Canadian Umpires Please Help
 

Any of you Canadian Umpires out there that can give me a hand I would appreaciate it. I have been contacted by a couple of teams from Cananda that will be playing in a tournament here in the states. The question they have asked me is what are the rule differences between ASA and SPN (slow-pitch national)

The biggest I can tell so far is that SPN allows coutesy runners (3 per game), has a scoring line instead of plays at the plate, and I think the pitching requirements are a bit different. Is there anything else out there I should let these teams know about before they come and play. Thanks for any help.

I haven't verified this but I have had a couple of Canadian Coaches tell me that thier D3K Rule is different.

I guess 1st base must always regardless of outs be un-occupied for the D3K Rule to be in effect.

Thanks for the Reply Rattlehead, but I am looking for slow-pitch rules so the dropped third strike doesn't come into play. Thanks for the help though, I appreciate it.

What tournament?

The Budweiser/Sam McQuade Memorial Softball Tournament in Bismark, ND.

If never heard of it, it is a great tournament and one of the largest weekend tourneys around. They will get well over 400 teams in all divisions of mens and womens. Teams from as far away as California and Nevada have come up to ND to play in this tourney. All the proceeds are donated to charity and all the tournament officials and umpires donate their pay back to the cause.

Thought that might be it...I've worked it and played in many years ago...would like to get back sometime to do it again...From my memory the biggest thing used to be the pitching arc, but that may be the same now...The McQuades has a website that might help with tournament rules, but not with ASA rules

http://www.mcquades.com/html/softball.html

Thanks Travis. I know the ASA rules and I play in the McQuade every year. I guess these Canadian teams play under the SPN rule set. They were hoping that I knew some of the differences or could find out. I guess the biggest are pitching from the rubber (they have what is called a pitching zone), courtesy runners, and live plays at the plate (they use a scoring line at home similar to Masters I think). Also told them about ND's profanity rule, that is always a biggie for out of state teams, and the mandatory bat check so they will need ASA compliant bats. That is about all I can think of unless someone out there knows any more.

Unfortunately I'm not familar with the SPN rule to help you out with differences - Good Luck

The SPN rulebook is available online at:

http://www.slo-pitch.com/PPP/card6/c620.aspx?r=0

I don't know ASA other than what I observe by lurking here, but some quirks about SPN include:

Commitment Line:
-is not used in all categories of play, but when it is:
-the runner is committed home once he/she touches the line or any ground beyond the line (in Softball Canada, the runner must touch down with one foot entirely beyond the line to be committed).
-once committed, the runner may not return to 3B for any reason (in Softball Canada, the runner may return to tag up on a caught fly ball or for a missed base).

Scoring Line:
-is used whenever the commitment line is used, in which case touching home plate is an automatic out regardless of whether there was a play. Sliding at the scoring line is also not allowed.

Pitching Zone:
-is a zone 2' wide x 15' long starting at 50' from home (and extending out to 65'); pitcher may pitch with one foot firmly planted anywhere within this zone (there is no pitching rubber).
-note that the pitching arc is 6' to 12' (same as for Softball Canada and, I believe, ASA), but many leagues around here override this with either 6'-15' or 6'-unlimited.

Double 1B:
-no allowance for fielder and batter-runner to switch colours even if the play is from foul territory (i.e. F must always use the fair portion; BR must use foul portion on first attempt if played on).

I'm sure there are other little differences, but this is all I have from memory.

There are a couple of minor differences that I saw while quickly looking at the rules - like the pitcher has 20 seconds in SPN to pitch and only 10 in ASA, but I didn't see anything that is major or should cause them any problems. For the McQuades there is a bat check before the team can play the first game, so they want to make sure they have bats that are ASA eligible. The SPN bat rules look to be more lenient.

Thanks Travis. Apprectiate the help.