NFHS time limit
 

Oh GREAT!!!, our HS governing body has done away with the 90 minute time limit for NFHS girls softball for this upcoming season for this Fall. Just curious, do you or don't you have time limits in your HS games? Dave

Normally we don't in NC. Ocasionally a HS that does not have their own field or their varsity is using their field on a day when the JV is playing and has to use a local rec field will add a time limit to the game if the rec field has league games following the Fed game.

Sometimes 15 after 3
Most times 10 after 5

Oh GREAT!!!, our HS governing body has done away with the 90 minute time limit for NFHS girls softball for this upcoming season for this Fall. Just curious, do you or don't you have time limits in your HS games? Dave[/B]


I work in Maryland. No time limits for NFHS games here but we do use the 10 run rule after 5 innings.

SC - no time limit for Varsity games. If JV games are scheduled before a Varsity, the JV game must finish in time for the Varsity to start on time.

The JV coaches usually agree to a rule of no new inning after 30 minutes prior to the Varsity game. If it gets to 20 minutes before the scheduled Varsity start, then it is just a drop dead time on the JV game.

SC Ump - Where are you?

I too am in South Carolina. In our region if a JV game is played before a Varsity game it must stop 30 minutes before the scheduled start of the Varsity game. There is no state-wide time limit but coaches can agree to one before a game begins. They can also agree to an inning limit e.g. 5 innings. If the game is tied at that point we go to the ITB. The Run Ahead rule is 10 after 4 1/2 or 5 innings but if both coaches agree before the game we can also do 15 after 2 1/2 or 3 innings. In any regular game the ITB isn't used until the 9th inning.

Your first problem is that you have softball in the fall..yuk... :D

NO time limits here in AZ for any level. You get the occasional ugly subvarsity game, but most of the time it works out. 10 after 5 run rule at all levels.

Here in Mississippi we have time limits for our JV 1 hour drop dead for MHSAA play and No time limit for Varsity. MPSA(Private) 1:30 for Varsity and 1:00 drop dead for JV.

I live in Columbia now.

No time limit here in PA I'm glad to are would have missed one heck of a game that went 13 innings till the home team won in bottom of the inning on a bases loaded single. After such agreat game heated to see any team lose.

Darrel, I am thankful that our season is in the Fall. Here in eastern Nebraska our Spring weather is usually rainy, cold and windy. Our Fall weather is usually dry and warm, highs in the upper 80's low to mid 90's. We hardly ever lose a game because of weather. Our track and soccer season run in the Spring and they have canceled more games and meets than they have played, and those are on grass or a paved track. Dave

Good, as it should be. The game was never meant to be played with a clock. Of course, it is sometime needed for scheduling conflicts like the above JV examples and weekend tournaments.

Darrell, you would be surprised; fall high school softball is great, once the adjustments are made. The major advantage is that our softball umpire pool in the spring is not stretched so thin, and can effectively cover college games. The fall high school season is helped by the umpires who call baseball in the spring; that is a huge help, with high school games starting too early in the afternoon for many working people. The major adjustment is that our primary ASA tournament and rec season isn't in the fall; that is rec only the younger ages who aren't playing high school. The spring season starts at the end of February for everyone, and leads right into the ASA qualifiers in June; our teams have played together for 4 months at that point, and are ready for the competition, not just reforming after high school.

The only real disadvantage is that the fall high school season starts so early to beat the bad weather; it is tough on players on teams that play in Nationals with high school coaches who think they should be trying out and practicing for the high school team instead of playing in ASA Nationals. And, it is pretty hot here in Georgia in August and September (most of our schools here start the first week in August, with games starting August 10). But, overall, the pluses far outweigh the minuses.

As Darrell stated, no time limits at any level here in AZ. Our regional Umpire board is pushing for either a 1:30 or a 1:45 no new inning time limit for FR and JV ball, no limit for Varsity. The pushback we are getting now from the school AD's is that if they do it for softball, they will have to do it for baseball as well so that the girls and the boys will be "equal"!

I'm surprised you haven't heard of that other game played in the fall, football. :D That's awfully big up this way and would kill any chance of having umpires available to work HS games.

Let me see, play for a National Championship or HS ball which basically has little to no benefit comparatively? Tough decision. :confused:

What B.S. Title 9 has nothing whatsoever in it that requires "equal rules." What utter balderdash. Gibberish. Twaddle. Poppycock. Lawyerphobia. If this has any merit whatsoever, then by the same logic, the softball games should be 9 innings (or baseball 7).

In Texas baseball and softball both play seven innings. :D

Here in Illinois we play spring HS ball but fall Jr high softball. No time limit for either. A good HS varsity contest takes less than 90 minutes. We also have the standard 10 run rule after 5.
The Jr. High state assoc adopted 15 after 3. I wish the HS would too.

I have to agree that in the spring you have a lot of rainouts as I have had five of nine games cancelled. I have heard that Iowa has their HS games in the summer. As the saying goes the climate in your area makes a big difference.

This is kind of a sore subject with me. In my city we play with a time limit because we have double headers every night. None of our schools have fields as of yet, so we play on public fields. What I don't like about it is that all the other areas in our state don't use the time limit or run rule. As we all know it is a different game if we don't use a time limit. I feel as the NFHS book states that this is a state adopted rule and should either be used state wide or not.

If reading all these posts is an indication, it looks like we were the few if not the only state that had a time limit. I guess I became spoiled before knowing that a 25 - 20 game could end mercifully when my timer went off or shortly after. Now we may play 3 hours on that same game, but that is life. Dave

Here in Seattle metro area we have no time limits on most of our varsity or JV games (couple exceptions I can think of where teams use public facilities and must be done by a certain time). Run rules are up to leagues/conferences, as is timing of ITB: one major league here starts it in 9th, another in 10th.

Ed is right.

The NFHS rulebook leaves several things up to "state adoption". To me, that means all HS games in the entire state play with the same set of rules concerning time limits, game ending procedures, etc.

I'm surprised to hear from some of you that different HS leagues and schools have different procedures in the same state. Doesn't each state have a HS athletic governing body that decides what adoptions that state will make?

It also seems that by allowing this practice, certain teams could have an advantage or disadvantage when participating in state playoffs where hopefully, there is a uniform set of rules and adoptions.

One of my pet peeves with NFHS is even allowing "state optional" rules.

Either it is a rule or not a rule. Options shouldn't be included in a rule book. That, however, doesn't mean an area couldn't opt out of a particular rule.

The state adoption option gives the local associations the idea. Remove the option and most states will hang with the rule book. Sort of, "out of sight, out of mind" way of looking at it.

Make a rule THE rule, period.

One rule would certainly be easier on those of us working multiple states, just leave those that are dependent on climate, time of year, etc.

I agree. Last year in NC the state rule did not require a pitcher to pitch for the IW. This year they have to pitch. NFHS says pitch. If NC did it by the book consistently, that rule would not change from year to year.

We also have something else you don't deal with there: rainouts. In our case, lotsa rainouts.