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Don
I have worked slow pitch league ball for the city of Houston for over 12 years. We also run a 55 minute or seven inning time limit with games scheduled every hour on the bottom of the hour and 4 games scheduled per night. Since the last game should end about 10:30 pm and the park closes at 11 pm staying on time is important. I actually envoked this rule once after warning the home team and since then have only had to threaten to envoke this rule to prevent reoccurances. It should only be used when the situation and actions clearly indicate to everyone that a rule is being violated in order to have a penalty enforced i.e. an out called so a new inning can be started before time expires. Generally I agree with Steve that direct enforcement of 5-4-e could cause problems because people don't realize the rule exists or do not understand the intent of the rule. As for application to championship play only, check out 5-11. J.O. A and Gold pool and double elimination play has a time limit in that no new inning may start after 1 hour 40 minutes.
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