1. Wood or composite bats only

2. No runner for the catcher

3. Designated hitter for the pitcher only

4. First and second round games will be 7 innings. All others will be 9 innings. Mercy rule will apply as follows. 8 runs after 5 innings in a 7 inning game and 10 runs after 7 innings in a 9 inning game (per A.A.B.C. Tournament rules)

5. Batters and base runners will wear double ear helmets

6. American League rules will apply

7. All other rules as they relate to A.A.B.C. Stan Musial Tournament Play.

8. Coin toss for home / visitors will be ½ hour before each game

9. All players must be ready to provide a picture ID upon request.

Participating leagues:

WBA - Western Baseball Association, 10+ teams, 2 in tourney: #1 seed East Bay White Sox and #2 seed Fontanetti's.

NorCal - Nor-Cal SemiPro Conference, 8 teams, 2 in tourney: #1 seed Sacramento Scorch and #2 seed National Baseball Institute (N.B.I.).

SRL - Sacramento Rural League, 10 teams, 3 in tourney: #1 seed Novato Knicks, #2 seed Solano Mudcats, and host team San Francisco Angels.

A.A.B.C.

National Tournament Representation

Rule 11 (a). A.A.B.C. tournaments must be played in accordance and compliance with the approved AABC double elimination bracket; and deviations shall not be permitted under any circumstances. The AABC approved method of pairings follow:

The tournament shall be conducted on a true double elimination basis. Following the first three (3) rounds, pairings by draw may be necessary to comply with the following AABC rules:

Where there is a bye in the schedule, all teams- undefeated and defeated- shall share in drawing for the bye except as provided in (3). No team may receive a second bye until every other team alive shall have a first bye. This will be adhered to even if it means two (2) teams must meet for the second time when there is a team alive they have not yet met. The bye has top priority over anything else and must be the first consideration. It is vital and essential that the bye be determined FIRST.
No team will meet another team for the second time where there remains a different team left to play, UNLESS: a) it would violate (1) above, b) there are only three (3) teams left as provided in (3), or c) all possible combinations of games throw some pair of pairs of teams against each other for the second time will be selected and not drawn. If there is more than one equal possibility, the entire group of games will be selected by lot from those pairings with equal and fewest number of teams which must meet for the second time.
When there are but three teams left in the tournament and each has received an equal number of byes or no team has received a bye and 1) one team has played the other two (2) teams and the other two (2) teams have not met, then the teams who have not met must play, and the other team will receive the bye in that round; or 2) one team has not met either of the other 2 teams, and the other two teams have met, the team who has not played either of the other two teams will draw it’s opponent, and the other team will receive a bye in that round.
Winners will play winners and losers will play losers UNLESS it would violate (1), (2) or (3) above.

Distributed 7-21-03 nthompson

Excerpt from email discussion of tournament bracketing:

"At the end of Friday, we will have eliminated 1 team, thus leaving only 6 in the tournament. There will be 2 loser bracket games on Saturday morning consisting of 4 teams - only 2 will advance. There will be a winners bracket game early Saturday afternoon, regardless of who wins, they will both still be in the tournament leaving only 4 teams for the late Saturday matchups (which will be drawn according to the AABC rules). " In other words, pairings of the remaining four teams take place Saturday afternoon for Round IV, by following Rule 11(a).

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