General Guidelines

CODE OF CONDUCT:

ANY and ALL seniors participating in softball games facilitated by NW Senior Softball are required to follow the general guidelines described below. If anyone feels they cannot or should not be held to these common standards please voice your concern to a committee member before your participation. Else your consent is implied. This includes games played at Melas Park and Schaumburg. 

ANGER MANAGEMENT:

 Our goal is to have fun, exercise, socialize and enjoy time on the diamond. In our pursuit of these goals, we all play with passion. Please remember to keep your emotions in check. We want to ensure we're promoting a fun and safe environment. NW Senior Softball will not condone language or any action that may hurt or frighten another person or that falls below a generally accepted standard of conduct. Seniors playing in NW Senior Softball should behave in a mature and responsible manner. What we ALL cannot allow is an anger situation that leads to actions that could very well result in us losing our welcome to the facility. Friendly teasing or constructive criticism is expected but not to the point that is pushed beyond accepted limits. Nor do we want a situation to occur where one or two individuals disrupt the play of 20 plus guys because they 'lost it' - for ANY reason. Any violation of generally accepted standards may result in a verbal warning, a written warning, immediate removal from the game, suspension from play at a facility NW Senior Softball uses, suspension for a designated period of time or permanent suspension to include play, activities, communication, and any contact between NW Senior Softball and violator by consensus of the committee. 

We also want to remind all of the email sent in April 2024 where we stated:

"We try and we will continue to try to accommodate all requests to play a specific position or on a specific diamond but in the same breath we expect the cooperation of ALL seniors. There could be a couple games or even a couple dozen games where you might be asked to play a position or play on a diamond that is not your preference. Our goal remains to have fun in a safe environment. If you have any reservations with our approach please see any of the Committee you feel comfortable with to air your feelings in a civil manner. And continued THANKS to all those who have cooperated in the past." 

GENERAL OPERATIONS (Melas Park):

('A' and 'B' Diamonds)

Doors are typically open at 8:30AM. Please show up for batting practice from 8:45AM thru 9:25AM as games start at 9:30AM. Lineups are fairly established between 9:15AM and 9:25AM. If your magnetic name tag is not pulled and placed on roster board by that time it creates lineup decisions that impact everyone and often delay game starts. If circumstances delay your arrival until after 9:15AM, please be considerate and contact a fellow ballplayer and ask him to put your name on roster board (advise how late you will be).

What happens at 9:15AM:

• Failure to arrive in person by 9:15AM may result in you being excluded from BP (batting practice).
• Failure to not have your name on roster board by 9:15AM will result in you being slotted as the last batter, as a rover and/or even assigned to a diamond other than your usual diamond.

('C' Diamond):

Doors are typically open at 8:30AM. Please show up for batting practice from 9:00AM thru 9:45AM as games start at 10:00AM. Lineups are fairly established between 9:45AM and 9:55AM. If your magnetic name tag is not pulled and placed on roster board by that time it creates lineup decisions that impact everyone and often delay game starts. If circumstances delay your arrival until after 9:45AM, please be considerate and contact a fellow ballplayer and ask him to put your name on roster board (advise how late you will be).

What happens at 9:45AM:

• Failure to arrive in person by 9:45AM may result in you being excluded from BP (batting practice).
• Failure to not have your name on roster board by 9:45AM will result in you being slotted as the last batter, as a rover and/or even assigned to a diamond other than your usual diamond.

Arlington Heights wants us to remind all that alcohol is prohibited on their premises - including parking lot.

(Schaumburg)

For the MORNING SESSION:  Doors are typically open at 8:30AM. Please show up for batting practice from 8:30AM thru 9:25AM as games start at 9:30AM. Games end dependent on whether there is an afternoon session. If there is an afternoon session, morning games end at 12:25 - no later. If no afternoon session players may continue game until logical conclusion but no later than 3:30.

For the AFTERNOON SESSION:  Doors will already be open, but please do not enter the field area BEFORE 12:25.. Please show up for batting practice from 12:30PM thru 12:55PM as games start at 1:00PM. Games end at 3:30PM.

For Wednesdays doors are typically open at 8:30AM. Please show up for batting practice from 8:30AM thru 9:25AM as games start at 9:30AM.

Failure to arrive prior to 15 minutes before game start may result in being assigned as catcher or rover and batting last.

GENERAL RULES

REQUIREMENTS:

All players agree to cooperate with decisions made by the Committee involving the position they are assigned to, the diamond they are assigned to as well as their position in the batting order. 

All​ players agree to abide by the Code of Conduct contained in our RULES section as well as the Code of Conduct from the Park District.  

All players agree that when conditions require it (e.g., teams reach max players) we may need to rotate players in and out of  the game. You may be asked to sit an inning, play an inning and keep rotating. 

All players agree to help set up the field before games and/or clean up and help store equipment and supplies after games.

Infielders

All assigned infielders must follow general MLB rules requiring the infielder to have both feet on the infield - not positioning themselves in any part of the outfield. 

Batting Practice

Batting practice generally begins whenever enough players are present. Players should practice and bat on their respective diamond (A, B or C). When hitting one should take one turn batting on their respective field only. To ensure all players have a chance to bat, batters are limited to 10 (ten) swings only. After all seniors on a specific diamond have batted, if time remains seniors may take a second turn batting.

Further enhancements to B.P.:

The first few B.P. hitters will be designated from the 'early birds' who arrive and set up the field. Those few will start the process: 3 players = (1) bat, (2) on deck and (3) in the hole. Once the batter has finished, (s)he would go to the field to shag, not man the bucket. On deck moves to bat and in the hole moves to on deck. Taking the place of 'in the hole' will be the person manning the bucket. In turn, a new player mans the bucket and on and on. Simple process change: Arrive at the diamond, go out and shag, when it's your turn, man the bucket then take the 'in the hole' slot. We all need to police the bucket process so players don't now arrive and go straight to man the bucket. We're all in this together. 

INNINGS

 Games are generally 7 innings in length. Exceptions are made for different circumstances where they are 9 innings. If 7 innings a double header is usually played. If 9 innings, one game is played. An exception is made when 3 teams play on one diamond. In these cases a double header is usually played consisting of two 5 inning games.

SCORING

 The maximum number of runs allowed per inning is four (five for the 'A' Field) with the exception of the last inning in which runs are unlimited.  

Lopsided Scores

When a game reaches a point where one team has a 10 run lead or better, it is generally considered lopsided. To compensate for these situations, if a team has a ten run (or more) lead entering the Final inning only, that leading team becomes the Home team, batting last, And like any Home team they will not bat in their bottom half of the inning unless the game is tied or they are losing. This process will apply even when there are 3 teams on one diamond. The team leading by 10 runs 'FLIP FLOPS' to bat last.

Similarly, if entering the last inning a team does NOT have a 10 run lead but they score enough runs to take a 10 run lead, they may continue to bat UNTIL they reach a maximum of a 16 run lead (or 3 outs). Once at a 16 run lead, their at bat is frozen with existing outs and base runners, and the other team bats (FLIP FLOPS). In the unusual case that other team comes back from 16 runs down, then initial team resumes their at bat with 'frozen outs and base runners' restored.