A single-elimination tournament, also called a knockout or sudden death tournament, is a type of tournament where the loser of each match is immediately eliminated from winning the championship or first prize in the event. (However, it does not always mean that the defeated competitor will not participate further in the tournament (in some such tournaments, consolation or “classification” contests are subsequently held among those already defeated to determine the awarding of lesser places, for example, a Third place playoff.)

Format

Often, the number of participants in a single-elimination tournament is fixed as a power of two; for example, the Wimbledon singles championships are tournaments of 128 players. This ensures all competitors will face opponents who have previously played the same number of matches. The full schedule of pairings across all rounds (the bracket) may be allocated before the start of the tournament; or each round may be allocated at the end of the preceding round. Each successive round halves the number of competitors remaining (assuming there are no byes — see below). The round in which only eight remain at the start is generally called the quarter-final round; this is followed by the semi-final round in which only four are left, the two winners of which then meet in the final, or championship round.

In cases where the number of competitive entities at the start of the tournament is not a power of two, some competitors may receive a bye in the first round, which entitles these competitors to advance to the second round automatically without playing. Often, these byes will be awarded to the highest-rated competitors in the event as a reward for some previous accomplishment; indeed, in some American team sports - most notably football - the number of teams qualifying for the postseason tournament will be intentionally set at a number which is not a power of two, in order to provide such an advantage to a high-achieving team in the just-completed regular season.

Multiple rounds of byes are also possible: in the FA Cup, the teams in the top two league divisions enter in the third round “proper” (of eight); the two next-highest divisions’ teams will have entered in the first round; lower-division teams in one of 6 preliminary rounds.

When matches are held to determine places or prizes lower than first and second (the loser of the final-round match gaining the latter position), these typically include a match between the losers of the semifinal matches, the winner therein placing third and the loser fourth; sometimes contests are also held among the losers of the quarterfinal matches to determine fifth through eighth places (this is most commonly encountered in the Olympic Games, with the exception of boxing, where both fighters are deemed to be third place). In one scenario, two “consolation semifinal” matches may be conducted, with the winners of these then facing off to determine fifth and sixth places and the losers playing for seventh and eighth; those are used often in qualifying tournaments where only the top five teams advance to the next round; or some method of ranking the four quarterfinal losers might be employed, in which case only one round of additional matches would be held among them, the two highest-ranked therein then playing for fifth and sixth places and the two lowest for seventh and eighth.

In a tournament where more than two opponents or teams can play together at once, such as in a shootout poker tournament, players are removed when they can no longer play until one player remains from the group. This player moves on to the next round

1.       Set the Time and Location for the baseball tournament

Form a committee to decide when the best time to have the tournament and the fee needed to cover expenses. At this time you will also determine the Tournament Director who will oversee the entire tournament. Decide what fields will be used along with game format and rules. If your tournament will be visited by quite a few out of town teams you may want to contact the local motel and secure a contract price for a block of rooms that the teams can stay in. This information should be provided in the Team mailings (step 2). Decide what Volunteers will be needed, you can start to get the word out that they will be needed.

2.       Initial Team mailing and tournament Marketing.

Design a flyer or document describing the league tournament and include the Date, location and Type of tournament (round robin, double elimination, etc.), entry fee, room rates (If know or if needed), registration deadline, contact information and a entry form. List the Tournament information on the www.leaguetournament.com website to get the word out to any teams in your area that will be interested. This should take place in December, January at the latest. Send out the first team mailing to local area teams.

3.       Team Mailing (Reminder)

One month before the deadline send out a reminder to the local area teams that have not yet responded.

4.       Follow-up team information

Within a week after the deadline complete the schedule and pull together all other information (maps, motel info, schedule, parking and arrival times) for a packet to be mailed to the registered teams

5.       Solicit for Volunteers

As soon as the game schedule is complete start to solicit for volunteers, decide what kind of volunteers are needed (Equipment, Field, Concessions, Scorekeepers, Umpires, etc.) a portion of this work can be done in step one.

6.       Follow up to volunteers

As soon as the volunteers are scheduled notification should be sent communicating their “job” and time slot(s). The sooner they are notified the less risk of no shows. The communication should also thank them for their efforts.

7.       Hospitality committee

This committee will have the responsibility of determining food and refreshment that will be available for the concession stand and or the Banquet. Their responsibility will be to ensure the food is ordered and served if necessary, they would also be charged with soliciting donations for the concession or banquet if required. Solicitation should be performed as early in the process as possible.

8.       Volunteer reminders

A couple of weeks before the tournament reminder notices should be sent out to each volunteer reminding them of their responsibilities and date/times. Ensure that there is contact information for them to use in case there is a problem with the assignment or date. Any maps or instructions should be included with this communication.

9.       Motel Follow-up

If necessary follow up with the motel/hotel to ensure that the block of rooms is still available and what teams have registered thus far. Contact any teams that are not registered yet, reminding them that the hotel registration deadline is fast approaching and no guarantee of rooms after the deadline.

10.   Awards committee

A committee should be set up to determine the awards that will be given out at the tournament (1^st, 2^nd, and third place) as well as any all-star awards. Once that is determined orders need to be placed atleast 3 weeks prior to the tournament date.

11.   Publicity

Approximately 4-6 weeks before the tournament, notification of local TV, Radio, and newspapers need to be notified of the tournament and announcements made to the public. You should also list your tournament on the league tournament listing website they are a great resource that most leagues will use to search and list their tournaments. This is a free service and should be the first place that the tournament is announced.

12.   First Aid

Communication to the local ambulance service needs to be made to let them know of the tournament dates and that their services may be needed. If possible first aid kits should be available at the field and possibly a first-aid volunteer.

13.   Field Crew and Equipment

Any field maintenance should be performed and any personnel needed to make these changes should be present during the tournament in case of emergency situations. Any equipment (balls, field stripping etc.) should be plentiful and easily available.

14.   Team packet

Team packets should be assembled and available for the team upon checking or first arrival at the tournament location. The packet should include maps of the fields and concessions, first-aid, and restrooms.

15.   Night before the tournament

The tournament director should be available at the hotel or Hospitality room the night before the tournament to hand out team packets and to meet and greet teams, this is a good time for the teams to socialize with each other before play begins.

16.   Day of tournament

The field crew needs to be at the fields a couple hours prior to the start of the 1st game to mark the fields (if not already done), set up the bases, and distribute the first batch of balls. Be sure that the fields are marked with field numbers (Field #1, etc.). The tournament director needs to be at the fields to meet with the volunteers and make sure each field is staffed with all of the necessary people. The volunteers should arrive 1/2 hour prior to each game start to get checked in and ready to start working by game start time. Ideally there would be 1 head umpire, 2 field judges, 1 base operator and 1 or 2 scorekeepers per field. There should be a clip board with official scoresheets, pencils & erasers, team roster sheets, and an official set of rules for each field. Have a water jug and cups at each field for the volunteers. If necessary, have someone transport the team(s), that flew to the tournament, from the motel to the fields. Be sure that there is a rover to keep track of the beep baseballs — collect “dead” balls and supply “new” balls. Remind the umpires to try to keep the games on schedule. The tournament director would travel among the fields to be sure things are running smoothly. Someone would need to collect the scoresheets and get them turned in to the statistician for posting. All of Saturday’s games would need to be posted by Saturday night and have the sheets available on Sunday morning to post Sunday’s games. Sunday’s games will probably have to be manually posted to get ready for the awards presentation. After the games are over on Saturday, the field crew needs to pick up all of the equipment — bases, wires, control boxes, and balls. If you are hosting a “banquet” on Saturday night, the banquet committee needs to be sure that someone is at the hotel getting the food ready.

17.   Sunday Morning

Sunday morning the field crew needs to be at the field early to be sure that the fields are still marked and to set up the bases. They should also distribute the balls. The statistician should have the sheets available with all of Saturday’s games posted. The Tournament Director needs to be sure that all of the volunteers show up for duty. As soon as the games are over, the statistician should manually post the stats so the information is available for the awards presentation. As soon as the information is available, have the awards ceremony. (Be sure that the awards are on site for the presentation.) The field crew again needs to pick up all of the equipment. If any teams flew in for the tournament, be sure they have transportation back to the airport.

18.   End of tournament

Your worries are over for this tournament. Go home and rest. Tomorrow you can start planning for next year. Be sure to send “Thank You” notes to your volunteers.

The round-robin tournament also called the all-play-all-tournament is a league tournament type that allows each participant to play every other participant an equal number of times. In a single round-robin schedule, each team plays every other team once. If each team plays each team twice it is called double round-robin. The term is rarely used if each team plays each other more than twice and is never used when each team does not play all other teams equally (as in the case of most professional sports)

We found a new site that allows you to list your league tournaments online, best of all it is free…Check it out.

Baseball

Softball

Football and more

League Tournament Listings

Scheduling for your league is a huge undertaking, here is a list of Scheduling software that is available. This is not a comprehensive list. Just those that I have used. Each one allows you to schedule round robin tournaments, brackets, and lots of other formats for exporting to Outlook calendar or Google ical.

Galactix - Team Sports Scheduling system

Cactusware - Diamond Scheduler

Splendid City - Sports Scheduler

Catchers!
It is just a few months away however the spring baseball season will be here before you know it.
Here are a few tips for those who are going to be catching this next season..
Catchers are able to use a couple of different stances. The first one is used when there are no runners on base, the catcher will position themselves where they have their weight on the instep of their foot.
The other stance is used when there batter has two strikes or runners on base; each stance is similar to the other. The difference will allow the catcher to prepare to block pitches at times.
When the bases are empty and less than two strikes on the batter, the catcher should have their weight on their instep of their feet. This prevents the catcher from falling forward and or lunging at pitches. They should be well balanced with a strong center of gravity. The left foot should be slightly forward of the right foot if they are right handed. This stance will allow the catcher to move in any direction with ease.
The catcher’s elbow should be resting slightly outside the knee. The fingers should be pointed up and relaxed along with the glove arm. The fingers in their glove should never be horizontal. The most important aspect of their throwing arm is to keep it protected. When there are no runners on base, keep the throwing hand behind the back or the leg. Even without runners on base, they must keep their intensity for a whole game. Catchers must be ready for all situations, without a lapse in concentration.
When there are two strikes on a batter, or runners on base, the throwing hand must be moved to behind the glove. There will be no change in weight, foot placement or throwing arm placement. Put the throwing hand into a fist behind the glove. Their hand is safe behind the glove as all foul balls will change directions and miss the hand. Keep the hand closed behind the glove as you catch the baseball, this will also protect the hand. The biggest benefit of keeping the hand behind your glove is being able to begin a quicker exchange to the ball when they need to throw out a runner. Keeping the throwing hand behind the back hinders a quick throw, and could affect a balanced position.
A common mistake young catcher’s make is to move up into a more athletic position when runners are on base. Moving up into this position also raises the glove into a higher position. This higher more athletic position actually creates more openings for the baseball to get by the catcher. This higher target also encourages the pitcher to throw the ball up in the strike zone, which may produce unwanted results. To keep balls from getting past the catcher, the rule should be stay as low as you can.
Stay focused and intense, stay low, be ready to block all pitches, and be ready for any situation. Young catchers also like to take too many steps when they throw to bases. They feel they do not have the arms strength to get the ball to second base. A quick accurate throw by using proper footwork, is often more beneficial and productive than a late strong inaccurate throw. It takes practice for a catcher to believe that a simple drop step, and foot shift, will provide everything they need a strong accurate throw.

There are a few rules that you will not find in the rule book or you may find that they are misinterpreted.

The first rule is the Two-Tone Glove Rule, it states that the pitchers glove may not be white or grey and be uniform in color. The pitcher also may not attach anything that is different in color from the glove.

With this previous statement you could ban just about every glove being used today. However the rule of thumb that should be used by the leagues and/or the Umpires is “Does Pitcher’s glove distract the batter” if asking this question, and the answer is yes then the glove should not be used.

Taking this a bit further you can then start with the uniform or shirt sleeve that a Pitcher is wearing. By applying the same question to the sleeves you should be able to ascertain if the color is distracting to the batter.

In either case the glove or sleeve issue needs to be addressed at the beginning of the game/season not during.

So often we are reminded how important it is as Coaches and Parents to ensure that our children are safe from the heat of the moment situations we are drawn into during a close game. Unfortunately there have been many cases where the children’s well being is not the top priority of the coaching staff and in some cases, the family as well. The youth league organization is implementing a new pitch count rule to ensure that the kids are not over used,, resulting in injury.

Coaches are the first to ensure that their Pitchers are getting the needed practice time , throwing correctly, and staying healthy, however when you get down to the playoff’s or a close game against a long time rival, the health factor is out the window. It is now all about winning. There are far to many stories of players being injured due to fatigue and strain on their throwing arm.

Here is the maximum pitch count for each age level per day.

AGE                PITCHES

17-18                             105

13-16                             90

11-12                             85

9-10                                 75

7-8                                     50

Exception: If a pitcher reaches the limit imposed in Regulation VI (c) for his/her league age while facing a batter, the pitcher may continue to pitch until any one of the following conditions occurs:

1. That batter reaches base;

2. That batter is put out;

3. The third out is made to complete the half-inning.

Note 1: A pitcher who delivers one or more pitches in a game cannot play the position of catcher for the remainder of that day.

The most important tips for throwing is the proper arm slot along with follow through. Make sure the players are completely warmed up and stretched. When throwing be sure that the glove side shoulder is pointing straight at the target, while stepping towards the target, and following through. The throwing arm needs to be bent at the elbow and above the shoulder. The elbow moves through first followed by the ball and hand, fingers on top of ball. The 4 seam grip should be used for general throwing. Follow through by moving the throwing side Hip around while keeping your elbow up, do not side arm or push the ball. Throwing properly will bring increased strength, velocity and accuracy while protecting from injury.

Here is a printable sheet that will allow you to schedule all your players for all innings and show the position they will play and the batting order.

batting order - field position by inning