North Branford Wiffleball League Rules

Section I: The Field and Equipment
1.00 The playing field will be marked with string. The pitcher’s mound is 41 feet from home plate with a singles line located parallel to the mound. The doubles line is 60 feet from home plate. The homerun line is 90 feet from home plate.
1.01 The strike zone is 2 feet off the ground and 18 x 24 inches in dimensions. Backstops are allowed to prevent balls from scurrying away.
1.02 There will be no batter box, but batters are not permitted to crowd the plate.
1.03 Only the official Wiffleball may be used, but pitchers are allowed to bring their own balls to use. A pitcher may scuff a ball in any manner. No Wiffleball with a crack more than a ¼ inch will be permitted.
1.04 Only the traditional yellow bat or “Black Magic” will be deemed legal. Taped batters are not permitted.
1.05 No gloves are permitted while fielding. Only batting gloves may be used during an at bat.

Section II: Teams
2.00 Each team consists of two (2) to five (5) players. Players may be added to the roster during the season, but must be set before the playoffs.
2.01 A player may only play on one team at a time, but may traded by the team captain.
2.02 A maximum of three (3) players are allowed to play the field, while a team may choose to bat up to five (5) players.
2.03 Players may be freely substituted in and out of the field of play, but the batting order must remain the same. A pitcher must face one complete batter before being removed.
2.04 Pitchers are capped to 8 innings pitched per week in the regular season.

Section III: The Game
3.00 A normal game consists of 5 innings. Three complete innings will count for an official game if the game has to be called.
3.01 There is no mercy rule.
3.02 Each team receives three (3) outs per inning.
3.03 Four balls is a walk. A hit-by-pitch is a ball. Two swing strikes is an out. There are unlimited foul balls. A foul hitting the K zone after a strike on the batter will result in a strikeout. Any looking strike that hits the K zone will count as a strike out.
3.04 A batter blocking the pitch from hitting the K zone will be considered a strike.
3.05 There is no restriction on pitching speed.
3.06 There is no base running or stealing. There are ghost runners that advance the same number of bases as the current batter.
3.07 All hits must cross the singles line to be recorded as a hit. If a ball stops before reaching the singles line, then it will be ruled a foul ball.
3.08 Any moving groundball fielded before the singles line will be recorded as an out. Juggling and/or deflecting are an out if the ball is fielded before hitting the ground.
3.09 Any ball caught before hitting the ground is an out.
3.10 Any batted ball that is fielded in fair territory but is dropped and hits the ground will be deemed a hit.
3.11 Any ball that rolls across the singles line or lands within the singles area will be considered a single.
3.12 Any ball that lands in the air in the doubles area will be considered a double.
3.13 Any ball that rolls on the ground across the home run line will be considered a triple.
3.14 Any ball that lands in the air past the homerun line will count as a homerun.
3.15 There are no errors.
3.16 A double play may be completed if the fielder records an out with a runner on base. The ball must be cleanly fielded to begin. The fielder must hit the K zone within a step or two after recording the out. It must be all in one motion. The lead runner is removed. If the target is missed, the runners remain in place. If the batter prevents the ball from hitting the target, a double play will be recorded.
3.17 If a game is tied after 5 innings, then the 6th inning begins with the bases loaded and play resumes as normal.
3.18 A fielder may trash talk as much as he desires.
3.19 Statistics will be kept by both teams during the games and submitted to the commissioner for recording.

Section IV: Playoffs and Awards
4.00 The top four teams qualify for the postseason. The #1 ranked team will play the #4 ranked team. The #2 ranked team will play the #3 ranked team. The semifinals will be a best of 3 games series. The winner of each series will advance to the best of 3 games series championship.
4.01 If there is a tie between teams in the regular season, the tiebreaker will be head to head records.
4.02 A pitcher will be limited to 12 innings per series.
4.03 Each week, the league will name a Player of the Week who contributed the best to the success of his team.
4.04 At the end of the year, the league will name an MVP, a CY Young, a Gold Glove, and four All-Stars. Selections will be voted upon by the league.
4.05 The commissioner will have final discretion over decisions and will make amendments to preserve the integrity of the league.