Roster Input

Rules by Age Group

Smart Pitch Standards

Equipment

Responsibility

• All participating member towns in the Hockomock Summer League are responsible for providing fields, equipment, and baseballs for home games.
• All batters and base runners must wear a helmet.

Baseballs

• Junior League Division: Acceptable baseball brands: Diamond DLL, Diamond DCR, or Rawlings RLLB (No dash variations).
• Senior League Division: Acceptable baseball brands: Diamond DBR or Rawlings RSLL (No dash variations).
• Diamond League:
  • Baseballs must adhere to NFHS and NOCSAE standards.
  • Players must use BBCOR stamped bats (-3) or wooden bats with a 2 5/8-inch barrel diameter.

Bats

13 – 15-year-old Division:

• Allowed bats: BBCOR or USA stamped bats.
• Maximum bat length: 34 inches. Maximum BBCOR Bat Drop is a Drop 3
• Maximum bat barrel diameter: 2 5/8 inches.
• Only composite barrel bats certified and marked BBCOR .50 or USA stamped bats are permitted.
• Wood barrel bats conforming to Official Baseball Rule 1.10 specifications are allowed.

9 – 12-year-old Divisions: Allowed bats: Alloy, composite, or wooden bats with a maximum 2 5/8-inch barrel diameter (per new USABat standards) www.usabat.com. 

Catcher’s Masks

• One piece & Two Piece (skull cap & mask) catcher’s masks are allowed.
• All masks must have throat protection via a guard or mask extension.

CALL UP Rules/Procedures

• Teams may only call up a player (s) from another HSL declared team (no Friendship, Sizzler, Suburban, independent tournament teams, etc.) from the same town.
• A team may only call up players from the same or lower age group (A 10U team may only call up 9U or 8U players). 8U teams do not have a call up option (recommendation - larger rosters. For those towns with Friendship or other 8U league participation teams, add some of those players to your 8U HSL team roster for additional callup options).
• A team may only call up players from a commisurate or lower division level (i.e. a D1 team can call up from a D2 or D3 team at the same age level or lower).
• Called up players cannot pitch.

These rules apply to the regular season for both Junior and Senior Divisions. They also apply to the junior division for the playoffs, however callups are not allowed for senior division teams.  

If a team requires a call up, the coach should work with the other town team to identify the players who are available (impact to the other team should be mimized as much as possible).  Once the player(s) are identified who will be called, the coach should then notify the opposing coach ahead of time for the sake of transparency and clearly communicate the reason, and the players and team from which the call up is occuring.

Entering SCores & PITCH Counts

Rescheduling and Forfeitures:

Make-Up Dates:

• All make-up dates initially offered should ideally be played at the site of the originally scheduled game.
• If the scheduled home team cannot provide a field, and the game must be played at the visiting team's field or a neutral site, the scheduled home team retains the home field advantage.

Game Days:

• The Hockomock League schedules games Monday through Friday.
• Weekend dates may be used for rescheduling, but it is not mandatory.
• Both coaches must agree to any final rescheduling of games prior to implementation.

Tournament Games vs. Hock Games

If two Hockomock Summer League towns are participating in a tournament, the game will count as both a tournament game and a Hockomock Summer League game under the following conditions:

Player Eligibility:

• Both teams must field only players from their Hockomock roster for the game.
• Opposing managers must verify player eligibility before the game begins.

Mutual Agreement:

• Both managers must agree prior to the game that it will also count as a Hockomock Summer League game.
• Once the umpire initiates play, this above agreement is final and cannot be changed.

Rules Adherence:

Teams will follow Hockomock Summer League rules during the game; tournament rules will not apply.

Umpires

Age Requirement:

• • All umpires must be at least 13 years old.
  • Umpires under 18 are classified as Junior Umpires.

Junior Umpire Roles:

• • Junior Umpires may officiate as Home Plate Umpire in the Eight-Year-Old & Nine-Year-Old Divisions, where both umpires can be junior umpires.
  • Junior Umpires can serve as base/field umpires for all divisions ten and above.

Patch Requirement:

• • All umpires must wear league patches.

Responsibility:

• • The home team is responsible for providing two umpires who meet these requirements.

Exceptions:

• • Due to umpire shortages, exceptions to the age requirement may be considered by the Hock Board for the current season.
  • Such decisions will be made before the season starts and communicated to all town representatives during pre-season meetings.

Minimum Game Requirements:

• 8U/9U Games - 2 Junior Umpires
• Junior Division (10U-12U) Games:
  - D1: 1 Junior Umpire; 1 Patched Adult.  Playoffs require 2 Patched Adult Umpires.
  - D2-D3: 1 Junior Umpire; 1 Patched Umpire (adult or junior; as long as they are patched).  Playoffs require 2 Patched Adult Umpires.
• Senior Division (13U-18U) Games: 2 Patched Adult Umpires​​​​​

If a Town is Short an Umpire:

Situations may arrise where a town can't meet the minimum requirement, but does have at least one umpire present.  While the visiting coach can require two umpires, in the spirit of sportsmanship and getting the games in, we encourage coaches to make due and play the game out.  These should be exceptions and not standard operating procedure.  If a town does only have one umpire available, and the visiting coach chooses to play on, we still encourage this to be reported to the HSL board so that patterns can be identified and action taken to ensure this is an exception and not the rule.

There is NO flexibility for playoff games.  All minimum requirements MUST be met or the home team automatically takes a forfeit and is eliminated from playoff contention.

Heat Index Guidelines

Weather Related Postponements

Notification Process:

• The home team manager or representative must notify the division scorekeeper within 24 hours of the game, preferably by email, to report a postponement due to weather.
• Failure to notify within the specified time will result in forfeiture by the home team.

Make-Up Game Offer:

• Within 48 hours of the original game, the home team manager will offer two make-up game dates to the visiting team manager.
• These make-up dates must fall within 10 days of the original game.
• If a game cannot be scheduled at the home team's field, the visiting team's field can be offered.

Notification of Rescheduled Game:

• Once the make-up game is scheduled, the home team manager must notify the division scorekeeper within 24 hours with the date and time of the new game.
• Failure to notify within the specified time will result in forfeiture by the home team.

Forfeiture if Game Cannot Be Played:

• If a game cannot be played within ten days of the original game, both teams will forfeit the game.

Extension of Season:

• For any scheduled games postponed due to weather in the last 10 days of the season and cannot be rescheduled between teams, the Hockomock Executive Board retains the right to extend the season if necessary.

Pitching Rules Governing Resumption:

• Pitchers who pitched and were relieved in the game before postponement are not eligible to pitch in the reschedule remainder of the game.
• A pitcher who was pitching when the game was paused is eligible to return; however, that pitcher must be available to do so following the MLB Smart Pitch Rules (i.e. if the game is rescheduled for the next day and they are now on rest, or they pitched in a separate game within the days leading up to the reschedule and are on rest, then they would not be eligible to pitch in the reschedule).

Non-Weather-Related Postponements:

Notification Process:

• The manager responsible for postponing the game must notify the division scorekeeper within 24 hours of the game, preferably by email, to report a non-weather-related event as the cause of postponement.
• Failure to notify within the specified time will result in forfeiture by the postponing team.

Make-Up Game Offer:

• Within 48 hours of the original game, the manager of the team not responsible for the postponement will offer two make-up game dates to the postponing team manager.
• These make-up dates must fall within 10 days of the original game.
• If a game cannot be scheduled at the home team's field, the visiting team's field can be offered.

Notification of Rescheduled Game:

• Once the make-up game is scheduled, the postponing team manager must notify the division scorekeeper within 24 hours with the date and time of the new game.
• Failure to notify within the specified time will result in forfeiture by the postponing team.

Forfeiture if Game Cannot Be Played:

• If a game cannot be played within ten days of the original game, the postponing team will forfeit the game.

Pitching Rules Governing Resumption:

• Pitchers who pitched and were relieved in the game before postponement are not eligible to pitch in the reschedule remainder of the game.
• A pitcher who was pitching when the game was paused is eligible to return; however, that pitcher must be available to do so following the MLB Smart Pitch Rules (i.e. if the game is rescheduled for the next day and they are now on rest, or they pitched in a separate game within the days leading up to the reschedule and are on rest, then they would not be eligible to pitch in the reschedule).

Playoffs

Qualification: The top eight teams in each division will qualify for the playoffs.

Tiebreaker Rules

If teams have the same record:

Primary Tiebreaker:

1. Head-to-Head performance.
2. Fewest runs allowed throughout the season.
3. Coin toss.

Three Team or More Tiebreaker:

1. Head-to-Head performance among tied teams.
2. Fewest runs allowed against tied teams.
3. Coin toss.

Format

The team with the highest seed will have home-field advantage.

First Round (Weather Dependent):

• Game One: Eighth Place at First Place.
• Game Two: Seventh Place at Second Place.
• Game Three: Sixth Place at Third Place.
• Game Four: Fifth Place at Fourth Place.

Second Round (Weather Dependent):

• Game Five: Lowest seed winner at highest seed winner.
• Game Six: Second lowest seed winner at second highest seed winner.

Finals (Weather Dependent):

• Game Seven: Winner of game five and game six play for championship.

Seven Team Playoff Format

#1 Seed receives a first-round bye.

First Round:

• #2 versus #7.
• #3 versus #6.
• #4 versus #5.

Second Round:

• #1 seed versus Lowest Seed.
• Second Lowest Seed versus Second Higher Seed.

Finals:

• Winners of second round games.

Divisions with Six or Less Teams: Format will be announced upon completion of the league schedule.

Game Rules:

• All playoff games will be played to their conclusion, unless the slaughter rule penalty ends the game.
• Games suspended due to darkness or weather-related issues will continue from the point of suspension.
• All playoff games are scheduled during the week.
• Weather-related delays will result in games being pushed back by one weekday. If games are postponed to Friday, further postponement will move the games to Monday.