Juniors and Seniors

Divisions

Juniors & Seniors League Rules

last updated Feb 2020

Uniform & Equipment Requirements

Uniform

League will provide a uniform shirt and hat to all players.
Players will be responsible for the remainder of the uniform:

Plain White Pants – with belt loops.
Socks and Belts – see official LBB Team Color Guide for your team’s colors.
Footwear – rubber molded cleats or metal baseball cleats are allowed for play. All players are expected to wear the proper cleated shoes during all activities of play, practices and games.

Equipment

League will provide each team with a complete set of defensive position gear.

Catcher – players are required to wear a mask with helmet, chest protector, knee and shin guards, and fielding glove.

Players must provide their own bat, helmet, fielding glove, and personal protective equipment.

All players are required to wear a protective cup during all practices and games.
Helmets – must have all the padding intact and correctly fitted to players head.
Bats – must be approved for Baseball. Wooden bats may be used for play. Any non-wood bats must be USA Baseball certified or may be BBCOR 0.5 with a drop three (-3) swing weight or less. All metal bats must have the appropriate sticker on the bat for play.

Team Composition

Each team will be comprised of 10-14 players.
Players will have a season age between ages of 13 – 15 [Juniors] and 16 – 18 [Seniors] years old. Season age is determined by the players age before May 1st of the next spring season. Please refer to the Season Age Chart for more details.
Teams will be led by a Manager (Head Coach) and a Coach of Record (1st Assistant Coach).
Teams may have additional Assistants and Team parents to help organize the players within the dugouts.
Any additional Assistants participating on the field or in the dugouts shall be required to complete the required coaching credentials as the Manager and Coach.
[SPRING SEASON] Players will be assigned to teams according to the Draft, a Returning Player, and/or Frozen Player status. For additional details on player eligibilities and the Draft process, please refer to the guidelines for Tryouts and Drafts.
[FALL SEASON] Players will be assigned to teams by Divison Management and/or Frozen Player status. Teams will be balanced by total number of players per age and All-Star/Select affiliation status. Lynnhaven makes every effort possible to find a competitive parity amongst the teams with all the information provided and available to Lynnhaven.

Scheduling

Teams will be scheduled a minimum of 10 [Spring] or 8 [Fall] games per season.
Each team will be seeded in a double elimination Post Season Tournament [Juniors-Spring Only].
Practice Times for teams will be scheduled a minimum of 1 practice per week. Lynnhaven will scheduled additional practices as fields and coaching staff availabilities are able to support.
Practice Locations will be held at our Lynnhaven Baseball Complex (Trant Field) and allocated outlying fields provided through the City of Virginia Beach. All efforts will be made to schedule equal and equitable balance of a teams’ access to Trant Fields.
Practice Formats will be predominately determined by the teams coaching staff. Due to field availabilities teams may be scheduled to share the same time slot on a field. Teams may share and divide the allocated time between the designated areas of the field. At all times, Coaches are expected to work with each other in support of the players for the best opportunities for practice times and activities for the teams.
Game Locations will predominately be played at Trant Fields. Games may be scheduled for competition against interlocking leagues and as such may be hosted by the host at that league’s respective complex. Teams will be expected to participate in such competitions as scheduled in support of the sport and for all associate leagues.
Cancellations of games due to weather or other circumstances may occur. Cancellations of games may be decided no more than 2 hours in advance of the official start time. Cancellations will be shared through league wide communications via email, text message, Facebook, and/or through direct communication from your teams Manager. Lynnhaven makes every effort possible to notify our families as soon as possible. If you have any question about the status of your game, contact your team Manager directly.
Make-up Games will be scheduled by Division Management at the earliest available opportunities and as pre-planned for the season. Lynnhaven commits to make every effort possible to ensure all missed games are made up.
Posted Schedules will be located on Lynnhaven’s website. Notifications of scheduled events may be sent out electronically by Lynnhaven as reminders. Lynnhaven does not provide physical printed copies of schedules.

Game Formats

Length of games will be scheduled to run continuously for 7 innings or for 1 hour 40 minutes (1:40) till no new inning. Both teams will have an equal opportunity to bat and once an inning has begun it will be completed.
Game Assignments of teams for Home vs. Away will be balanced to the best of the ability based on total number of teams in the division. Home team will occupy the first baseline dugout and the Away team will occupy the third baseline dugout.
Scoring of games will be kept. [Spring Season] Scores will be recorded and used to maintain a team’s competition record. Record will be used to appropriately seed the teams for the Post Season tournament.
Score-keeping is a responsibility of both teams. The Home Team score book is the official book of record. In the event of a discrepancy, Managers will confer with their scorekeepers and review the score books. If there is no resolution to the discrepancy, it the responsibility of the team manager in question to notify the game’s official that they are continuing the game in protest. The protest shall be noted at the time of the event and the game will continue. The protesting manager is responsible for notifying the Division Director and opposing team manager according to the protest guidelines for review by League officials.
Completed Games are any game that has reached the total number of innings or duration of time. A game is considered to be a “booked” or official game once it has reached the minimum number of 4 innings played with both teams having completed their at bat. If a game is stopped with 3 1/2 innings complete and the home team is ahead, the game shall be considered a complete game and will not be made up. Games stopped prior to 3 complete innings with the Home Team behind, shall be considered a suspended game and will be scheduled for completion at the first available opportunity. Suspended games will be noted in the score book and will be resumed exactly where they left off to include the official time remaining in the game. Games reaching the total innings played and ending in a tie, shall be complete and recorded as a tie game.
Official Time will be kept by the game officials and announced to both Managers of the official game start time. It is recommended that both teams’ scorekeepers record the official start time in the score book. The inning in which the time limit is reached shall be completed in full unless the home team is ahead, in which case the game will officially end after the losing team has batted in that inning. If the game is tied at the end of the inning in which the time limit is reached and both teams have batted, the game shall end in a tie.
Mercy Rule will be invoked after one team has reached a specified number of runs over the opposing team. This rule will be in effect for the duration of the game once the minimum number of innings played has been reached.

Mercy Rules	Runs/Inning	15 Runs*	10 Runs
Juniors/Seniors	Unlimited	3.5 - 4	4.5 - 5

*15 run mercy rule will not be in effect during Post-Season Tournament play.

Minimum Number of Players shall be 8 players per team to start play. The game shall start no more than 10 minutes past the scheduled start time. If a team does not have a minimum of 8 players after the 10-minute window, the short-rostered team shall forfeit the game [Spring only] and a maximum number of runs per game shall be recorded for the opposing team. Games starting with 8 players shall record a single out at the time of the 9th batter’s place in the lineup. Any players arriving late to the game, shall be added to the bottom of the lineup for the remainder of the game.
Guest Players can be employed by any team that has less than 9 players and has elected to forfeit the game. Guest players can be defensive players from the opposing teams or players currently registered within the current season division of Lynnhaven. No outside league players shall be allowed to participate as substitute players.