Indoor Softball Rules

Indoor Softball Rules

Male/Female Ratio

All teams must field a defensive team of 5 men and 3 women OR 4 men and 3 women. There are NO restrictions on where players are to be positioned apart from one at catcher (positioned behind the batter) and one as pitcher who must stand and pitch from the pitching plate. Additional players can be added to the batting line-up as long as there are no more than 2 male batters batting in a row.

Game time

Games will be 24 minutes, two innings of 12 minutes each where a team will both bat for 6 minutes and field for 6 minutes. Try and ensure a quick turnaround to keep the schedule running smoothly. Home team will be first team listed on the schedule. The scorer/timekeeper will announce to the umpire the last 30 seconds of a batting cycle and also the last batter.

Fake bunts / slash bunts / chopping

All are allowed.

Catch off the nets

The side nets are live, and any ball caught off the net (without first touching the ground) is an out.

Ball hit through the nets

If a ball is hit through the net and passes outside the court a dead ball shall be called and a single is awarded to the batter. If a force is in play other base runners shall advance one base. If no force, no advancement.

Live / Dead Ball Area

There will be a line or marking to designate the area that is live going forward and dead going back.

Ceiling

If the ball hits the ceiling it is an out.

Sliding

NO sliding allowed.

Bats

During the game, please ensure that bats are retrieved quickly. It is a fast paced game and we don’t want anyone running for home and getting injured on a bat.

Scoring

  • Only One pitch (must have an arc). A ball – gets a walk to first and 1 point (any runner forced home on a walk also scores 1 point).
  • Points are obtained by the batter getting to 1st ,2nd ,3rd ,4th/Home bases depending on the base they reach on the hit, one point for every base. One plus point is also awarded for any player crossing home plate. 
  • A missed strike is minus 1 point.
  • A hit off the roof is a dead ball, batter out and minus 1 point.
  • A hit ball that gets you safely on base gets you 1 point for 1st base, 2 points for 2nd base, 3 points for 3rd base, and 4 points if you get all the way home.
  • Any batted ball caught off the back wall is an out for the batter and scores -1 point, (player note – it is a live ball until time is called so players on the bases can run – if they are brave enough!).
  • A hit ball off the back wall below the line and not caught is a 5 point home run plus 1 point for every runner on base. Runners can just leave bases and return to batting line no need to run all the way around when a home run of this nature is scored.
  • A hit ball off the back wall above the line and not caught is a live ball.
  • Minus 1 point for any forced out or any tag out.
  • A foul tip/ball which rolls behind home plate/the dead ball line without first touching the side walls/netting is minus 1 point.
  • When a batter hits the ball and gets to e.g. 2nd base and goes for 3rd but gets tagged out, the scoring of this is plus 2 (for reaching 2nd) minus 1 for the out