[greymule]

How does someone get assigned a tournament who needs to rely on rule differences from other associations to call the game?

Around here, I don't think there is such a thing as a purely LL umpire. The official LL tournaments are done by ASA/Fed guys who for insurance purposes send in a membership fee to LL. (Frankly, horrible pay, long games, poor softball. All the good players are on travel teams.) The umps may have to fill out a take-home open-book test, but I doubt they study much. However, since the coaches don't know the rules either, that hasn't been a problem (yet).

Next week, our ASA guys will be doing the state Babe Ruth tournament, as we did last year. The BR rules, which have NOTHING to do with Fed or ASA, are in more of a pamphlet than a rule book. The sections covering baserunning, OBS, INT, awards, etc., are taken verbatim from the OBR book. (They did add a rule against a deliberate crash at home, however.) All bats that meet standards for length, weight, and diameter are legal. A Miken Ultra is legal.

Again, you send in a fee so that you're "official." One umpire on the field has to have sent in a fee.

Last year, no one, including the TD, could say for sure whether the pitcher had to keep both feet on the rubber, as per ASA. The rule pamphlet doesn't cover it.