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2011 Rule Changes 2012 Rule Changes General Click Here For Field Improvements 2012 Proposed Changes Return to Top Click Here to leave your suggestions on our FORUM Rule Changes : None - I think we have pretty much got this portion down. Our rules seem to make sense (as least to the league members), but we will entertain suggestions. Format Changes : The concerns I received mostly centered on the length of the evenings, and the time crunch at the end of the year with college students going back to school. So, here are our recommendations for the league next year. 1. Due to the division alignments and number of teams, all series will be 3 games - home, away, home - with home team determined by 1) teams purchasing home fields, 2) coin flip 2. Each team in the league will be played in 1 - 3 games series - 21 game regular season
3. Home team has choice of batting first or last
4. 7 nights of league play
5. Friday night league night, starting at 8 PM (should be done by 10 PM if play starts on time) 6. Makeup nights can be any night, with prior approval
7. Playoffs to start in the 3rd week of July
8. Playoffs to be Texas shootout style, i.e., - team with best overall record chooses who they play in round 1 of playoff - inside or outside of division + and where on the bracket they will go to + can choose bye if odd number of teams - team with 2nd best overall record chooses who they play in round 1 of playoff - inside or outside of division - team with 3rd, 4th, 5th, etc... until all teams paired off in bracket - as as result divisional rivals may end up anywhere on bracket Field Changes : Return to Top We have gained sponsors for each field, allowing the entry fees to remain the same as 2011. We will have 4 fields, hopefully all will be lighted. The new light pole is up on Carroll field (out front) and permanent lights will be added soon. Shelley's Garden Center field is now in the process of being leveled and I hope to add lights to this field before the year begins. Windscreen will be added to the bottom of all fences so tears will no longer be an issue or problem. Teams will be able to purchase the rights to their desired home field. These changes are being added to help assist us in breaking even. 1. Entry fee $125 per team. This permits entry into the league, playoffs and either the spring 2012 NWBA Ohio State Slow Pitch State Championship or the fall NWBA Ohio State Fast Pitch State Championship. 2. $75 will purchase the home field of your choice. Teams doing so will automatically be the Home team on both games of non-conference series (or first bat if you want). Against non-conference foes who also have a home field, the series will be split so each team is the home team once. Teams with a purchased home field will automatically be the Home team on the 1st and 3rd games of each series against conference foes (unless you choose to bat first or if the other team also has bought a right to a home field). If neither team in a non conference match up has purchased a home field, each team will be the home team for 1 game. A coin flip at the beginning of the game will allow the winner to determine if they desire to be the home team in the 1st or last game of the series. If neither team in a conference 3 game series has purchased a home field, a coin toss will determine who has the choice of being the home team in the 1st and 3rd games. We welcome your suggestions and comments on our forum ! Proposed Schedule : Return to Top Friday May 18th - League night #1 Friday May 25th - League night #2 Friday and Saturday June 1st and June 2nd - 2012 NWBA Ohio Slow Pitch State Championship
Friday June 8th - League night #3 Friday June 15th - League night #4 Friday June 22nd - League night #5 Friday June 29th - League night #6 Friday July 6th - Make Up night Friday July 13th - League night #7 July 16th - 22nd Playoff Round 1 - Wildcards July 23rd - 29th Playoff Round 2 - Divisional Championships July 30th - August 5th - 2012 COWL World Series Teams with high school baseball players or college students will be free to make up missed league nights in May or early June as soon as they are able. These will be scheduled as an early series of each night so the teams on schedule can play their regular 2 game schedule for the night and be on their way. These double series will start at 6:30 and should be complete by the time the normal 8 PM games get started. 2011 Proposed Changes Return to Top After talking to someone from every team, we have made the following format and rule changes for the 2011 Central Ohio Wiffleball League. Thanks to all for your input ! Rule Changes Return to Top 1) Pitcher's Hand will only retire runners going to 1st base. Both umpires and players indicated it is nigh impossible to watch multiple bases at one time and watch the Pitcher's mound also. Base runners to all other bases must be retired via force plays, tagging or pegging. NOTE: after a runner to 1st is retired via Pitcher's Hand, all force plays at other bases are nullified so runners must be tagged or pegged to get them out. This rule also applies to force outs after fly balls. Only runners on 1st can be caught off base not tagging via Pitcher's Hand. All others must be tagged, pegged or forced by touching the base they are returning to tag at. 2) Pegging will be permitted at any base, including 1st. If you think you can lite 'em up, go for it ! I do not really know why we didn't do this from the beginning. This should lead to a little more excitement on the base paths do to overthrows. 3) After much discussion, Ghost runners will still NOT count. Teams with 3 players will need to risk making it all the way home to score. Ghost runners MUST be placed at the closest base to home plate (3rd). In short, a real person must cross the base for a run to score. 4) Games will start at their scheduled times. Teams will be given a 15 minute grace period. Failure to start after the grace period will result in a forfeit for that game. Only 2 players are required to start a game, although all rules concerning ghost runners apply even with only 2 players available. 5) Starting pitchers will be required to pitch 2 innings. This will help address the complaints about teams not adequately and accurately recording innings pitched by each pitcher. Starting pitchers will be required to pitch 2 innings or they get no credit for innings pitched. This applies to slow pitch nights ONLY. On fastpitch nights, any player may pitch at any time. 6) Which ever pitcher for a team records the last out of an inning is the pitcher of record for that inning and gets credit for the inning pitched.
=============================================================================================== Format Changes Return to Top 1) League night games will be 3 or 4 game series league against the same team, using the home, away, home, away format. This will make the pitching rotations more important as each team will see every pitcher on the opposing team. It will also make make-ups much easier as arrangements with only 1 team will need to be made. Using this format all league games against a non-conference opponent will be played on the same night, with 2 nights reserved for each conference opponent. 2) All teams will now play 3 games per league night. While 4 was really fun, it left little room in the schedule for late starts and long games. 3) To make it fair to all teams, the league will be played on Friday nights, unless more than 8 teams enter. All teams will be expected to make arrangements to play on Friday nights. If 9 teams or more enter, the league will be organized into a division playing on Friday night, and the other division playing on Saturday night. 4) 1 makeup night will be available per half. It is the responsibility of the team cancelling to make arrangements with the other team captains for playing. All games not made up in the half in which they are missed are considered forfeits for the team which cannot make the original date. This rule comes as the result of complaints by multiple teams that they played with 3, or less than idea line-ups while other teams cancelled when not at optimum strength. If your team cancels, the responsibility is on your team to arrange make ups with the teams you miss. Failure to do so by the end of that half of the season is a forfeit for the originally cancelling team. I would strongly advise making games up BEFORE the regular weekly league night. 5) If possible, we will start in early May. Those teams that cannot start due to players at college, etc., will be given extra leeway to play makeups on Saturdays or later in the month. By starting earlier league play should be complete by mid June, allowing playoffs to be done by mid-July.
6) From 18 - 21 league games will be played. 7) Home fields will only be designated for teams sponsoring a field. All other home field assignments will rotate based upon the schedule and what fields are open. Teams sponsoring a field will always have series home field advantage against foes not sponsoring a field (2 games as home, 1 as visitor). When 2 teams sponsoring fields play a series, home field will be alternated by series. If your team wants a home field, and the benefit of being guaranteed series home field advantate, simply sponsor a field ! This benefits your team and the league !
=============================================================================================== Modified Pitch Nights Return to Top 1) One round of modified pitch (overhand semi-fast pitch) games will be played. During this round the 5 inning per pitcher per night rule will be suspended (i.e., the same pitcher can pitch all games). So, your team will play every other league team 1 time in a modified pitch game. Pitch speed is considered pitch-to-hit, less than 40 mph (not terribly fast). The pitcher's mound will be placed at 40 feet for these modified games. Batters may request pitches be slowed down. Speed is not the object, but rather pitch movement and placement are paramount.. On modified pitch nights - modified bats are also permitted. Bats must be the same original diameter as official yellow wiffle bats, but may be taped, stuffed, sanded, loaded, whatever. Here is your chance to build the perfect bat. There will be no weight restrictions (on the bats, that is). The strike zone will be a 30" tall, 22" wide Styrofoam rectangle located 3' behind home plate. Any pitch hitting the foam is a strike, regardless of where it crosses the plate at. Batters may not stick body parts intentionally into the path of a pitch. Doing so is an automatic strike. Batters do not need to move out of the way of pitches, but cannot move into the path either.
Six balls will be a walk, but only a single. Any foul tip with 2 strikes hitting the strike zone results in a strike out. Moonshot and other bats of 1 5/8" diameter ("official diameter") are permitted. Larger diameter bats ARE NOT permitted. =============================================================================================== General Requests Return to Top 1) We need to make a concerted effort to start games on time - 7 PM will be the standard start time. Teams will be given a 15 minute grace period. Foreiture of the game will occur at the end of the 15 minute grace period. Teams may take the field with 2 or more players. 2) RECRUIT YOUR FRIENDS !!! - each team you recruit will result in a $20 refund on your entry fee ! Consider sponsoring a field for $250. You will receive : a sponsor banner, home field choice and free entry into the league and all 3 tournaments we hold. More teams will allow us to mix up match-ups and make it that much more fun ! =============================================================================================== 2011 Field Improvements Newly harrowed, plugged, seeded, fertilized, strawed and irrigated TLC field And here is the result .....
Even after a terribly dry fall, and a very bad winter, the new grass on TLC has filled in beautifully and the field is in even better shape than I had hoped for. This will be an excellent field this year. If only I can get the same grass to fill in as lushly on the 2 backyard fields. Those of you who played in the NWHBF State Tourney at Joe Nuxhall Park in Hamilton, OH, know the absolutely fantastic condition the softball fields were in. We had the privilege of playing against the Hamilton County Parks team, and I met the Parks Director, Mark Cane. After complementing him on the condition of the fields I discovered he is a graduate of The Ohio State University in Turf Management Sciences. This discipline is part of the College of Food, Agriculture and Environmental Sciences (CFAES) to which I belong, and specifically, located on the Wooster campus, which is where my appointment originates from. Kindred souls, Mark and I.. Discovering our common roots, Mark invited me for a full tour of their irrigation and turf maintenance shop. I commented on the lushness of their grass and Mark ripped the tag off of one of the seed bags they use to seed their fields. This is a drought resistant, thin bladed mix of 5 different kinds of Fescue named Fescutastic. After returning home I called Landmark (Royster / Clark) where I have purchased the grass seeds for our fields in the past. They informed me this seed supplier is one of their best and so I ordered 400 lbs of Fescutastic. Ironically, the seed was developed by an OSU researcher and is grown, harvested and packaged in Wooster also.
TLC field has been completely harrowed, reseeded, fertilized and strawed. I am hopeful that 2 seasons of growth before next summer will ensure a thick, lush, lasting field.
TLC field has also underwent dramatic fence improvements. New fence was placed above the green moster to replace decaying blue fence. A new down bumper was fashioned out of sheet metal and attached to the wall, providing more consistent bounces to balls hit off the fence and protecting the top edge from water damage.
8' tall fish netting has replaced the 4' high safety fence in center field. The new fence is at 100', 10' shorter than the previous length. This netting has also been installed in right field, and a green 4' extension placed on top of the netting to make all right field fence a standard 12' tall.
A 25' foul pole has been installed in right field and saftey fence on each side of the right and left field foul lines to prevent balls from going behind the fence.
All told, TLC is now a very nice field. The Legends have claimed TLC once again in 2011 as their home field, with TLC being their sponsor.
J & M and the woods fields after vigorously being plugged, dethatched, seeded and fertilized Both J & M and the woods fields have been aerated vigorously with a plugging aerator, over seeded and fertilized. Normal rainfall amounts should ensure a green field all summer next year, although it may not be as lush in the early spring because Kentucky Bluegrass is an early spring, cold weather species.
As of May 1, 2011, the fencing for J & M and the woods fields has been set up. The backyard was vigorously plugged again in early March because little of the overseeding done in fall 2010 germinated due to the lack of rain. That obviously has not been a problem this spring and the fields were overseeded with 150 additional lbs of the Fescutastic.
As of May 1, the field has been fertilized several times and mowed approximately every 2 days and has made a dramatic improvement. Bare patches killed off by crabgrass have regerminated and even the base areas killed by wear have mature growth. If we are fortunate to have normal precipitation during the summer, then one additional overseeding with this drought hardy grass type should make for very nice fields in seasons to come. J & M after spring aeration, overseeding, fertilizing and rolling
The Woods field, awaiting a new sponsor and a team to claim it as home field
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