PONY NATIONAL QUALIFIER
TOURNAMENT RULES 2009
June 12th – June 14th
1) Tournament
structure – 3 games complete a first round, then a single elimination
Championship round. There are 12 teams in this years tournament. There are 3 brackets of 4 teams each. Each team will play the other 3 teams in their bracket once. After Saturday's pool play results are offical,teams will be seeded based on the results of all 12 teams. The 4 top seeded teams will recieve a bye into the round of 8 (Quarter Finals). Home team during all Championship round play will be the higher seeded team. The Championship round will begin with the #5 seed playing the #12, the #6 playing #11, the #7 plays #10 and the #8 plays #9. The quarter finals will have the #1 seed playing the winner of the 8/9 game (1), the #2 seed plays the winner of the 7/10 game (2), the #3 seed will play the winner of the 6/11 game (4) and the #4 will play the winner of the 5/12game (5). The semi final round will feature the winner of game 1 versus the winner of game 5 (6) and the winner of game 2 versus the winner of game 3 (7). The Championship game will feature the winner of game 6 versus the winner of game 7 (8). The winner of game 8 will be the Berkshire Blaze PONY National Qualifier Champion.
2) Time limit - All
games except championship will have
a 1 hour 25 minute time limit. No new inning may start after 1 hour 25 minutes. 3) Championship game
will have no time limit. 4) PONY mercy rules
of 12/10/8 after 3/4/5 will be in effect for all games. 5) First round games that are tied when time
expires will be recorded as a tie 6) All games are
seven (7) innings when time permits. 7) The criteria used
for Sunday's seeding are in order as follows: a) Wins (overall Record , ties trump losses) b) b) Head to Head c) Least runs
allowed (Please note, runs scored will not be d) Coin toss 8) Coin
toss will determine home team during first round play. Failure to appear when umpires call for coin toss will result
in a 7-0 forfeit. Higher seed team will be home team during Sunday's single
elimination play. 9) The
tournament director will make every effort to bring the tournament to a successful completion, but reserves the right to
cancel, reschedule, or change the
time limits of games to accomplish this goal. 10) In
case of rain Saturday, seeding for Sunday will be drawn at random. In case of
rain on Sunday when no games can be played the Saturday results will be used to determine a champion. PONY weather
rules for refund of tournament fees in case of bad weather will be in effect. 11) Trophies will be awarded to the 1st and 2nd place teams. Trophies will be presented at the field after
the championship
game is completed. Team Most Valuable Opponent medals will be presented in all
first round games. Most Valuable Player Plaque will be given to a player of the
tournament winning team’s choice. Winning team will recieve a PONY 2009 Championship Banner 12) This is a PONY tournament, all Pony rules from the 2009 Pony Girls
Softball Rules and Regulations apply. 13) Courtesy runner will be allowed for the pitcher and catcher once they have reached
base safely. Use of the courtesy runner will adhere to the rules for courtesy
runners listed in the Pony Rules book. 14) Home plate umpire will control game time and collect game balls at the end of each game. Home plate umpire or the umpire in chief can stop game time if he/she decides it is in the best interest of the integrity of the game being played. 15) There are no protests allowed of umpire's judgment calls or game time. All valid
protest requests will be dealt with before game continues. Tournament Director
or his designee’s decision is FINAL. 16) The tournament Director and the Umpire in Chief and or their
designee will control all aspects of the tournament once the tournament begins . 17.) Tournament Director is Joe McGovern. Umpire in Chief is Ron Stapleberg. 18)
International tie breaker will be used. A base runner will start at second base with
no outs.
The runner will be the last out of the previous inning. (No Time limit or Tie
breaker rule in Championship game) 19) All questions or concerns should be directed to the tournament field
director
by coaches. 20) The champion will receive a berth to the PONY National Tournament.
21) Check-in - All teams must check in
at the field 30 minutes before their first game and have ready to supply to tournament
Director birth certificates, proof of PONY Registration and proof of Insurance. 22) All teams will fill out and return
to KAmeen2128@aol.com a team contact
sheet. This will be used to contact your team during the weekend at your hotel
or your team contacts phone numbers in case of weather or other game related issues
that we all know arise from time to time. Any questions please feel free to
contact me at 413-281-0174 (cell #) Thanks Mike Ameen
In the case of a game being tied after 7
innings and the time limit not being expired the game will start the 8th
inning with the international tie breaker rule. Still no new inning beginning
after the time limit is met
used as a tiebreaker, so please use discretion when holding
lead.)