Los Altos-Mountain View Pony Baseball

In addition to the following local divisional rules, please also review the following:

• The South Bay Pony Division Interlock (2019 rules link) govern games played by interlock participating leagues. Currently this includes LA-MV, Los Gatos, and Saratoga Pony Baseball leagues.
• LA-MV League-Wide Rules are designed to help maintain the condition of our playing fields, to help ensure everyone’s safety, and to supplement the League's "Good Neighbor" Policy. Enforcing these general rules, at games and practices, is everybody’s responsibility.

All other playing rules are governed by the PONY Baseball Rules & Regulations and the Official Rules of Major League Baseball.

PLAYERS: Each player must play 3 defensive innings and bat at least once each game, except in the case of an injured player. If the playing time is not met in a game, that player must start the next game. Teams may bat the 9 starting players or the team may roster bat. The umpire and opposing coach shall be notified prior to the start of the game if roster batting will be utilized.  When batting 9 players, substitute players bat when replacing a starting player. A starting player may re-enter the game only once after being replaced. Once removed, a substitute may not re-enter the game. No more than two players can be used in the same batting order slot during a game. Each team must field a minimum of 8 players or forfeit the game. If a team is playing with 8 players and one of those players must leave the game due to an injury, that team's coach may decide to either forfeit the game or continue playing with less than 8 players. If a team will only have  7 or 8 players for a game (can’t borrow a player if 9 players are available) that team can borrow one player from another team within the division. That player must bat last in the order, and can only play LF or RF on defense.

LENGTH OF GAMES: Game length is governed by the South Bay Interlock Rules.

TO EXPEDITE PLAY, a batter must keep one foot in the batters’ box between pitches, except after a foul ball.

10-RUN RULE: If the home team is leading by 10 or more runs after 4-1/2 innings or the visiting team is leading by 10 or more runs after 5 innings, the game is automatically over and the leading team wins.

PITCHING:

• In an effort to better protect our players from the negative effects of overpitching, all pitchers will be subject to strict pitch count limits.

• Pitch limits and mandatory rest will be enforced as prescribed by the PONY Baseball Rulebook, Section 10 – “Pitching Rules” with the following local exception: the daily maximum number of pitches will be reduced to 85 for both regular and playoff games and no more than 120 pitches in a week. Current PONY Baseball rules may be viewed online at www.pony.org.

• Scorekeepers shall track both innings pitched and pitch count for each pitcher, and will notify the appropriate head coach when a pitcher has reached his/her inning and/or pitch count limit. In the event that the home and visitor scorebooks cannot be reconciled during in the course of a game, the home scorebook will take precedence.

• If a pitcher reaches his maximum per-day or per-week pitch count during an at-bat, the pitcher will be allowed to continue to complete the current at-bat, but must be replaced immediately afterwards.

• A single pitch is considered to be an inning. The week runs from 12:00am Monday to 11:59pm Sunday.

• Pitching limits will apply to all regular season, make-up, Club, and playoff games.

• All rest days are based on calendar days.  For example, if a player pitches 57 pitches on Saturday, he would not be eligible to pitch again until Wednesday (resting on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday).  If a pitcher reaches his maximum per-day pitch count during an at-bat, the pitcher will be allowed to continue to complete the current at-bat, but must be replaced immediately afterwards.

• Scorekeepers shall track the pitch count for each pitcher, and will notify the appropriate head coach when a pitcher has reached his/her pitch count limit. In the event that the home and visitor scorebooks cannot be reconciled during in the course of a game, the home scorebook will take precedence.

• These pitching limits will apply to all regular season, make-up, Club, playoff, and post season games.  At the start of each season, the Division Director will set the ratio of per-week pitch counts allocated to Club and Regular teams for Club team players.

BALKS: Balks are governed by Major League rules.

SLIDING: There is no mandatory slide rule.

CONDUCT: Generally the same as the Bronco Division, however, rules pertaining to safety and conduct are closely monitored and strictly enforced by professional association umpires.

COACHES: Same as the Bronco Division, home team has 3rd base dugout.

PROTESTS OF UMPIRE'S CALLS: No protests of judgment calls are allowed. This rule is strictly enforced.

UMPIRES: The Pony Division uses professional umpires from the Santa Clara County Federation of Umpires. These umpires also work high school and college games.

FIELD PREPARATION: The home team is responsible for preparing the field before the game and for removing bases and raking the field after the game. Both teams cleanup their own dugouts after the games. The last team using Covington or Rosita as a practice field on any given day must properly drag and water the field. Visit the Field Maintenance page for more information.

EQUIPMENT: Metal cleats are allowed for the first time at the Pony Division level and are generally preferred by most players.

CONCURRENT PONY/COLT DIVISIONAL PLAY: LA-MV Pony Division players will not be allowed to play on LA-MV Colt Division teams during the same season.