players shall not take an automatic out in the vacant spot in the batting order.  A team may bat as many players as they like in their order.  However, they must have at least nine (9) players to finish the game.  Teams starting with ten (10) or more players who lose a player shall take an automatic out whenever a vacant spot in the batting order is due to bat.  EXCEPTION: (1) In all coed games whenever two male players bat back-to-back an automatic out shall be declared; (2) Coed games also require a minimum of four (4) males and a minimum of four (4) females.

Teams shall not submit a team roster as such.  Team rosters shall be comprised of all "2008 Official Waiver & Release of Liability & Indemnification" forms, which are completely and correctly filled out, initialed and signed, and submitted by individuals for your team.  (Please note that "Shirt Size" is requested for team t-shirt award ordering.)  All participants must complete and submit waiver forms for each team they choose to participate with before playing!  Failure to comply may result, at the discretion of the League Director, in forfeiting games, suspension of participants and managers and potentially individual or team expulsion from further participation in South Bend Parks & Recreation programs.

Additional information and forms:

Still have questions?  If so, please email: softball@southbendin.gov and a member of the Belleville Softball Staff will promptly respond to your inquiry.