2011-rules

League Objectives
The overall objectives of the WPEBL are to provide players the opportunity to compete against the best competition in Western PA and be recognized as the “Elite” league for players in this area. Subsequently, the league provides a “forum” for college coaches and/or professional scouts to watch players in an effort to evaluate their opportunities to play baseball beyond high school.

Executive Committee
The WPEBL will elect an Executive Committee consisting of 3 individuals that will share the responsibilities for handling the general organization of all teams, schedules, playoffs, and the enforcement of league rules. The positions will be elected on one-year terms prior to the start of each season through a vote of the League Board and will be compensated with an amount to be determined by the same League Board vote.

League Board
The WPEBL Board is comprised of the team coaches...each existing team carries one vote. All league decisions are made by a majority vote among the board members – each team has one vote on every issue and majority rules in all cases. In the event of a tie due to an even number of teams in the league, the Executive Committee will break the tie. All decisions are final for the upcoming or existing season. Modifications, revisions or new proposals are to be presented to the board during the off-season.

League Meetings
League-wide meetings will be scheduled throughout the year by the Executive Committee. Meetings will be scheduled at least 1 month in advance to give every team ample opportunity to ensure a representative can attend. Each team is REQUIRED to have a representative in attendance.

League Website
A WPEBL website (www.wpebl.com) will be maintained by the league to promote and enhance the overall objectives of the league…All team members are required to assist in the maintenance of the website, including timely notification of game results and periodic updates for player statistics.

The Executive Committee will be responsible for the website and its content. This includes the initial listing of team rosters and schedules, as well as daily updates of scores and schedules.

League Calendar
A “League Calendar” will be drafted and distributed to all coaches prior to the season identifying significant dates for the WPEBL season; including Playoffs, Scout Day, etc. All coaches will be asked to review and approve the dates well in advance of the season in order to facilitate the preparation of schedules.

League Entry / League Fee
Teams must petition or be invited to enter the WPEBL by an existing board member. League entry is based solely on the majority vote of the board members.

The League Fee will be established at the start of every season through a vote of the League Board. All fees will be due by May 1.

Insurance
Each team is required to purchase its own insurance. The WPEBL is to be named as additionally insured and copies of the insurance certificate should be carried by coaches at all WPEBL games.

Team Rosters
Team rosters may only consist of high school players - those players who competed in the preceding spring high school season. College players are not eligible for participation in the WPEBL. Roster makeup and size are not restricted by geographic boundaries and are at the sole discretion of the team’s coaches.

A preliminary roster must be submitted to the Executive Committee by May 15 at the start of each season. The roster must be in the format provided to each coach to ensure consistency for every team in the league. The standard format will also make it easier for the coaches to prepare information sheets to coincide with the league Scout Day (details below).

A final roster is due by June 15 that lists any changes to the rosters during the season to date and identifies all players eligible for the playoffs. Any player not listed on the roster by June 15 is NOT ELIGIBLE to participate in any game, including the playoffs – NO EXCEPTIONS.

Once a player is rostered on a team in the WPEBL, he may not switch to another team in the league until the following season. The league will not tolerate player movement within the league during a season…any attempts will result in that particular player being suspended from league play for the entire summer.

All teams should practice carrying copies of their rosters to each game in order to accommodate any requests from college coaches, professional scouts, PA Announcers, etc…Again, it is highly recommended to utilize the standard league format for rosters.

Field Designations
Each team is responsible for securing their own “home” field for practice and games. Any associated fees are the sole responsibility of each team and not the WPEBL. The WPEBL will coordinate, and pay if necessary, for the use of fields during the league playoffs and Scout Day.

A team may opt not to utilize a “home” field and play all “away” games. However, they are still responsible for their share of the umpire fees.

Home field designations and accompanying directions are to be provided to the President / Vice President prior to the start of each season.

Schedule
All teams within the WPEBL will play the same schedule with the intent that each team will play every other team at least twice per season…this could vary from year to year based upon the number of teams within the league.

All schedules must be submitted to the Executive Committee prior to the start of each season. Each team is also asked to provide schedule updates as they are made throughout the season.

Each team will coordinate their own schedule. WPEBL games will take priority over any other game and/or tournament. Teams may elect to participate in another league and/or schedule tournaments as long as they understand that they must complete their WPEBL schedule for the given season. Any team not completing a full schedule is subject to being placed on “probation” for the following season or potentially voted out of the league by the Board.

PROBATION = Team may participate in the following season, but will not be permitted league “voting” rights. In addition, subsequent infractions of the rules may result in league dismissal.

The “home” team is responsible for determining whether a game is cancelled due to inclement weather. Once a game commences, the umpires are solely responsible for the pace of the game and whether the game needs to be cancelled / suspended.
Any game called due to weather, darkness, or other reasons will result in one of the following…

Game is “Official” if 4 ½ innings have been completed and the home team is ahead or 5 innings if the visiting team is leading.
Game is “Suspended” if the score is tied or if the aforementioned criteria have not been completed in terms of innings played. Suspended games will be rescheduled for a later date and the game picked up at the point of suspension.

Any game stopped in the middle of an inning, after 5 full innings have been completed without a tie, will revert back to the last whole inning played and the results final.

Forfeits will not be tolerated. Any team that forfeits a game is subject to league sanctions; including fines, “probation,” or league dismissal. All such decisions are the sole responsibility of the Executive Committee.

If a game is to be cancelled, the coach of the home team must notify the opposing coach and umpires. Participating teams have 72 hours (3 days) to agree upon a makeup date & location and report it to the Executive Committee. In the event that an agreement cannot be reached, both coaches will submit their open dates and field availability to the Executive Committee, who will then assume control of re-scheduling the game. The Executive Committee maintains the authority to schedule the game and impose the requirement for both teams to play or face forfeiture.

ALL TEAMS ARE REQUIRED TO COMPLETE THEIR LEAGUE GAMES. Teams not completing their full schedule of WPEBL games by the established deadline are subject to losing their right to participate in the playoffs and/or being stripped of their voting rights for the following season.

Game Results
The winning team of every game is responsible for reporting the score to the Executive Committee and all appropriate media on the day of the game. A listing of media will be provided to all coaches prior to the start of each season.

Coaches are encouraged to periodically check the league website (www.wpebl.com) to ensure the games were recorded and recorded accurately.

Umpires
The “home” team is responsible for scheduling 2 umpires to work each game. The cost of the umpires will be split evenly by the participating teams and paid to the officials prior to the start of each game.

The cost of umpires at each home field is to be communicated to all other coaches prior to the start of each season so that they may budget accordingly.

The umpire is the league official for each game. Protests of league rules must be communicated to the umpire at the point of infraction and filed with the Executive Committee immediately after the game.

Baseballs
The “home” team is responsible for providing the baseballs for each game, unless otherwise agreed upon by the participating teams.

Playing Rules
The National Federation of High School (NFHS) rules will be utilized by the WPEBL; including the following exceptions and points of emphasis…

An additional Hitter (AH / EH) is permissible to provide a team the opportunity to bat up to 10 in the order during any given game in the regular season. The batting order must be documented on a lineup card and provided to the opposing team prior to the start of the game. Playoffs will revert to “traditional” rules of only 9 batters in the order.
Re-entry of a player is permissible for all starters in the lineup submitted at the beginning of each game, as long as they return to their original spot in the batting order. This includes the DH & AH/EH, as long as the DH is still in effect. However, once a substitute leaves the game, he is not permitted to re-enter.
“Courtesy” runners are permissible for the pitcher and/or catcher, if a team so desires.
A “Must Slide” rule will be strictly enforced…as opposed to the “avoid contact” rule in high school. Any malicious contact judged by the umpires will result in immediate ejection of that player.
All games are subject to the 10-run “mercy” rule after 5 innings.

The WPEBL will not tolerate any abusive or irresponsible behavior of its coaches in relation to the treatment of players, coaches, umpires, and fans. Any such offense is subject to review by the Executive Committee and sanctions including suspension or dismissal from the league.

The top six (6) teams at the end of the regular season will qualify for a league playoff. Playoff Seedings will be determined by the win-loss record of the teams. Tiebreaking criteria will be…

Head-to-Head Results
Record against the highest seeded team not among the “tied” teams. This process will continue until the tie is broken. If the tie cannot be broken this way…

The format of the playoffs will feature single elimination in the 1st Round pairing the #3 seed against #6 and the #4 seed against #5. The 2 winning teams will advance to a Best-of-3 Series in the Semi-Finals, followed by a Best-of-3 Series Championship. All final four teams agree to complete the 3 games in 3 days or less (DHs are permitted) unless inclement weather forces a postponement. The higher seeded team will have the right to “host” the playoff series if a field is available. However, field availability IS NOT as a reason to go beyond 3 days in a series.

May 1, 2011
WPEBL Schedule Due with all league games included…it is understood changes will occur and all changes must be submitted to the Executive Committee throughout the season.

May 15, 2011
Preliminary Roster Due – Roster is to be submitted in the league format with a minimum of 10 players. This provides the league the ability to post rosters on the website as the season begins.

June 10-11-12, 2011
WPIAL All-Star Weekend….teams are asked to avoid scheduling games this weekend if at all possible. This will allow their players to participate in the All-Star Banquet (Fri), Junior Showcase (Sat), and Senior All-Star games (Sun).

June 15, 2011
Final Rosters Due….All rosters must be finalized by this date to qualify players for the playoffs. Final Rosters will be posted on the league website prior to the start of the playoffs. Any player not listed on the June 30 roster is not eligible to participate.

July 22, 2011
WPEBL Regular Season Conclusion – all teams must have completed their WPEBL games by this date. NO EXCEPTIONS!!

July 23 – 24, 2011
WPEBL Playoffs - First Round….Single Elimination Games (#3 vs #6 / #4 vs #5)
Top 2 seeded teams receive a BYE
Higher seeded team is HOME team and will host if field available

July 25 - 27
WPEBL Semi-Finals….Best – of – 3 Series
#1 vs #4/#5 winner
#2 vs #3/#6 winner
Home team and host = Higher Seed for Games 1 & 3 / Lower Seed for Game 2

August 1 – 3
WPEBL CHAMPIONSHIP
Semi-Final Winners
Home team and host = Higher Seed for Games 1 & 3 / Lower Seed for Game 2