2007 South Bay Pony Division Interlock

Please Note: We are continuing to use the 2007 Interlock agreement for 2008. The only real change from 2007 is the number of teams, seven from LA-MV and three from Saratoga.

The 2007 Los Altos-Mountain View PONY Baseball Pony Division will field six teams. These six teams will combine with three teams from the Sunnyvale-Cupertino PONY Baseball League and three teams from the Saratoga PONY Baseball League to form an Interlocked League of 12 teams.

General Information

Game pairings are in "visitor first - home second" order (Example SV3-LA2 - Team SV3 is the Visitor and Team LA2 is the Home Team). Visitors are in the First (1st) Base Dugout. Home teams are to use the Third (3rd) Base dugouts. Home teams are responsible for BOTH the pre-game grooming and field preparation, chalking of base lines, batters boxes, and on-deck circles, placement of bases, etc. as well as post game field clean up - dragging of the dirt portion of the infields, baselines, batters boxes and raking of the pitcher's mound, removal of bases (if no subsequent games are to be played that day). Each team must clean up their own dugout area after completion of the game.
The Home Team Manager ensures that the “League Form” for recording umpire names, start times scores, etc. is completed for each game and is forwarded to their League Director.
The League Director will publish the results, standings, and any “New Info” on a weekly basis.
Reschedules, in general, will only be allowed for weather related or field related conditions, or other uncontrollable external reasons. Games called due to darkness, after reaching a legal number of innings will not be rescheduled and those games will be considered complete unless the score is tied. In this case, the tied/called game will be rescheduled (as per Reschedule Clause in General Information) for completion at a later time, picking up at the same point where the game was called, and continuing until completion. Tied games whose outcome knowingly will NOT have a bearing on post season play do not necessarily have to be completed.
The 2007 Interlock Champion will be determined by a Playoff Tournament. The Tournament will be a true double elimination Tournament, which will be power seeded according to the Final Standings from the regular season [i.e., each team receives 2 points for every Win and 1 point for every Tie; Teams will be ranked by most points to fewest points]. Ties in the Final Standings will be broken by use of the following tie breakers: 1) head-to-head record; 2) fewest runs given up; and, 3) most runs scored. The top overall team will receive a Bye straight through to the Tournament Semi-Finals. All other teams will be seeded into three (3) regional tournament sites. The winners from each regional tournament site, plus the regular season Champion, will be power seeded in a Final Four double elimination tournament for the 2007 Interlock Championship.
Minimum play rule is to be determined by each League's Local Rules, but in no event shall it be less than two (2) complete innings and one (1) at bat. Note: All three leagues participating in the 2007 South Bay Interlock have agreed to a minimum of three (3) complete defensive innings and one (1) at bat per player.
Managers are not to play more than two players in a batting order slot.
On continuation games for rain or darkness, if a high school player was not available at the time of a non-completed game the H.S. player is not eligible to play in the continuation of the game. This can be over ruled if both managers agree to do so. Otherwise, the H.S. player is to be unavailable for the continuation of the game.
In the contingency where City Fields are not ready to begin the season, the schedule will pick up on the date when the city allows the fields to be available. The League Directors will reschedule games cancelled for this reason.

Rescheduling

Must be arranged one week in advance by Home Team
Opposing coach must agree
Must be played within 2 weeks of original date and no later than two weeks prior to the end of the regular season.
Requesting coach must notify his League Director and make sure the umpire chief is notified and umpires will be available for the makeup date.
If caused by bad weather, still try to play the makeup game within 2 weeks, the Home Team manager will arrange for umpire rescheduling through communication with the League Director.

Game Starts

Games must be played on scheduled dates, whether or not umpires show up. If no umpires are available, one volunteer from each team should be requested to substitute for the umpires.
Games must start no later than 15 minutes after scheduled start time if umpires do not show up.
A call to Rick Moore of the Santa Clara Valley Federation of Umpires: 408/979-9154 or 408/495-1552 or 408/504-8852 (cell) should be made to report the lack of umpires.
The Home Team shall supply three Pony stamped game balls - at least two of which must be new - to the umpires.
The Home Team is responsible for preparing the playing field prior to the game - raking or dragging dirt areas of the infield, chalking the base lines, batters boxes and on-deck circles, etc.
The Home Team is also responsible for post game grooming of the field - assuming no other PONY games are to be played on that field on that day.

Umpires

Umpire sheet and game report forms are available on a clip board in the equipment sheds at all five Interlock fields.
The Home Team has the responsibility to get the names of the umpires - and preferably the umpire signatures - on these forms prior to the start of each game. The best time to do this is during the lineup card exchanges at home plate, immediately prior to the start of each game.
The Umpire Sheet and Game Report form should be routed to the League Director who will share information with other League Directors at least once per week to update standings among the leagues.

Reporting of Game Results

A summary of the results of each game - the score of each team, innings played, etc. - should be e-mailed to the LA-MV Webmaster (at the results mailbox) so that the LA-MV PONY Baseball web site can be updated in a timely manner to keep all Interlock players, coaches and parents informed of the status of the regular season standings. The coaches of both the Home Team and the Visiting Team should do this to get corroboration of the game results.

Behavior Issues

There is a limit of THREE (3) coaches allowed in the dugout. If two coaches are coaching at First and Third base when their team is at bat, this means that only ONE other coach is permitted in the dugout at that time.
Team coaches are responsible for controlling the players of their team.
Parents are not allowed in the dugouts during the game.
Spectators are to behave in a proper manner and use good sportsmanship and limit baseball chatter to a positive nature, and NOT bush league yelling, fence shaking, and other negative, distracting behavior towards player, coaches, managers and umpires. Failure to do so will result in removal from the park (out of sight and sound). Continued violations may and can result in a forfeit of the game and or removals from all Pony activities and or/the League. Public Safety notification of the occurrence may be used to enforce this ruling.
Coaches should not permit confrontational behavior such as unnecessarily hard tagging, cursing, verbal challenges, staring down of opponents, etc. Any such negative behavior should be nipped in the bud to prevent games from getting out of hand.
Disciplinary actions taken by Managers towards players that limit playing time is to be reviewed by League Director prior to action being taken. Notice to the League Director must be made prior to action being taken and it must be in writing followed up by notice to the parents prior to any action being taken.