LEAGUE RULES

Recreational Wheelchair Softball follows the rules and regulations established by the National Wheelchair Softball Association (NWSA) with the following additions, modifications, and deletions:

PLAYERS:

1.      All players are eligible to play under the following conditions:

§  All players must be in a manual wheelchair with foot platforms.

§  Power wheelchair users will be allowed to play, however they will be limited to one defensive player per team.

§  All players must sign a release form prior to taking the field/playing a game.

§  Any player under the age of 18, must have a parent/guardian sign the release form.

FIELD:

1.      The pitcher must have at least one wheel anywhere in the pitching circle.

2. At 1st base, a 48” semi-circle will be placed in fair territory. A 24” deep and 24” wide extension of 1st base shall be placed in foul territory. The extension is used as a safe base to avoid any collisions.

3.      At 2nd base, a 4 foot diameter circle.

4.      At 3rd base, a 48” semi-circle will be placed in fair territory.

5.      Home plate will be an 18” wide by 36”deep mat. Any ball that hits the mat will be considered a strike, unless the umpire calls an illegal pitch.

6.      3rd strike foul balls are considered outs

RULES OF PLAY:

1.      Each team should consist of 9 players.

2.      A team requires 7 players to begin a game.

3.      The “Chop Hit” IS allowed in the Ottawa Wheelchair Slo-Pitch League.

4.      A 16” soft shell softball will be used.

5.      Aluminum bat weights will be restricted to 26 ounces.

6. Pitches must have an arc of at least 36” at their highest point.

7. Games will be 7 innings or 1 hour and 15 minutes in length.

8.      On offense, an innings consists of either 3 outs, or one time through a batting order (maximum 9).

9. HOME RUN RULE: After the 1st home run of the inning for the team at bat, each ball hit over the fence will be counted as a double.

10.  The defensive basemen and the base runner must touch the circle with one or more wheels in order to tag the base, these wheels include the 2 front castor wheels and the two rear wheels. Anti-tip casters are not considered as a wheel.

11.  The base runner must be seated in her/her wheelchair and may tag or make contact with the base with either one or more wheels, or may tag the base with his/her hand. If a runner is knocked out of his/her wheelchair, he/she may proceed to the previous or next base by any means other than hopping, walking, or running, and make contact with the base with any part of his/her body. A base runner may not place a lower extremity (waist down) on the ground or someone else’s chair to stop his/her chair. If he/she does, the play is dead and will result in a delay dead ball situation.

12.  The hitter cannot have a lower extremity in contact with the ground when hitting. If he/she does, the ball is dead, the batter is out, and all base runners return to the last base achieved before the illegal at-bat.

13.  The player cannot have a lower extremity in contact with the ground when fielding the ball. If he/she does, the ball is dead and the batter automatically is safe at second base.