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| Dennis (Hosanna)
February 5, 2013
1:45:12 PM
Entry #: 4031428
| Softball Canada makes rules changes every two years, and 2013 is a rule-change year. This year's changes are posted on their website in PDF:
http://www.softball.ca/files/2013SPRuleChanges.pdf
Most of the changes are 'editorial' in nature. Examples of that include the added definition of "home team" and "visitor team", which makes other rules more streamlined because they no longer need to state "team first at bat" or "team last at bat".
More substantive changes/clarifications include:
-Commitment Line adding wording that allows runners to return across the commitment line to touch missed bases. This was previously allowed by interpretation but was not explicitly stated in the rules (returning to tag up on a caught fly ball was already allowed by rule). Note that other rule sets do not necessarily allow runners to return.
-Adoption of a Pitching Zone previously, Softball Canada retained the pitching plate whereas other rule sets had adopted such a zone. Our house rules already implied a pitching zone (in our 2010 rules, see 16b).
-Reduced COR on balls to .52 or less this is in response to the ASA bat standard being rewritten, which will allow hotter bats.
-for Championship play:
-adopted a strike mat!!! I never anticipated this! This is the first rule set of which I'm aware that has adopted a strike mat, so I'm very curious to see how they implement it. The actual rules changes don't make much mention of it beyond briefly describing its dimensions.
-for men's games, each batter begins with a count of 1 ball and 1 strike. This is quite common in the USA (e.g. ASA) as a way to speed up the game, and it apparently works. They could have changed it to allow only 2 strikes or 3 balls and start with 0-0 count, but nobody wants to mess with the traditional 3-4 limit.
Thought I would post these. I haven't been as active in this league (either as a player or at league meetings) for the last couple of years although we do have league insurance with NSA, I'm not aware of our house rules adopting NSA rules, so I think we're still using Softball Canada (the are some quirky but important rules differences between the two).
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