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. Otherwise, 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 maturely and responsibly. What we ALL cannot allow is an anger situation that leads to actions that could 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 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):

(ALL Diamonds)

Doors are typically open at 8:30AM. Please show up for batting practice from 8:45AM thru 9:45AM as games start at 10:00AM. Lineups are fairly established between 9:25AM and 9:45AM. If your magnetic name tag is not pulled and placed on the roster board by that time, it creates lineup decisions that impact everyone and often delays 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 the roster board (advise how late you will be).

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

(Schaumburg)

For the MORNING SESSION:  Doors are typically open by 8:20AM. Please show up for batting practice from 8:20AM thru 9:25AM as games start at 9:30AM. Games end depending on whether there is an afternoon session. If there is an afternoon session, morning games end at 12:15 - 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 12:15PM thru 12:55PM as games start at 1:00PM. Games end at 3:30PM.

Failure to arrive prior to 15 minutes before game start may result in no opportunity to participate in batting practice, being assigned as catcher, rover and batting last.

GENERAL RULES ALL SITES

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 (contained at top of page) 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.

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 8 (eight) swings only. After all seniors on a specific diamond have batted, if time remains seniors may take a second turn batting. (Actual number of BP swings may be adjusted each day dependent on player volume.)

Further enhancements to B.P. - 'A' Level ONLY:

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. 

POSITIONING (INFIELDERS)

Consistent with MLB, infielders must have both feet on the infield dirt, meaning shifts with third basemen at shortstop, shortstops shaded to the right of second, and second basemen in right field are prohibited. Infielders must start with their feet on the infield before each pitch.

POSITIONING (OUTFIELDERS)

Continuing a tradition our softball players have followed for over ten years, outfielders must be positioned in the outfield behind a marked line in the short  areas of outfield(s) at Melas Park.

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 the other team comes back from 16 runs down, then the initial team resumes their at bat with 'frozen outs and base runners' restored.