Co-ed T-Ball is offered for boys and girls who will be 5 or 6 years old next April 30th. Practices are held at either Woodland Heights Elementary, The Brawley School, or other ISS schools in Mooresville, and most games will be held at Stumpy Creek Park or potentially Lakeshore Elementary.

PLAYERS MUST HAVE THEIR OWN GLOVE, and we recommend having their own BAT and BATTING HELMET to prevent spreading germs.

SIAA provides matching jerseys and MLB hats for all registered t-ball players.
While not mandatory, most coaches choose uniform colors for pants, socks, and belts (provided by parents).

T-Ball Rules

SIAA T-BALL OVERVIEW AND GENERAL INFORMATION

• Coaches are responsible for games starting and ending promptly within their assigned field times.  There are no umpires or officials assigned to T-Ball to manage this on game days.
  

• Coaches are responsible for the behavior of their players & parents at all times.  Unsportsmanlike conduct by any player/parent must be dealt with immediately.  If there are questions about conduct please contact the T-Ball coordinator.
• The HOME team occupies the 3rd Base dugout or bench.
• Two Innings at a minimum are played (assuming less than 1 hour).  If time allows and both coaches agree, a 3rd inning can be played before expiration of time, it’s at both coaches’ discretion.
• The diamond shall be 60 feet between bases
• There will be NO scorekeeping for any games and everyone WINS.  Players and coaches should shake hands upon completion of the game.

BATTING

• The SIAA T-Ball league is about having fun while introducing and developing core baseball skills to each player.  Every inning the entire team will have an at-bat regardless of how many outs are made.
• Every player will hit from a tee while at-bat for the first 4 weeks of the season (no exceptions).  This will help develop proper hand-eye coordination and allow coaches to teach proper fundamentals of swinging the baseball bat.  In the second half of the season, every player will have the opportunity to hit 3 pitched balls from his/her coach.  If there is no contact made after the 3rd pitch, the coach must set the ball on the tee for the player to hit.   
• Barring injury or sickness, once the batting order is set, you must bat in that order the entire game.  After every child bats one time per half-inning, teams will switch to hit or play the field.
• All players on the field surface (not the dugout or bench) MUST wear a helmet; this includes all base-runners, on-deck batters and the batter.
• The batting tee will be placed directly on home plate or if conditions dictate as close to home place as possible.
• An arc from the 1st and 3base lines (approx 3-4 ft stretching from home plate) will be drawn on the field.  Balls hit off the tee must pass this arc or are considered foul balls.

RUNNING

• Base coaches are encouraged for 1st and 3rd base to help instruct their players the fundamentals of properly running the bases.
• Once a ball is returned to an infield player or in the infield area (within the baselines) coaches should hold their players from taking extra bases assuming the player isn’t ½ way to the next base.
• Players cannot leave their current base until the ball is hit. (No leading off, etc)

FIELDING

• SIAA T-Ball is about developing the fundamentals of baseball and learning to play the game properly.  For infield play, there is only one player allowed to play each appropriate position. (P, 3B, SS, 2B, 1B).  Therefore there are 5 players allowed within the base-paths at any given time.  The remaining players play outfield positions backing up the infield positions. The infield is considered the area up to and 12 feet past the baselines

• There will be no catcher position in Tball
• No one player should play the same position the entire game or year.  It is the responsibility of each coach to rotate their players to play different positions during the season to gain experience.
• As mentioned earlier, there are unlimited outs per inning.  In this developmental league think of outs as more important than runs and its just as important to reward players for fielding and throwing as it is hitting.
• If a team clearly makes an out either by throwing it to a player in a force out scenario or by tagging a runner properly, the player is considered out and shall return to their proper bench after the 4^th week of the season.
• Coaches are allowed on the diamond/outfield while their team is fielding that half of the inning to help instruct and aid in coaching his/her players, which base to throw, etc.
• Stopping of hit balls (unless foul) by coaches is not permitted.  Players must retrieve the ball.