[AtlUmpSteve]

It has always been the understanding in any tournament which I have been involved with that also had a time limit that the intent of the rule of was 3 allowed conferences in any "regulation" game. That (regulation) could be any number of innings up to 7, with time limit being just one factor that could cause the game to be less than 7 innings. And, time limit is the only one of those reasons that could cause this to be unclear.

It is common to indicate (or understand) that the tiebreaker rule is in effect in the first inning after regulation; whether caused by time limit and tied, or end of 7 innings and tied. That said, the rulebook didn't contemplate time linits when the conference rule was written, so it does clearly state after 7 innings, not end of a tied regulation game.

Someone should suggest a rule change, as the vast majority of the world seems to understand it as "regulation".