PITCHERS RULE REVOKED

Feb. 1, 2010

In a rare move, the Senior Softball-USA National Rules Committee reversed itself on one of the most controversial rules in Senior Softball after receiving overwhelming information from SSUSA managers using a new survey technique.

Based on results from the new Managers Survey, the committee met in special session in December and voted to rescind the “Middle No-Hit Zone,” mandated pitchers wear safety equipment, and made stiff penalties for batters intentionally hitting at pitchers.

“We have gotten back to the original game of softball,” said Otis Rowland, national director and chairman of the Rules Committee. “It will help the game and help players.”

In a major change that will not go into effect until 2011, the Rules Committee voted that the states of California and Florida shall be designated as their own “Regions” beginning with the 2011 Tournament Season. The committee also directed the SSUSA staff to review all other regions to determine if the current restriction of drawing players from the team’s state and bordering states was fair to all regions.

Also beginning with the 2011 Tournament Season, the 40-Masters Divisions, both Men’s and Women’s, will be subject to the normal “Senior Regions” rules for roster composition and eligibility.

The special session vote reversed the committee’s decision to establish the “No-Hit Zone” made a few weeks earlier in December at the annual SSUSA Convention in Nashville.

The committee had instituted a “Middle No-Hit Zone” in an attempt to protect pitchers from more balls being hit up the middle. The committee felt that the “No-Hit Zone” was necessary because of the potential danger of hitters going up the middle after teams reached home run limits: after the home run limit was reached, home runs are outs.

However, the committee realized that there was no hard information to support the theory that more balls were being hit up the middle because of the home run limit rule – which had been in effect for the 2009 season.

So, using a new Internet survey system, SSUSA polled managers to help find out if pitchers were being hit more often.

“We developed this new survey technique to gather essential information from our managers (the key decision makers in our industry) on a multitude of issues in the future, with this being the first use of the new technology,” said Terry Hennessy, SSUSA chief executive officer.

“The results were outstanding: 63.9 percent of the managers responded – and 75.2 percent of those responding also provided written opinions which helped the Rules Committee immensely,” said Hennessy.

The survey question was designed to find out whether pitchers were being hit by batted balls more often, less often, or about the same as in past years.

The survey results were:

• 69.2 percent: Pitchers hit about the same.

• 16.9 percent: Pitchers hit less often.

• 13.9 percent: Pitchers hit more often.

As a result of the survey, and the hundreds of comments submitted, the SSUSA Rules Committee voted on these three rule changes:

1. The Middle No-Hit Zone Rule is repealed.

2. Any ball intentionally hit up the middle at the pitcher will result in an ejection from the game and possible suspension.

3. Pitchers shall wear protective headgear and shin guards at a minimum, but may elect not to do so by signing a waiver of liability in favor of SSUSA, its officers and officials. The pitcher’s waiver will be printed on the Official Game Cards and pitchers electing not to wear protective gear will be required to sign the card before they are allowed to pitch.

For a summary of major rule changes for the 2010 season, please see the 2010 Tournament Guide, Page 5.



For a more detailed breakdown of all rule changes, see the Senior Softball-USA Message Board at www.seniorsoftball.com