Rules for 8u Pitching Machine Softball:
1.Game Setup: The Home Team takes the first base dugout and is responsible for setting up and taking down the pitching machine. The Home Team should also supply the balls. Games need to start on time.
2.Pitch Count: Kids should be given “6 good strikes”. (Pitches from the pitching machine that are too high or too low are not counted as ‘good strikes.’) If a player hasn’t hit the ball by the 6th ‘good strike’, they will be out. There will be no soft tosses, coach pitching, kid pitching, nor a tee put in place for the player to hit. There are no walks. A batter will either get a hit or strike out if the ball isn’t put in play after 6 good strikes. Foul balls count as strikes but cannot be the 6th good strike that gets a player out. If a defensive team turns 3 outs, the half inning is over, thus all may not bat in an inning. If a team bats through their whole lineup before 3 defensive outs are made, the half of the inning ends after the last batter in the lineup bats. If a child or children happen to be on base when the last child in the order hits, then they are left on base and do not count as runs.
3.Helping batters: Coaches are allowed to position hitters correctly in the batter’s box if necessary. This means getting them set up in the batter’s box properly and helping with hand position.
4.Base Running: If a ball is in the outfield, runners may continue to advance. Once the ball reaches the infield, runners may finish running to the next base if they were already on their way there, but they may not continue on to take more bases once the ball gets to the infield. Runners may only advance one base on an overthrow.
5.Pitching: The pitching machine will be utilized for all pitching. The defensive coach will feed the balls into the pitching machine and determine “6 good strikes”. No umpires will be used. The player playing “pitcher” will stand next to the pitching machine and will field balls hit to that area. Any ball that strikes the pitching machine is a dead ball and does not count against the batter as a “good strike”. Players may continue to work on pitching mechanics in practice if desired, but kids will not pitch during games until they reach the 10u age level.