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.

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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

Here is a Line up card that will allow you to keep track of who is batting their order and their number. There is also space to record substitutions

league line-up card

Building a youth league baseball field is generally a straight forward process, this diagram will show the minimum and maximum distances required for a standard 60 foot youth League baseball field. It shows the distance to the pitcher mound from home plate, 1st 2nd and 3rd base distance, backstop distance and outfield minimum distance.

60-foot-little-league-field-dimensions