Home page Combined Team Ratings 50+ age division 55+ age division 60+ age division 65+ age division 70+ age division 75+ age division 80+ age division Women's divisions Summary of Summit Action National Senior Softball Advisory Board Advisory Board Recommendations Comparison of Senior Rules for Different Organizations Summit Organizations The national senior softball organizations in America: ASA ISA ISSSA NASCS NSA SPA SSUSA USSSA

Summary of action at the 2000 National Senior Softball Summit Here is a summary of the action taken by the delegates from all nine national softball organizations at the National Senior Softball Summit in Marietta, Georgia, in Feburary 2000. Report courtesy of Senior Softball-USA News: Summit Agrees on Lifetime Bans Softball Organizations to Set Up Combined National Team Rating System Senior Softball-USA News Report MARIETTA, Georgia - In a major crackdown on cheating players, all nine softball organizations agreed at the Senior Softball Summit here to ban players for life if they are caught lying about their ages. Players will be offered an amnesty - and will be suspended for the remainder of the 2000 season - if they come forward before June 30. After that date all players found falsifying documents about their ages will be banned for life. Each organization will offer a limited appeals process, according to Summit officials. Summit organizations also agreed to a Combined Senior Softball Rating system for teams. Teams will be rated and posted on the internet at the website: www.softballrating.com. The website should be available to all players and teams by the middle of March. The consolidated ratings will also be published in Senior Softball-USA News. The second annual Senior Softball Summit produced agreements on a "no-run-through rule," on unlimited courtesy runners and many organizations adopted regions. "We made tremendous strides from 1999 to 2000 and the key is communication between the associations," said Jerry Jackson, USSSA National Masters Program director. "We are never going to be the same, but we are close - real close." Summit leaders approved a 15-member National Senior Softball Advisory Board and a 7-member Womenąs National Senior Softball Advisory Board. The initial Advisory Board, representing teams and leagues in different age groups and regions throughout the United States, made several recommendations to the Summit before the 2-day meeting began. Leaders from the nine softball organizations included the Advisory Board's recommendations in the summit discussions ­ and adopted several of the suggestions. "The Summit leaders came to agreement on a surprising number of the recommendations," said Ridge Hooks, president of Softball Players Association (SPA) and Summit coordinator. Every senior softball organization was represented, including the presidents of ASA, SSWC, SPA, ISA, ISSA. Delegates included: Pat Adkison, ASA president; Bob Mitchell, SSWC president; Ridge Hooks, SPA president; Bill Ruth, ISA president; R. B. Thomas, ISSSA president; Jerry Jackson, USSSA National Masters Program director; Hugh Cantrell, NSA executive director; Clay Caperton, SSWS executive director; Chet Tyl, ISA executive director; Terry Hennessy, SSWC executive director; Lester Leonard, ASA senior representative; Bill Givens, of the Huntsman Softball Games, and Winkie Blackman, Senior Softball Hall of Fame. Perhaps the biggest change over the past year is the adoption of regions in senior softball. In 1999, only two organizations had regional or mileage restrictions, SSWC and SSWS. This year, seven of the nine organizations have adopted regions and the other two organizations ­ ASA and the Huntsman Games ­ will be considering them for 2001. łThe reason we were able to agree on a National Senior Softball Team Rating system is that we are much closer on regions,˛ said SSWCąs Mitchell. łThat means, simply, that we are all looking at teams with basically the same players,˛ he said. The teams will be rated and posted on the Summit website, which will be used by all organizations. Senior Softball-USA will administer the site and sell advertising to pay the costs of operation. "Any revenue over and above the costs of operation will be donated back to the Senior Softball Summit and the National Senior Softball Hall of Fame to help defray the costs of operating those organizations," said SSWC's Hennessy. "This website is for all senior softball organizations, teams and players," he said. The site will include other information from the summit, such as a comparison of rules, a survey for players, a list of championship dates, and a list of Senior Softball Advisory Board representatives. Players will be able to contact any of the organizations through the website. The Summit organizations decided to allow each organization two delegates and one vote. New organizations will be allowed into the Summit by a simple majority vote. The Summit will meet again in Las Vegas in January 2001. "This is the beginning of the journey; we all have a lot of work ahead of us," said Ridge Hooks. "The great thing is that we are willing to listen, learn and work together to protect the game we love." Here are some of the major decisions reached in the 2000 Summit: Banned for Life The four associations that issue identification cards ­ SSWC, USSSA, SSWS and SPA ­ agreed to ban players for life if they falsify documents to cheat on their ages. They also agreed to a limited amnesty program. All nine organizations agreed that players who cheat on their ages should be banned from the sport for life. Run Through Eight of the organizations have implemented no-run-through rules, with optional sliding. The only organization allowing running through second and third bases is the Huntsman Games. Given, representing the Huntsman Games, said he will recommend abolishing the run-through rule for his organization. The other eight organization leaders said the run-through was banned for safety reasons. Courtesy Runners All organizations now allow unlimited courtesy runners except ISA, which is the only organization to allow stealing. The only restriction is that a runner can only run once per inning and will be called out if he is on base when it is his turn to bat. Commitment Line Two organizations, SPA and NSA, agreed to move their commitment line to 20 feet from home plate, putting them in agreement with five other organizations - SSWC, ASA, ISA, ISSA and the Huntsman Games. Both SSWS and USSSA have commitment lines set at 32.5 feet and need approval of their Rules Committees before making a change. While there were several areas of agreement, there were still notable issues of difference among the organizations, including ball standards, home runs, arcs, time limits, and mercy rules. Balls of Fire The ball standard emerged as one of the hottest topics of the Summit. The National Senior Softball Advisory Board unanimously backed the .47 COR ball with a .525 Compression Rating, which is used by both SSWC and ISA. Five organizations - ISSA, USSSA, NSA, Huntsman and SPA - have adopted the .47 COR ball with the softer .375 Compression Rating. Two organizations - ASA and SSWS - have adopted the .44 COR ball with a 450 Compression Rating. SPA uses the .44 COR ball for its AA Division. Home Runs All nine organizations agreed that home runs would be unlimited in the Super Division and recorded as outs in the AA Division. That is where the agreement ended. In the Major Division, SSWC and SSWS allow unlimited home runs, USSSA allows 3, and six organizations - ISSA, SPA, NSA, ASA, ISA, Huntsmen - allow 6 home runs. In the AAA Division, six organizations - ISSA, ASA, NSA, ISA, SPA, and Huntsman Games - will allow one home run. In SSWC, a home run is a ground rule double. The High and Low of Arcs The arc is pretty evenly split among the organizations, with the general feeling that there may be some agreement by next year. Four organizations - SPA, NSA, USSSA and Huntsmen - allow 6-foot to 10-foot arcs. Four organizations - SSWC, ASA, SSWS and ISSA - allow 6-foot to 12-foot arcs. ISA allows a 4-foot to 10-foot arc. Time Limits Time limits are all over the board for the nine organizations. Five organizations have no time limits and no 5-run rules: ISSA, ASA, USSSA, NSA and SPA. SSWS has 1 hour and 15 minute limits on pool play and no time limit on championship games. ISA allows no inning to start after 70 minutes in pool play and no time limit in double elimination. The Huntsman Games allow one inning after 50 minutes have been played and 1.5 hours for double elimination play. SSWC uses a 5-run rule. At 60 minutes into the game, the umpire announces that the current inning will be completed and another open-scoring inning will be played. SSWC has no time limit on championship games.