Softball Ulster team captains held their preseason captain’s meeting this week to review and agree to changes to the league bylaws for the upcoming season. The bylaws are available to read on the SU website.
Here are the main changes to the bylaws for the 2023 season:
- The run-ahead rule is now compulsory in all league games. This means that teams can no longer decline the application of the rule. If a team leads by 20 runs after four innings, or by 15 runs after five or more innings, the game will end and the final score will be recorded as it stands at that point. Teams may agree to continue the game as a friendly, but the final score will not change from the officially-recorded result at the time the run-ahead rule was applied.
- The only balls permitted for use in league games are 52/300 softballs. The use of 44/375 11″ softballs has been removed from the bylaws.
- Teams are not allowed to use rope to mark the boundary of the field.
- At the end of the season, the first-place team in Division B will play the last-place team in Division A in a single game. The winner of this game will play in Division A in the following season, and the loser of the game will play in Division B.
- Division B teams are not permitted to borrow players from Division A teams.
The bylaws also confirm that the league will be split into divisions of six teams each for the 2023 season. Each team will play a home and away game against every other team in their division. No league matches between teams from different divisions have been scheduled this season.
Every change to the bylaws for the upcoming season is marked in the document with a note that says [Updated 2023].