GOFL annual meeting

The Greater Ottawa Fastball League held its annual meeting back on February 5th. Here is what was discussed:

Attendees:

Adam Brown (WC Electric)

Tony Macdonald (Kanata)

John Craig (Stittsville)

Dan Bradley (Stittsville)

Adam Fleming (I4C Victory)

Kevin McGuire (I4C Victory)

Cory Morrison (Kars)

Ted Mecalfe (EOUA)

Dave Norris (EOUA)

Unable to attend:

Shawn Laframboise (Quyon)

Derick Bulley (Blitz)

Umpires:

• Ted and Dave will share Umpire in Chief duties for the league. George Findley remains as scheduler.
• Rules were reviewed (see below on special league rules). No changes from Softball Canada.
• Letter of Understanding to be signed by each team. Rates remain the same, $46 per man per game for doubleheaders, $52 per man per game for singles. May 1st 50% of regular season fees due, June 15th balance of regular season fees, July 15th Playoff Deposit. Cheques payable to Eastern Ontario Umpires Association.
• For weather cancellations, George needs to be contacted by no later than 5:30pm. This is the home team’s call.
• Adam to correspond with George to “close off” the accounting for 2013 season.
• Micksburg will continue to schedule their own umpires through the Upper Valley.

Teams and nights:

• WC Electric: Fitzroy Harbour - Tuesdays, potentially a Friday or two
• Stittsville 56ers: Stittsville on Wednesday
• Kars Aces: Manotick on Wednesday 
• Blitz: Manotick on Wednesday **BLITZ HAVE WITHDRAWN**
• I4C Victory: looking at moving diamonds. (Now confirmed as Manotick on Wednesdays)
• Kanata Pirates: replacing Barrhaven ‘franchise’; looking at diamond time in Kanata area on Thursdays. TMac to confirm.
• Micksburg Twins: Micksburg – fairly flexible on nights.
• Quyon Flyers: Quyon on Thursdays. 

Scheduling:

• Adam has volunteered again to create the schedule. Teams were asked to forward any special scheduling requests to Adam.
• Some doubleheaders will be scheduled whenever practical.
• Micksburg offered to host a ‘showcase day’ on a Saturday with multiple teams. Date to be determined by Jamey.
• Regular season will start the second week of May, with the regular season schedule running for 13 - 14 weeks. Rainout make ups and playoffs to follow.
• Teams will play each team three times (21 games if 8 team league, 18 games if 7 team league).
• Playoff format continues:
• If seven teams, 1st place team to be awarded bye to final weekend showdown. Team may decline the bye, and it would go to the next team down the standings and could be waived down to the next team, etc. Playoff series: best of five, 2nd vs. 7th, 3rd vs. 6th, 4th vs. 5th. To be completed during August.
• If eight teams, 1st vs 8th, 2nd vs 7th, 3rd vs 6th, 4th vs 5th, best of five.
• Final Weekend Showdown: four team double knockout tournament, with top seed playing lowest seed in one of the first round games. Two games on Friday September 12, remainder of the tournament on Saturday September 13. Sunday September 14and/or the following weekend will be the rain date. Stittsville will host the FWS.

Operations:

• Each team will continue submit a line up card at the plate meeting to the umpire & their opponent.
• Game cancellation: as per before if a team needs to cancel a game (for any reason other than weather), 24 hours notice should be given to the opposing team’s representative. If a visiting team fails to show up with enough players or cancels too late to notify the umpires, then the visiting team will pay for the officials’ fees. If diamond fees are going to be charged to the home team, the offending team will have to pay for the make up diamond rental fee.
• Rain shortened games: for games to count in the standings for regular season four (or three and half) innings are completed. Games not "official" will need to be replayed at a later date. For playoffs, same as before, the game will resume at a later date from the point at which the game was delayed.
• Game stories can be sent as soon as possible to Adam so the fitzroyfastball blog can be updated. Report should at a minimum include the score, the winning and losing pitcher and any home runs hit.
• For the regular season, each team is responsible for their own expenses, including by not limited to diamond fees, umpire costs, balls, etc. (see exceptions below re: playoffs).
• Regular season tie-breaking: 1) points (2 for a win, 1 for a tie) 2) wins 3) head-to-head 4) run differential in head to head 5) coin flip
• Playoff extra innings: if a playoff game is tied, the ‘international rule’ shall being in the 8th inning.
• To be eligible for playoffs, a player must have participated in six league games for his team. In addition, if this player wants to pitch in the playoffs, he must have thrown 18 innings during the regular season. To have this rule waived due to injury or other reasons, the requesting team can ask for a vote of the other team captains to allow playoff participation.
• The cost sharing formula for playoffs will continue. For the playoffs series, if there are an odd number of games (3 or 5), teams shall split umpiring and diamond costs for the final game.
• For the FWS, all teams shall share equally in the umpiring costs; the host team will pay for the diamonds and retain all profits from such things as Pepsi sales; each team will supply one new ball for each FWS game.
• Playoff winner fund: $500 with 7 teams or $600 with 8 teams to the FWS winner and $200 to the FWS finalist. The I4C Trophy will be awarded to the playoff champion.
• Jamey will look into ordering softballs through his contact and advise.
• Flem will look into obtaining insurance coverage through the OASA for all interested teams (with help from Rosey).

League special rules:

• “8 man rule”: in order to continue to ensure minimal defaults, teams will be permitted to start games with 8 players. There will be no “auto-out”. If the ninth player shows up late (or a lucky fan is found), then the team can insert this player in the ninth position in the line-up. However, if a team has only 9 players and one is ejected, the team will then forfeit the game. If a team has 9 players, and there is an injury and the player cannot continue, the team may still play with 8, but then the auto-out will apply.
• “Mercy rule”: will continue as 7 after 5.
• “2 out catcher rule”: optional.
• “Discipline”: Same as previous years: first ejection player at a minimum receives a “yellow card” - next ejection automatically results in one game suspension, minimum. Each ejection will result in an umpire’s report and a team’s report. Suspension could be given for any ejection depending on severity. In the past few years this has not been a problem with the GOFL and hopefully that will continue.
• “Bat rule”: The GOFL will continue with the ISF / ISC bat rule. Any bat with the ISF stamp or ASA 2004 or 2008 stamp would be legal. As per Ted, the 2013 stamp is for slow pitch only.
• "Injury substitution" rule: If a team has used all substitutes on the bench, and a player in the lineup cannot continue due to injury, one of the previously substituted players can return to the game in his place, even if he is not "re-entering" as per the rules. This applies in an injury situation only.
• Other Softball Canada rules apply.
• There are no restrictions on team rosters (any player, junior, senior, etc. can play). Once a player participates in the league for one team, he cannot play for another team that season.