GENERAL RULES

All rule changes must be approved by a majority vote of official town representatives with two votes per town regardless of whether or not there are two representatives at meeting or not.

1.  Player Eligibility

1. Players will play at town in which they go to school. If in a Unified School, they will play in town they went to grade school or the town they would have attended grade school.  Any exceptions must be approved by town presidents involved.
2. If the town does not have a team for their age group, the player’s parents may request that the player be allowed to either play in their age group in another city, or play in the next age group above theirs within their city. All players will only be allowed to play in the division that corresponds with the player’s age before January 1 for girls/ MAY 1 for boys. Players are allowed to move to a higher age division.
3. Each City President is responsible for collecting and maintaining a copy of the birth certificate or birth registration of each player on any official roster for his/her city. These documents will be made available to the Protest Committee in the event that a protest is submitted regarding a player’s age and/or eligibility.
4. Protests regarding age and/or eligibility will follow the guidelines outlined in General Rule #6.
5. If a player does not show up at practice or on a regular basis at games, coach can drop player. Coach MUST contact their city representative before dropping player.

1. Rosters
2. City Presidents must make every attempt to submit official team rosters to the League President no later than May 15 of each year.
3. Each official roster must include names, home cities and birth dates of all eligible players for each respective age division.
4. If the roster is not submitted prior to the first game of the regular season, all games until it is submitted will be recorded as a loss to such team.
5. A player may be added to a team roster at any time during the season if he/she has a family residence in the team’s respective city or Unified School District as outlined in General Rule #2. The City President must notify the League President, and the player will sit out for the first regular season game after being added to the roster. Violation of this rule will constitute forfeiture of the game and dismissal of the team coach/manager.
6.  All players must play 50% of the regular season games scheduled to be eligible for play in their division tournament. (Preseason games do not count.) Exceptions for medical hardships with medical release will be considered by the League Board.

1. Conduct
2. Any player, manager, coach or umpire guilty of misconduct before, during or after a ballgame will be brought before the league for investigation.
3. Members of one team shall not ride, kid, heckle, poke fun at, or in any other manner do anything that in the opinion of the umpire distracts the opposing team.  Hey batter-batter and typical baseball/softball chatter is acceptable as long as it is not directed at the player’s ability or skills, race, creed, or religion.  Loud obnoxious noises or screaming as well as intentional distractions, such as banging or rattling dugout fences with the intent to rattle the opposing pitcher or batter is prohibited.  PENALTY:  Umpires shall warn the offending individual or individuals one time.  Subsequent violations of this rule shall result in the removal of the guilty player(s) and/or coach(s) from the game and from the dugout.
4. If any spectator is causing a disturbance at a ballgame, the umpire shall instruct the manager to control the spectator. If the manager cannot control the spectator, the umpire may make the team forfeit the ballgame. He may also have the matter brought before the league, and the team or association may be subject to a fine of $25.00.
5. SMOKING IS PROHIBITED IN THE DUGOUT AREA.
6. Thrown equipment will not be tolerated.  A warning shall be given to the managers in the pre-game meeting with the umpires. 
1. If a batter throws a equipment and it is considered unsafe in the judgment of the umpire then:
2. 1st Offense-- A warning will be given to player. Umpire shall indicate warning in official scorebook.
3. 2nd Offense-- Ball is dead; the batter is out.  All base runners return to their previous base.

1. Games
2. Official NFHS baseball rules govern boys’ baseball games except where Flint Hills rules state differently.
3. Official NFHS softball rules govern girls’ softball games except where Flint Hills rules state differently.
4. In case of wet ground, etc. the home team coach will notify the other team’s coach. If possible two hours notice is required if a game is not going to be played due to weather conditions.
5. If a game date has to be changed any reason, the town that the game is to be played in will give the visitors two (2) dates for a make-up game within 7 days of postponement date.  Failure of home town to offer dates within the 7 day period will result in a forfeit by the home team.  If the visitors do not take one of the dates, they will forfeit the game. Additional dates may be required in the event that the visitor’s team already has Flint Hills League games scheduled for the dates offered as make-up game dates.
6. Any make-up game will be played or will count as a zero on win-loss record.
7. If either team fails to show up for a game 15 minutes after scheduled starting time, game is automatically forfeited.
8. Each team is allowed 7 minutes for pre-game infield warm-up. In all 6:45 p.m. games, the visiting team must have completed infield warm-up no later than 10 minutes prior to scheduled game time. In the event a game runs over the time limit, each team of the following game will be allowed 7 minutes for infield warm-up after the field and dugouts have been cleared from the preceding game.
9. A team may start a game with seven players. If a team starts with less than nine players, automatic outs will be used. Coach can put automatic outs anywhere in the batting order.
10. During the pre-game ground rules, the umpire should make it clear to both managers that no intentional roughness is permitted. If roughness does occur, the player involved will be removed from the game. This will be at the discretion of the umpire.
11. Coach is limited to two visits to pitcher’s mound per inning. On second visit, the pitcher must be changed. (Applies to all ages.)
12. RE-ENTRY – Any of the starting players may be withdrawn and re-entered once provided players occupy the same batting position whenever in the line-up. Player may not re-enter in batting position of a substitute player who has not played two complete innings. If a player stays out nine batters, player can re-enter in any batting position.
13. DEAD BALL APPEAL – A dead ball appeal play is a play on which an umpire may not make a decision until requested by a manager, coach or player. The appeal must be made before the next legal or illegal pitch. Once the ball has been returned to the infield and time has been called, any infielder (including the pitcher or catcher), or coach with or without possession of the ball may make a verbal appeal on a runner missing a base or leaving a base too soon on a caught fly ball. The administering umpire should acknowledge the appeal and then make a decision on the play. No base runner may leave his/her base during this period, as the ball remains dead until the next pitch.
14. 8 FT. RADIUS CIRCLE – Failure to immediately return to his/her base or proceed to the next base once the pitcher has the ball within the 8 foot radius of the pitcher’s plate will result in the base runner being declared out. (Girls softball only.)
15. DOUBLE BASE – With the approval of the double base at first base, the following rules should be enforced for their usage:

a) A batted ball hitting the white portion is declared fair, and a batted ball hitting the orange portion is declared foul.
b) Whenever a play is being made on the batter-runner, the defense must use the white portion and the batter-runner the orange portion. On extra base hits or balls hit to the outfield when there is no play being made at the double base, the runner may touch the white or orange portion.
c) On a dropped third strike, the batter-runner and the defensive player may use either the orange or the white portion.
d) Should the batter-runner round the base on a hit to the infield or outfield, he must return to the white portion.
e) When tagging up on a fly ball the white portion must be used.
f) On an attempted pickoff play, the runner must return to the white portion.

1. BLOOD RULE – A player, coach or umpire who is bleeding or who has blood on his uniform shall be prohibited from participating further in the game until appropriate treatment can be administered. If medical care or treatment is administered in a reasonable length of time, the individual will not have to leave the game. The length of time that is considerable is left to the umpire’s judgment. Uniform violations will not be enforced if a uniform change is required. The umpire shall:
1. Stop the game and allow treatment if the injured player would affect the continuation of the game.
2. Immediately call a coach, trainer or other authorized person to the injured player.
3. Apply the rules of the game regarding substitution, short-handed player and re-entry, if necessary.
2. Equipment
1. Home team will furnish all game balls. (Softball: 1 new ball per game. Baseball: 2 new balls per game.)
2. No steel cleats are permitted in all age groups with the exception of Little League Boys and B-Girls.
3. No slick tape on any bats.
4. All teams will wear throat protection on catcher’s mask.
5. Batter, on-deck batter and base runner(s) must wear head protection.
6. All batting helmets must have a chinstrap. Each batter/base runner must properly wear chinstrap.
7. Facemasks are required on batting helmets for all girls teams.
8. FHL will follow NFHS bat rules in 2012.

1. Home team must provide an official scorekeeper at least 16 years of age.
2. All teams will have players, subs and shirt numbers turned into scorekeepers of both teams before game starts.
3. Scorekeepers will check with each other at end of each inning to make sure they agree. Teams must tell the official scorekeeper when there is a change in the line-up.
4. Players in Novice Girls & Boys, Adv. Girls & Boys, Midget Girls & Boys, C Girls and Pee Wee will be in the batting line-up at all times. Players are still required to enter the game to play defense at the time stated in their division’s rules.
5. SICK AND/OR INJURED PLAYER: If a player becomes injured or sick and leaves the game there will not be an automatic out for the batter/base runner provided there are at least nine other players in the line-up. If there are less than nine players in the line-up there will be an automatic out for that player.
6. RUN RULE. THE OFFICIAL GAME ENDS WHEN YOU ARE MATHEMATICALLY ELIMINATED FROM WINNING THE GAME. THIS APPLIES TO ALL AGE GROUPS.

1. Umpires
1. Umpires must be 16 years of age to umpire PeeWee, C-Girls, Little League and B-Girls.
2. Umpire clarification: If a pitched ball hits the ground prior to a batter hitting it, it is a live ball.
3.  

1. Protests
1. The Flint Hills League Protest Committee will decide all protests. The Committee will consist of two representatives from each city. The current League President will reside over the protest meeting. In the event that any Committee person is involved in the protest, or his/her team would be affected by the decision, he/she will not participate in the protest resolution but may be present, as may any member of the public, to present information on the protested rule infraction.
2. Umpire judgment calls cannot be protested.
3. All protests regarding an interpretation of the General Rules will be considered only when the protest is made to the game umpire at the time of the rule infraction.
4. Protests concerning the age and/or eligibility of a player must be made prior to the beginning of the fourth inning of the game.
5. In all protest situations the home plate umpire will mark official scorebook and collect a seventy-five dollar ($75) protest fee. Protests can only be made by a coach/manager.
6. Within 24 hours of the completion of the game the protesting coach/manager will present the protest in written form to his/her City President. The City President will immediately present the protest to the Protest Committee who will meet, review the protest and decide if a rule infraction has occurred. Any person that desires to be present for the meeting must contact their City President and make it known.
7. Within approximately 72 hours of such meeting the Committee will produce a written report to the affected team’s City President explaining the basis for the decision.
8. In the event that the protest is allowed, the protest fee will be returned and the game will be replayed from the point of the protest at a mutually agreed upon date and time unless the protest was that of an age and/or eligibility nature.

1. Awards
1. Awards will be given to 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th place teams in regular season.

Tournament Rules