Kickball For A Cause Tournament

Kickball Tournament was Friday Sept 15 - congratulations to Recess Rejects!


Kickball For A Cause Winner

Recess Rejects

Kickball Tournament Rules (DOC)

The City of Walker Recreation Department is hosting a one-night Kickball Tournament to support the West Michigan Veterans Assistance Program. This organization pledges to assist homeless and near-homeless Veterans and their family members who have needs that are not being met by currently available services. 

“On the battlefield, the military pledges to leave no soldier behind. As a nation, let it be our pledge that when they return home, we leave no veteran behind.”

 Please register your team to help us support this organization. We encourage all participants and spectators to bring an item to donate to WMVAP (list of items below).

Date, Time, and Location

  • Sept 15 (Friday)
  • 4:30-8:30pm
  • City Central Ball Fields (4243 Remembrance Road NW, Walker MI 49534 – behind City Hall)

Eligibility

  • Pre-Registration ONLY – 7/18-8/20
  • Must register as a team
  • Players must be 18+
  • 8-12 players per team. Maximum of 10 players will be allowed on the field per inning.
  • Co-ed Teams only.
    1. Each team is allowed up to 10 players on the field for defense. You may start and finish a game with as few as 6 players (minimum of 3 males and 3 females). You must have someone play the catcher position when playing defense. If teams have only 3 or 4 of one gender, they may still play with 5 of the other gender defensively.

Cost

  • $100 per team

Cause

  • West Michigan Veterans Assistance Program. For more information about this organization and the important work they do to support homeless and near-homeless veterans visit their website.
  • Please consider bringing one of the following:
    1. Hygiene products
    2. Household supplies
    3. Non-perishable food
  • Kickball participants and spectators who bring an item to support WMVAP will get a free hot dog or brat & chips.

Game Length

  • 35 mins
  • Each game is 7 innings long. The next game will start immediately after the preceding game is completed – be sure to have your team ready.
  • No new innings started with 5 minutes left in the game.
  • Teams are limited to scoring a maximum of 8 runs per inning.
  • Mercy Rule: 25 runs after 4 innings; 17 runs after 5 innings; 9 runs after 6 innings.

Pitching and Kicking

  1. A legal pitch must roll along the ground.
  2. Pitches must always be thrown at slow speeds. Any violation will result in the pitch being called a ball. This is a judgement call.
  3. The pitcher is the only defensive player allowed to advance from the pitcher’s mound toward home plate prior to the ball being kicked.
  4. A strike is considered:
  • A pitched ball that rolls over any part of the strike zone line
  • An attempted kick missed by the kicker regardless of location
  • A foul ball
  1. 3 strikes will result in an out, including foul balls.
  2. 4 called balls will result in a walk.
  3. Balls must be kicked at or behind home plate. Any ball kicked in front of home plate will be called a strike.
  4. “Bunting” is allowed.
  5. Infield players may not cross the 1st-3rd base ‘diagonal’ until the ball is kicked.
  6. Kicking Order: alternates between male/female players. If there is an imbalance of males-to-females: use the ‘weave’ method to maintain alternate gender kicking order.
  7. Games will be played using the “Rocket Rule”. The Rocket Rule means that everyone present for the game and physically capable must kick and be listed in the kicking order. Players arriving after the start of the game shall be added to the very end of the kicking order without penalty.

Miscellaneous Rules

  • Pitches must be rolling, not bouncing.
  • No stealing or leading off until ball is kicked.
  • A runner cannot force the ball to hit their head.
  • There are only in the park homeruns, i.e., no homerun fence.

Outs

  • If the ball is caught in the air without touching the ground first, then the kicker is out (a fly out).
  • A defensive player with the ball touches the base ahead of a runner who is forced to go to that base, because of an advancing runner behind him (a force out).
  • A defensive player touches the runner directly with the ball while holding it (a tag out).
  • A defensive player may throw the ball and hit the runner on the fly with it.
  • No headshots. Headshots will not count as an out.
  • If a throw goes out of bounds, each base runner moves up one base.

Tie

  • In case of tie, a coin toss will be conducted by the umpire. The team that kicked first will call the toss.