Revised Fall Ball Tournament and Tee Ball Game Schedule Announced
Like everyone, we are disappointed by the lack of weather cooperation the past two weeks to afford our hard-working, resilient, deserving ballplayers a chance to complete the season. They’ve worked hard at practices and games, have had lots of fun with their teammates, and long for the chance to take the field once more this fall. We understand extending the season may not accommodate every family’s schedules and plans, but we truly hope we can all work together to provide one final chance for all teams to take the field and complete their rec league tournament experience or final slate of Tee Ball games on Sunday, October 31.
All these efforts are designed to help teams progress and put themselves in position to be competitive during an exciting and enjoyable season-ending Rec League Tournament.
The Tournament | OYO will operate a single-elimination tournament for all our divisions, except Tee Ball. (Tee Ball has one final game scheduled on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. on Fields 1-4.) The tournament is now set for Sunday, October 31. To best accommodate Halloween plans for Sunday evening, we are making a few adjustments to the schedule on Sunday. First, all game times are now 9:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 1:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m.
LeagueApps Updated | We have added all the rescheduled games into LeagueApps for Sunday, October 31 for all divisions. Please note, we are not adding/rescheduling practices this week to allow time to work on the fields and ensure they are playable for Sunday. Plus, there’s limited daylight left in the evenings for teams to safely gather for practices. However, each team’s head coach is welcome to schedule a batting practice by reserving the batting cages from 5:30-6:15 p.m. or 6:15-7:00 p.m. Please send all batting cage reservation requests to both cherisse80@msn.com and oyocommunications@gmail.com.
Game Times Shortened Slightly | All game times will now be 1 hour, 30 minutes then finish the inning to help ensure the day stays on schedule. This includes all championship games in all divisions, except for Junior Baseball and 14U/16U Softball, which will play a full seven-inning game with no time limit.
Few Important Game Day Details | Please take note of these special circumstances on Tournament Sunday:
- Be Ready to Play as Early as 15 Minutes BEFORE Scheduled Game Time | Teams and ballplayers should arrive to scheduled field at least 30 minutes before your scheduled game in the event we can start your game early to help ensure the day’s schedule remains on schedule and ends in a timely manner for all players, coaches and fans on Halloween evening
- National Anthem | OYO will only play the National Anthem before all 9:30 a.m. games to ensure the day begins on time … but will not be played after 9:30 a.m. (as schedules could be accelerated or delayed based on outcomes)
- Home/Away Designation | All games will require an umpire-supervised method to determine home and away using a coin toss or ball roll between two teams (and the team winning the toss/ball roll can choose Home or Away)
- Hard Stop Announcements | Will not be used at all on Sunday, October 31 as umpires will maintain the game clock
- Two Situations In Which Game Will Use Hard Stop at 1 hour 30 minute Mark | If the home team is batting and ahead or if the inning played is not the last official inning (meaning the five runs per inning rule is in effect) and either team is ahead by more than five runs, then the game should be stopped to help keep the schedule for the day on track
Saturday Matters More Than Ever…We Need Your Help! | To help provide us the best chance possible to recover from any rain that falls at Veterans Memorial Park later this week, we will need all hands on deck on Saturday. We will need to remove all standing water, rake soft playing surfaces and add any infield mix where needed on Saturday to ensure fields are ready to go first thing Sunday morning. Please make plans now to come to the park on Saturday morning. More details will be shared on Friday about our field maintenance plans, including starting time, on Saturday.
The Brackets | At OYO, we are a developmental league first during the regular season. We do not keep standings, and all first round games/tournament brackets were completed through a computerized random draw in LeagueApps. Please access your division’s tournament bracket below (see links for your division’s bracket). If you have any questions about your bracket, please contact your coach, division commissioner or respective vice president. The brackets can be accessed below and the first roound games are noted on your team’s schedule in LeagueApps.
We wish all teams a memorable ending to their season this Sunday. As always, thank you for choosing OYO as your place for baseball and softball.
Play Ball!