SCO Middle School League

A Division

1. Adena, text confirmation 26FEB
2. Chillicothe - PD
   
3. Hillsboro, email confirmation 21FEB
4. Huntington, email confirmation 23FEB
5. Jackson, email confirmation 21FEB
6. Miami Trace, email confirmation 21FEB
7. McClain - PD
8. Paint Valley, email confirmation 26FEB
9. Piketon - PD
10. Southeastern - PD
11. Unioto, email confirmation 21FEB
12. Washington - PD
13. Waverly, email confirmation 22FEB
14. Westfall - PD
15. Zane Trace, email confirmation 22FEB

B Division

1. Chillicothe - PD
   
2. Hillsboro, email confirmation 21FEB
3. Huntington, email confirmation 23FEB
4. Jackson, email confirmation 21FEB
5. McClain - PD
6. Miami Trace, email confirmation 21FEB
7. Paint Valley, email confirmation 26FEB
8. Piketon - PD
9. Southeastern - PD
10. Unioto, email confirmation 21FEB
11. Waverly - PD
12. Westfall - PD

SCHEDULE UPDATE on March 2, 2024:

Week 3 Unioto now hosting Southeastern 

Week 3 Waverly now hosting Jackson 

A Division Rules

• OHSAA Rules (including Pitch Counts) 
• No balk warning is required by the league (Umpire may issue a warning at their discretion)
• Drop 3 BBCOR  bats (or wood) only - The exception is kids in 7th grade or younger playing up  in the A division - The players are permitted to use a -5 bat
• Bats must be 2 ⅝
• DH and/or EH, or Bat Roster
• 7 inning games (unless shorter games are agreed upon by both head coaches BEFORE games begin)
• No new innings after 1 hour and 45 minutes - Drop-dead stop at 2 hours with the final score being the score in the last completed inning
• The second game of a doubleheader will be started 20 minutes after the first game is completed
• In the case of poor field conditions, a final decision is to be made by 10 am on Sunday morning. The home team needs to make this decision and should notify the head coach of the opposing team by 10 am. The Home team is also responsible for canceling umpires ASAP if games cannot be played as scheduled. 

B Division Rules

• OHSAA Rules (including Pitch Counts)
• 1 Balk warning per team per game
• Drop 5 BBCOR  bats (or wood) only - Exception is kids in 6th grade or younger playing up  in the B division - The players are permitted to use a drop8 bat
• Bats must be 2 ⅝
• DH, EH, or Bat Roster
• 7 inning game(unless shorter games agreed upon by both head coaches BEFORE games begin)
• No new innings after 1 hour and 45 minutes - Drop-dead stop at 2 hours with the final score being the score in the last completed inning
• The second game of a doubleheader will be started 20 minutes after the first game is completed
• In the case of poor field conditions, a final decision is to be made by 10 am on Sunday morning. The home team needs to make this decision and should notify the head coach of the opposing team by 10 am. The Home team is also responsible for canceling umpires ASAP if games cannot be played as scheduled. 

Pitching Rules

These pitch counts are taken directly from the OHSAA; some minor modifications of rules will be adopted by the league. 

1.7 Pitching restrictions in grades 7-12 shall adhere to the following pitch/rest limitations:

1.71) A pitcher may finish the current batter if THE DAILY PITCH LIMIT (125) is reached during that at-bat.

1.72) At the end of each contest, coaches will submit pitcher numbers and pitches thrown in the designated data collection system. Modification: Coaches should have this information available if requested by the league

1.73) All pitches thrown in a suspended game or a “no contest” game SHALL COUNT toward the daily pitch limit and the total number of pitches thrown.

1.74) All pitches thrown in a scrimmage or Preview SHALL COUNT toward the daily pitch limit and the total number of pitches thrown.

1.75) Each school/team must keep a record of all pitches thrown by each of their players in each game and make this available to the OHSAA upon request.

1.76) Any player pitching during a period in which rest is required is considered to be pitching as an ineligible player. Note: Any victorious contest in which an ineligible player is participating will result in the forfeiture of the contest.

Other Information:

• If games are rained out, it is the responsibility of the 2 coaches to find makeup days throughout the week or on a Saturday
• The entry fee is due by February 25, 2024
• The final league schedule will be sent around March 13th
• Final team rosters must be submitted to the league by April 7, 2024 - this is being allowed to give coaches more time to better place players on the most appropriate teams; players are NOT eligible to play on the school's other team after final rosters are submitted
• The mercy rule will be 15 runs after 3 innings, 12 runs after 4 innings,  or 10 runs after 5 innings.
• Each team will provide 2 new baseballs for each game (leather baseballs)
• If teams wish, they may pull a kid out of a game defensively to warm up a pitcher with that player being pulled out still eligible to hit 
• Teams will NOT feed other teams
• Each team in each division will be required to pay the league entry fee which is $50 per team
• The entry fee is due by February 25, 2024, VENMO PREFERRED @Post757Baseball_Coach-Barr or checks payable to and mail to: 757 Baseball 13299 Marietta Rd. Kingston, OH 45644 

Umpires

• The home team is responsible for scheduling two umpires
• Should be OHSAA-certified 
• Both teams split the cost of umpires each weekend
• The umpire fee is $125 per doubleheader or $62.50 per game; in the event that only one umpire is available each team will provide 1 coach to call outs on the bases. 

Sunday, January 21, 2024, at 2 pm

Chillicothe Athletic Center 

1245 Western Ave, Chillicothe, OH 45601

Items to Discuss

1. Schools that attended the meeting:
   1. Chillicothe
   2. Washington
   3. Zane Trace
   4. Hillsboro
   5. Miami Trace
   6. Unioto
   7. Waverly
   8. McClain
   9. Adena
   10. Southeastern
2. The general purpose of this league
   1. Sign-In sheet – we need contact information so information can be circulated appropriately. For any additional contacts that you should have please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 
   2. Two divisions - Getting away from traditional 7th & 8th-grade teams when/if it makes sense 
   3. Provide a good environment for our middle school baseball players
   4. We want our kids to play together in the spring at the MS level and then we want them to play summer ball
3. Communication via Group text, email, and website
4. Proposed schedule
   1. 6 weeks of DH, Sunday afternoons (except Easter, play that Saturday) 
   2. Games will be on your fields with home team scheduling and paying umpires
   3. Umpires SHOULD BE OHSAA-certified umpires (we may be able to assist or at least get you umpire contact information)
   4. We do not want to start this league in early March as in previous years – the weather usually sucks in early March
   5. Teams are encouraged to pick up games throughout the week when/if that makes sense
      1. We will put out a contact list of teams in the league (and some other teams) to help with scheduling
5. Reminder – Our #1 objective is to develop our MS baseball players and have FUN
6. Discuss/amend 2022 rules
7. Who’s on board? 
   1. Need an idea of schools/teams to finalize or go find additional schools if necessary

General Overview: The league was established to provide a middle school league for non-sanctioned middle school “club” baseball teams to participate in (we’ve also included sanctioned teams in recent years). The league will be broken up into two divisions: An A division and a B division. These divisions are created to get away from the traditional 7th-grade and 8th-grade divisions allowing middle school programs to better match up their players according to the talent in their program. If teams prefer, they can enter teams made up of all 7th graders and/or all 8th graders. An all-8th-grade team would typically participate in the A division while an all-7th-grade team would typically participate in the B division. 

Proposed Schedule: Games will be played on Sunday afternoons, 1 pm start times with all games during the regular season being doubleheaders. The only exception would be the Easter weekend and those games would be played the Saturday before Easter. The season will begin Sunday, March 29th, and be completed on Sunday, April 28th  with the week of May 5th being used for any makeup games