Girls Catholic Athletic Conference

GCAC SOFTBALL GUIDELINES

1. National Federation Rules for 12-inch fast pitch, modified by the IHSA, shall be followed except as specified in these guidelines.

2. The host school shall supply the official scorer for each game. The scorers should meet with the opposing scorekeeper after each inning.

3. The host school will supply the official game balls as sanctioned by the National Federation rules 

4. The host school will be responsible for setting up the field, bases, foul lines, pitching rubber, etc. in accordance with the National Federation rules.

5. If the field being used for games does not meet National Federation standards, the visiting team must be notified prior to the day of the contest.

6. If a team is up by10 runs after 5 innings or 15 runs after 4 innings the game should be considered complete. 

7. Divisional contests take precedence over non-Divisional play.

8. The host school is responsible for making a decision whether to call a game due to weather or field conditions. The host school must notify the opposing school and officials two (2) hours before the game time.  Once the game starts, the umpires make any decision concerning cancellations of the game.

9. Softball All-Conference athlete selections shall be made at the post-season Divisional meetings.

a) The 1^st and 2^nd place Divisional teams will each be entitled to two (2) All-Conference positions.

b) The 3^rd and 4^th place Divisional teams will each be entitled to one (1) All-Conference position.

10. The remaining All-Conference positions, based on the formula defined in the By-Laws, are wild card positions and may be selected from any Divisional team.

11. Selections will be made by a vote based on open discussion and statistics provided by the coach.

12. There will be an Athlete of the Year Award given in each Division. (9/05)

13. The following procedures are to be followed for seeding meetings:

14. The Sports Coordinator should have all completed Divisional records at the time of the seeding meeting. (6/15)

15. Final ranking of the teams for tournament should be done after a complete review of all information on every school. The IHSA procedure/format for seeding tournaments will be used. 

16. Bracket sheets with assigned tournament sites should be handed out only after the rankings have been completed.

17. A school which is hosting a tournament game will be permitted to play at their home sites whenever possible.

18. A member, or members, of the Executive Board will be present at the seeding meeting.

Tournament format:

The Junior Varsity tournament will include all schools. At the meeting, teams will be seeded, with the top eight (8) ranked teams playing in the Red bracket and the remaining teams playing in the White bracket.  Both brackets will include consolation play. 

The Athletic Director of the school hosting a seeding meeting must be present at the meeting. (6/23)

The Executive Board reserves the right to reschedule or cancel tournament contests due to weather and/or IHSA scheduled tournament dates.