12U Baseball Rules

1. Game balls: Home team supplies a minimum of 2 new game balls; they should be genuine or premium leather balls. (Rawlings, Diamond and Wilson are a few of the better name brands.)

2. Home Team: Home team is listed second on the schedule

3. Official Book: The home team is the official book but teams must communicate & cooperate on subs and the overall score. Both teams will submit the score to M-60 Diamonds after the game is complete.

4. Athlete Age: Ages are based on actual age on April 30 of current year. Players in 12U must be 12 or younger

5. Dugouts: the host team has choice of dugout.

1. Coach Communication: coaches are responsible to connect with each other prior to the away team traveling to the game 

2. Start Time: all games will start at 5:30pm for 12U

3. Length of games: 

   • REC: games will be 6 complete innings 

   • CLUB: games will be a double-header of two 5 inning games

4. Time Limit: 

   • REC: there will be a 2 hour time limit for games

   • CLUB (double-headers): there will be 1 hour 30 minutes time limit for games

5. Minimum Players to Start a Game: teams may start a game with a minimum of 8 players; the ninth spot in the batting order is an out as long as there are only 8 players playing. 

6. Batting Lineup

   • REC: Every player is allowed to bat. 

   • CLUB:  Preference is for teams to bat 9 or 10 players; the number of batters remains the same through the entire game.

7. Player Injury/Illness: If a player stops playing due to injury or illness EITHER: 

   • a bench player not in the lineup is substituted in, 

   • OR it will not be an out on offense and the player cannot return to the game.

8. Playing Time: Playing time is the coach’s discretion; it is encouraged that all players get some playing time

9. Complete Games: If cut short due to time limit, darkness or weather, games are considered complete with 4 full innings

10. Make-up Games: any make-up games are resumed where they left off. Number of pitching outs carries over. 

11. Mercy Rules:  

    • REC: 15 runs after three complete innings, 12 runs after four complete innings and 8 runs after five complete innings. 

    • CLUB: 15 runs after three complete innings and 10 after four complete innings

12. Run Limit: The most runs a team can score in any inning except the final inning is 7 runs in 12U

13. Last inning Scoring for Club Leagues only: teams may score unlimited runs in the final inning.

14. Ties: Regular season games may end in a tie at the end of regular play or due to a time limit

Offense

1. Courtesy Runner:  always allowed for a pitcher and/or catcher regardless of the number of outs. It must be a different player for the pitcher and catcher. If all players are batting then it should be the last or most recent out.

2. Substitutions: Teams can substitute players in and out on defense but cannot change the batting order.

3. Dropped Third Strike: a batter may attempt to advance to first base on a catcher's dropped or passed third strike

Defense

1. Defensive Play: there will only be 9 players in the field of play with a maximum of 3 players in the outfielders

2. Defensive Lineup: only players in the current batting lineup can play the field of play; if only 9 players are batting, the same 9 players must play in the field

3. Balks: warnings should be issued first with explanations for pitcher learning

4. Infield Fly: is in play

5. Substitutions: Teams can substitute players in and out on defense but cannot change the batting order.

6. Pitching: each pitcher gets 9 total outs per game, in any order

1. Field Dimensions:

   • Pitching Mound: 50 ft from home plate

   • Bases: 70 ft between bases

2. Bats: all bats are legal

3. Metal Cleats: may only be worn in 14U play

1. Behavior: Game play should be a positive learning experience for all players.  As such:

   • Positive team cheering is encouraged

   • Negative chatter or disruptive actions are discouraged 

   • Foul language is not appropriate or acceptable

2. Ejection of a player: If a player in the lineup is ejected:

   • His spot will remain in the lineup as an out.

   • He is ineligible for play the remainder of the day

3. Ejection of a coach: If a coach is ejected from a game, they are unable to coach the remainder of the day