ASA Co-Ed Clarification

[bainsey]

For the first time, our little co-ed, slow-pitch rec league had some confusion about how men and women alternately. Our league rule is that there is a maximum of six men in the field (ten total), and men and women must bat alternately until one gender is exhausted. (We also allow two EHs.) I question whether I wrote that rule correctly.

Tonight, Team A had four women; Team B had five. Because of the way I wrote the rule, the A captain insisted that B bat all five women in their line-up, even though they used four in the field. One could argue that one woman would always be an EH, and you must bat up to six women that show up. The counterargument is that, "we could just send one woman home" to keep batting four.

What's the ASA rule about this? Is there any maximum to the amount of women in the lineup, when you only require four in the field? (You can put more women in the field, by our rule.) I appreciate any thoughts.

[IRISHMAFIA]

Originally Posted by bainsey

For the first time, our little co-ed, slow-pitch rec league had some confusion about how men and women alternately. Our league rule is that there is a maximum of six men in the field (ten total), and men and women must bat alternately until one gender is exhausted. (We also allow two EHs.) I question whether I wrote that rule correctly.

Tonight, Team A had four women; Team B had five. Because of the way I wrote the rule, the A captain insisted that B bat all five women in their line-up, even though they used four in the field. One could argue that one woman would always be an EH, and you must bat up to six women that show up. The counterargument is that, "we could just send one woman home" to keep batting four.

What's the ASA rule about this? Is there any maximum to the amount of women in the lineup, when you only require four in the field? (You can put more women in the field, by our rule.) I appreciate any thoughts.

ASA:

Start with either 10 or 12(including EP). A team may start shorthanded, but only if there is no EP involved.

Must be 5 male and 5 female, or 6 male and 6 female. There cannot be more than one gender than the other.

The IF & OF & battery must be split equally between the male and female players.

Batter order must alternate between male and female without exception. A team may play shorthanded one player and the rule is the same as any other, the vacant batting position is an out. And before some putz jumps in and says, "but that means batters of the same gender do bat consecutively", they may physically, but the vacant spot being declared out is always considered that of the gender which started in that position, so there is no advantage gained as some would like you to believe.

[Andy]

Irish provided the ASA rule....which is in effect for championship play.

Your league chooses to play by modified rules, which is their right to do.

Here is what we do in a City Rec co-Ed league I work with:

Teams may start a game with either 8 or 9 players, minimum of 4 females.
If playing with 9 you may play 5 males and 4 females or 5 females and 4 males.


Teams may bat up to 12 players and we use a "rolling" batting order.
Our lineup cards have two sections, Male batters 1-6 and female batters 1-6.

The batting order becomes:

Male 1
Female 1
Male 2
Female 2
Etc....

In the cases where the number of males and females are not equal, the actual order of the players batting would not be the same throughout the game, but the alternating male-female is preserved. Seems to work for our league.

[MD Longhorn]

Originally Posted by bainsey

For the first time, our little co-ed, slow-pitch rec league had some confusion about how men and women alternately. Our league rule is that there is a maximum of six men in the field (ten total), and men and women must bat alternately until one gender is exhausted. (We also allow two EHs.) I question whether I wrote that rule correctly.

Tonight, Team A had four women; Team B had five. Because of the way I wrote the rule, the A captain insisted that B bat all five women in their line-up, even though they used four in the field. One could argue that one woman would always be an EH, and you must bat up to six women that show up. The counterargument is that, "we could just send one woman home" to keep batting four.

What's the ASA rule about this? Is there any maximum to the amount of women in the lineup, when you only require four in the field? (You can put more women in the field, by our rule.) I appreciate any thoughts.

Local rules that are invented by leagues often (nearly always) neglect to cover some situation. Sounds like this one did too.

[CecilOne]

Originally Posted by MD Longhorn

Local rules that are invented by leagues often (nearly always) neglect to cover some situation. Sounds like this one did too.

May I suggest starting with a copy of the book rule and just add exceptions if you have to.
e.g., ONE more of one gender than the other is permitted only if equal numbers in the field are used

[bainsey]

Originally Posted by MD Longhorn

Local rules that are invented by leagues often (nearly always) neglect to cover some situation. Sounds like this one did too.

I overlooked the particular wording, and one team took advantage of it. We only have one night left, so I'll tweak the wording for next year, and let a team bat four women for tonight. (Seldom does a team have more than four women in our league.)

I appreciate the info and advice. Thanks!