Winter Wiffle Classic

Sign up today to play!: http://givingleagues.com/tournaments/43008-winter-wiffle-classic Hello all and thank you for supporting The Giving League. We are extremely excited to announce our first event which will be the 2015 Winter Wiffle Classic. The Winter Wiffle Classic will be a 1 day, 16 team wiffle ball tournament that will take place on February 7, 2015 at Hammond Park in Sandy Springs, Georgia. Tournament Format: Teams may consist of between 10-12 players with at least 5 male players and 3 female players on each team. The 16 teams will be broken down into 4 divisions. Each division will play a round robin and the top two teams in each division will advance to the knockout round. This ensures that each team that plays in the tournament will play a minimum of 3 games and the winner and runner up will play 6 games each. It’s going to be a fun and full day of wiffle ball. Sign Up: Players may either sign up as part of a team or as a free agent. Free agents will be placed on to teams that do not have full 12 player rosters. If you would like to sign up as a team please denote a captain to first sign up and then send out their registration link to team players. Team players will also have a chance to fill out a teammate request during registration. For any problems with player registration please email: info@givingleagues.com. Cost: The cost to each player to play in the Winter Wiffle Classic is only $35 and this will include a minimum of 3 games played, an event t-shirt, a chance to take home the 2015 Winter Wiffle Classic trophy, and the chance to raise awareness and funds for First Impressions, the organization benefiting from this year’s tournament! Benefitting Organization: It is with great pleasure, that this year, the Winter Wiffle Classic will benefit First Impressions, a community resource of WOW In-Sync, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. First Impressions is an educational clothing boutique where women with developmental disabilities learn about proper fit and appropriate dress. In addition to these educational components, First Impressions collects donations of brand new clothes and makes them available for women with intellectual disabilities to purchase for as little as $1. Some women have been fortunate enough to purchase close to $3,000 worth of clothes for as little as $3. All of the money First Impressions makes goes directly toward purchasing difficult to find clothing sizes or undergarments. We are extremely excited about creating more awareness about First Impressions in our community and we will be donating a portion of all revenue generated by this tournament to this organization. Please learn more about First Impressions on its website, www.1impressions.org and also be sure to like them on Facebook and follow them on other social media sites, Twitter: FirstImpress09 and Instagram: 1impressions2009. Official Rules Section 1: Equipment and Regulations Equipment and Field Size/Setup 1. Only balls provided by The Giving League are to be used. There will be no personal wiffle balls. 2. There will be four (4) bases as First base, Second base, Third base, and Home Plate, which will be 40 feet apart 3. There will be an object strike zone, placed two (2) feet behind the tip of Home Plate and measuring 24 inches wide and 27 inches tall. The strike zone will be 38 feet from the pitching rubber and about 12 inches off the ground. The pitchers mound is 35 feet from the back tip of home plate. 4. The home run line will be 100 feet from home plate to center field and 95 feet from home plate to left field, and right field. 5. Only official yellow and black Wiffle Ball bats are allowed and only bats provided by The Giving League are to be used. a. No bat may be taped, stuffed, iced, or altered in any way 6. Cleats are prohibited. Players may wear sneakers or turf shoes. Regulations 1. Teams may have a minimum of 10 players registered and a maximum of 12 players registered 2. At least 5 players on the team must be male and at least 3 players on the team must be female 3. At least 8 players per team must be present to play a Winter Wiffle Classic tournament game 4. Teams may not have more than 12 players on their team roster 5. Teams must have exactly 8 players playing defense. That is, the pitcher, the catcher, 3 infielders, and 3 outfielders 6. Games are 6 innings. An inning may not start past the 45 minute mark in the game. 7. There will be 3 outs per team, per inning 8. Score sheets will be used to record all stats, including the batting order for the game. Section 2: Pitching 1. Pitchers must pitch from or within 1 foot of the rubber that denotes the pitching mound. 2. Any type of pitching grip is permitted 3. No doctoring wiffle balls in any way is permitted 4. There will be no balks called 5. Pitch speed may not exceed 30 mph Walks/Strikeouts 1. A strikeout is 3 strikes to a male player, 3 strikes to a female player using the black bat, and 4 strikes to a female player using the yellow bat 2. A walk will be issued after 8 balls Pitching rotation 1. No pitcher may pitch two consecutive innings 2. A female must pitch every third inning 3. Pitching rotations will reset after ever tournament game Section 3: Offense Batting 1. All male batters must use the official yellow Wiffle Ball bat 2. Female batters may elect to use the official yellow Wiffle Ball bat or the official black bat. Females electing to use the yellow bat will be out after 4 strikes. Females electing to use the black bat will be out after 3 strikes. 3. Stopping potential strikes by leaning into them or stopping them with the hand or body is not permitted. Failure to abide will result in a strike on the batter at the umpire’s discretion. 4. Bunting is not permitted under any circumstance 5. Throwing bats or yelling to deliberately distract fielders will result in an automatic out 6. Teams will bat all team players in their batting order and set the batting order in whatever order they wish 7. Batting out of order will result in an automatic out 8. Batters will not take first base if hit by a pitch. The result of a hit batter will be a ball 9. The dud zone is a zone marked 15 feet from home plate and across. If a ball is hit and stops in the dud zone the result is a foul ball Base Running 1. Base runners may not steal 2. Base runners may not lead off of a base to get a head start 3. Base runners may not leave the base they are on until the ball is hit by the batter 4. Tagging on caught balls is allowed. Runners who leave early can be tagged out by tagging the base they left before they get back to it. Runners will also be called out if tagged or pegged with the wiffle ball by a defensive player 5. Runners may advance at will until the ball is in possession of the pitcher on the pitcher’s mound 6. A base runner will be called out if he or she runs five feet outside of the base path 7. A base runner may only over run first base and home plate. If a runner overruns second or third base and is tag the runner will be called out 8. If a base runner is hit by a batted ball he or she will be called out and play will resume as normal, that will not be a dead ball Section 4: Fielding Fielding 1. No more than 8 players (1 pitcher, 1 catcher, 3 infielders, 3 outfielders) my play at one time on defense. Players may substitute freely on defense 2. Fielders may not go beyond the home run line to catch a ball 3. Fielders must have possession of the ball and at least one foot in the playing field to catch a ball that is going to land beyond the home run line 4. Fielders may bat a ball into play before it lands past the home run line 5. Fielders may hit runners with the ball to record an out 6. Once a runner has been hit by a ball, the play is dead and runners may no longer advance Section 5: Game Situations Pitchers poison rule 1. When fielding a ball, the fielder may choose to throw the batter out at first OR record the out by throwing the ball to a player covering the pitcher’s mound. Essentially, the pitchers mound is a second first base. 2. If a fielder records an out in the field by tagging a base or runner, they may then throw to either first base or the pitcher’s mound to record a double play Home Run 1. Ball goes over the fence in the air 2. Batter is able to score without a defensive error Ground Rule Double 1. There are no ground rule doubles 2. If a ball is hit past the home run line on the ground the ball is in play and the runner may advance until the fielder gets the ball back in play Strikes Include 1. If a ball is swung at and missed 2. A ball is fouled off except with two strikes 3. A pitched ball hits the strike zone board 4. The batter prevents the ball from hitting the strike zone by either getting in the way or catching the ball 5. A fouled third strike that hits the strike zone will result in a strikeout A base runner will be called out if: 1. The ball touches any base runner and the runner is not on a base 2. If a base runner is a force out and a fielder tags the base that runner is advancing to 3. A base runner is tagged out or hit by a thrown ball. If a runner is hit by a thrown ball the play is dead and all runners must return to the closest base and may not advance Section 6: Umpiring Umpiring 1. Each game will be officiated by an honesty policy but all final calls will be made by a designated official 2. An official will be positioned between third base and the home run line as balls and strikes will be determined by the stationary strike zone