RULES AND GENERAL TOURNAMENT INFORMATION
1. The tournament will be held at beautiful Mead Park and the tournament will utilize two state of the art youth fields, Mellick Field and Gamble Field. When you enter the park, go down the hill and you will pass the high school dirt field on your left. After the rotary, Mellick Field is the front field and Gamble Field is the back field. There is parking in front of Mellick Field and throughout the park. There will be bleachers as well as additional viewing spaces for both home and away teams on both fields. Mead Park contains three restrooms, including a family use restroom. There is a wonderful concession area, The Apple Cart, which will be open for all games and serves hot food, salads, cold drinks, fruit smoothies, a full array of ice cream and snacks. Apple Cart is found in the center of the park near Mellick Field.
2. Please provide your lineup to the scorekeeper and the opposing manager as soon as possible but no later than thirty minutes before game time to give both the scorekeeper and public address announcer time to complete their pregame preparations. Please provide the scorekeeper and public address announcer with the correct pronunciation of all players and coaches. In addition, as host, we will have a pitch counter at every game. Any discrepancies in terms of score or pitch count should be relayed to a tournament official immediately.
3. All scores and pitching information will be posted in the bracket tab. In addition, there will be a bracket hung up behind the fence at Mellick Field that will updated after each game.
4. Each team will be responsible for paying one umpire at a rate of $65.00 a game. The umpire fee will be paid to the tournament director at the meeting on the field at the time of each game. The tournament director will then pay the umpires.
5. All baseballs will be provided by the tournament directors. The baseballs have been specially ordered for this event and only the approved baseballs will be used during games.
6. In the event of inclement weather, we will attempt to make all game decisions in concert with our umpires and the Cal Ripken team as early as possible.
7. Please bring your tournament binder when you come to the opening lunch on Friday July 16th. It will be returned to you after your last game. The binder needs to include the following:
Tournament credential binders MUST be provided at this meeting. These Binders must contain the following documents pursuant to Section 11.04 of the Cal Ripken Rule Book
1. Certificate of Coverage of League’s Group Accident Insurance Policy;
2. Certificate of Coverage of League’s Commercial General Liability Insurance Policy;
3. Official Team Roster certified and signed by League President;
4. Letter of Tournament Eligibility Form,
5. Consent for Treatment Forms;
6. A Color Team Photos with identification;
7. Coaching Certification I.D. card or certificate for all rostered coaches.
8. Safe Sports Act Certifications for all managers and coaches.
Credential binders will be then be held by the Tournament Director and returned after your team is eliminated from competition or wins the Tournament.
8. There are two batting cages set up in Mead Park. Once the tournament schedule is locked in with specific teams, we will assign cage times for each team prior to their scheduled game.
On days where Gamble Field is not utilized, teams will use Gamble field to warm up and take infield using the schedule below then walk to Mellick Field. On days where both Gamble and Mellick are utilized, warm up will be on the field where your team’s game will be played.
60 minutes before the posted start time of the game, the home team has the field for twenty-minute warm up. When the twenty minutes are up, the home team must come off the field promptly.
40 minutes before the posted start time of the game, the visiting team has the field for twenty-minute warm up. When the twenty minutes are up, the visiting team must come off the field promptly.
9. Prior to the game there will be a home plate conference between the umpires and the coaches for each team. The protest committee representatives will be expected to be available at the time of the home plate conference. At this time, pitching eligibility will be reviewed. Teams will then be introduced by the public address announcer followed by the National Anthem. One player from the home team will be selected to read the Babe Ruth Sportsmanship Code from the plague. The player selected to read the sportsmanship plague will get to keep the plague.
10. Each team will receive their official lineup cards upon arrival on July 16th. Please use these lineup cards and give one copy of your lineup to the scorer and one copy to the opposing team. The lineup card should include full names, uniform number and starting positions. Substitutes should be listed at the bottom.
11. Each game will have an assigned pitch counter at the scorer’s booth. If there is a problem between the two managers, the assigned pitch counter’s total will be the official number.
12. All substitutions must be reported to the scorer as they occur, including reentries.
13. TOURNAMENT UNIFORMS: Babe Ruth League / Cal Ripken Tournament rules require ALL Players and Coaches to be in uniforms with no duplicate jersey numbers. Uniforms must also have Cal Ripken patches affixed to them. Coaches must be in baseball pants matching their team uniforms and have a numbered jersey and matching hat.
HEADGEAR: ALL PERSONNEL warming up a pitcher MUST wear proper headgear! This includes on and off the field, and includes everyone, Players, Managers, Coaches, and Parents. NO EXCEPTIONS.
14. All game play rules are governed by the official Babe Ruth rules on the Babe Ruth website.
For any questions, please do not hesitate to contact tournament chair Michael Tomsky at 203-536-3260 or mtomsky@gmail.com
