Charter By-Laws

To address the issues associated with teams placing winning above player development, Little League WA requires each charter to implement by-laws to ensure player development and welfare are protected.

​The following by-laws are in place.

Charter Bylaws are to be read in conjunction with the Baseball WA Bylaws and Little League International rule book.

To address the issues associated with teams placing winning above player development, the below by-laws will apply for the first half of the 24/25 season – this is to encourage player development and ensure player welfare is protected

1. Pitching

• The following criteria applies to the games played before Xmas 2024 in aggregate (includes both Exhibition and Regular Season Games)
  • A player must not throw more than 150 pitches (‘finish the batter’ will apply) over this period
  • A minimum of six (6) players must throw at least 65 pitches over this period
• Exhibition Game pitch limit 35 pitches or 2 innings max – whichever comes first
• Regular Season Game pitch limit (per LL International pitch count rules for each age group Regular Season Pitching Rules – Little League)

2. Catching

• The following criteria applies to the games played before Xmas 2024 in aggregate (includes both Exhibition and Regular Games)
  • A player must not ‘catch’ more than ten (10) innings over this period
  • A minimum of four (4) players must catch at least five (5) innings over this period
• Exhibition Game catcher limit – a player cannot ‘catch’ for more than two (2) innings)
• Regular Season Game catching limit – four (4) innings max

3. Pitcher/ Catcher Double-ups − A player cannot pitch and catch in the same game (will apply to the entire season)

4. Four Runs Across the Plate − For the games before Xmas 2024, a half inning will end at the earlier of three outs or four (4) runs across the plate (will revert to the earlier of six (6) runs across the plate or three outs for the second half of the season)

5. Dropped Third Strike – Dropped Third Strike will come into effect after the Christmas break

Team Make Up Policy

1. Players are to play in their age group as defined by the Little League Age chart.
2. Local clubs are to ensure that if they are entering multiple teams within the same league (except Big League) then each team is equally weighted with player abilities and average age for each team. This is to prevent a club from stacking one team over another.

Little League Minors Machine Pitch

• Catchers may catch 2 successive innings before being changed to a different position.
• During the season, It is at the coaches discretion, by agreement of all team coaches, if a batter cannot put the ball into play after 3 strikes the teams coach shall soft toss until the ball is batted in play.  (This change has been agreed for the players who are struggling, to give them a chance to hit the ball and not strike out every time he comes to the plate. The kids who are capable will be on three strikes)

Please note that all by-laws below have been reviewed and are approved by the Coastal Bay Sharks Baseball Charter committee (‘the committee’) as of Tuesday 12th October 2020, and are in addition to those produced by LLWA and the ‘Green Book’. These are for LL Minors & Majors league aged players ONLY (8-12).

1. All Little League players must attempt to pitch a minimum of 30 pitches throughout the course of the exhibition and regular minor/major season.
2. Little League Exhibition Series – players can only pitch a maximum of 40 pitches per game during the exhibition series. Catchers will only catch a maximum of 2 innings per game.
3. Little League Regular season – players can only pitch a maximum of 60 pitches per game during the regular season. Catchers will only catch a maximum of 3 innings per game.
4. Little League Finals series – pitch limits and catching restrictions limits as per LLWA by-laws.
5. No catcher may catch more than a total of 6 innings in a day (where they also play Intermediate League).
6. At least 4 players from each team must play the position of catcher for 4 or more innings throughout the course of the season

Charter Disclaimer:

1. Coaches must make every effort to encourage all players to pitch a minimum of 30 pitches throughout the season. Whilst it is understandable some players lack the confidence and/or ability to pitch, every attempt must be made to provide sufficient instruction and encouragement that enables all players to pitch at various times throughout the exhibition series and regular season. The committee will monitor player development and pitch counts and provide engagement to ensure consistency across the charter clubs.

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Little League Majors
A pitcher can only pitch a max of two full innings or a total of 50 pitches whichever comes first in Little League club games.

Intermediate League
Intermediate League an offensive inning is complete with a third out or a eighth run. The offensive inning will end at the completion of the play where the eighth run was scored. More than the maximum of eight runs may have been scored during the final play, however only eight runs will be recorded for the inning.

Intermediate League above shall apply for the first five innings except in the bottom of fifth to avoid the mercy rule. No run restriction is applied to the sixth or seventh inning.
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These rules do not apply to finals.

Team Make Up Policy
Teams can be comprised of any number of players, up to the maximum team squad size allowed as per Little League WA by-laws, within that league age.

Teams will be created with a view of distributing talent evenly across each Little League age group.  Consideration will be given to teams that retain players as they move into older age groups to allow those players to continue to play together.

1. A pitcher may pitch for a maximum of 50 pitches or two innings whichever comes first, two innings to be the equivalent of 6 defensive outs.
2. A catcher may catch a maximum of 2 innings.
3. A player may not pitch and catch in the same game.

Intermediate League

1. Intermediate League innings shall be complete with three outs or eight runs whichever comes first, if more that 8 runs are scored in the final play only 8 runs will be recorded.
2. Above rule to apply to first 5 innings only, no restrictions on 6 and 7th innings.

Above rules do not apply for finals

PITCHING: