A. In all cases, the team(s) advancing past Segment 1 must
be the team(s) with the best won-lost
record(s) during pool play. The tournament director will decide the number of
teams that will
advance beyond pool play, and such decision must be made available to the
leagues/teams involved
before the tournament begins.
B. When records are tied, however, the following procedures
must be applied in order, so that the tie can
be broken. These procedures also apply to determining the seeding for Segment 2
(the playoff round),
if seeding for Segment 2 is based on results of pool play.
1. The first tiebreaker is the result of the head-to-head
match-up(s) during pool play (Segment 1)
of the teams that are involved in the tie.
a) If one of the teams involved in the tie has accomplished
EVERY ONE of the
following, then that team will advance:
i. Defeated all of the other teams involved in the tie at least once, AND;
ii. Defeated all of the other teams involved in the tie in everyone of
the pool play
games it played against those teams; AND;
iii. Played each of the teams involved in the tie an equal number of times.
iv. Example: Three teams are tied with identical records for first place
at the end
of pool play, and one team is to advance to Segment 2. Teams A, B and C
played against each other once in pool play. Team A won all of its games
against Team B and Team C during pool play. Result – Team A advances,
while Team B and Team C are eliminated.
b) Each time a tie is broken to advance one team, leaving a tie between
two or more
teams, the situation reverts to “B. 1.” (head-to-head results) in this section.
i. Example: Three teams are tied with identical records for first place
at the end
of pool play, and two teams are to advance to Segment 2. Teams A, B and C
played against each other once in pool play. Team A won all of its games
against Team B and Team C during pool play. Result – Team A advances,
which then creates a two-way tie between Team B and Team C. That tie then is
broke by reverting to “B. 1. a)” in this section.
2. If the results of the head-to-head match-up(s) during
pool play of the teams that are involved
in the tie cannot break the tie (because no team defeated each of the other
teams in the tie each
time they played, or because no team has defeated all of the other teams
involved in the tie in
everyone of the pool play games played between those teams, or because the teams
involved
in the tie did not play one another an equal number of times during pool play),
then the tie is
broken using the Runs-Allowed Ratio (see Section IV).
C. In all cases, if the tie-breaking principles herein are
correctly applied and fail to break the tie, or if
these guidelines are not applied correctly (in the judgment of the Tournament
Committee in
Williamsport), then the matter will be referred to the Tournament Committee,
which will be the final
arbiter in deciding the issue. If a tie cannot be broken through the proper
application of these
guidelines (in the opinion of the Tournament Committee), then a playoff, blind
draw or coin flip will
determine which team(s) will advance. This is a decision of the Tournament
Committee.
RUNS-ALLOWED RATIO
A. For each team involved in a tie in which head-to-head
results cannot be used (because no team
defeated each of the other teams in the tie each time they played, or because no
team has defeated all
of the other teams involved in the tie in everyone of the pool play games played
between those teams,
or because the teams involved in the tie did not play one another an equal
number of times during
pool play), the tournament director will calculate: The total number of runs
given up in all pool play
games played by that team, divided by the number of half-innings played on
defense in pool play
games by that team. This provides the number of runs give up per half-inning by
that team: the Runs-
Allowed Ratio.
1. Example: The Hometown Little League team has given up
eight (8) runs in all four (4) of its
pool play games, and has played 23 innings on defense in those four games.
8 divided by 23 equals .3478
2. The Runs-Allowed Ratio for Hometown Little League (.3478 in the
example above) is
compared to the same calculation for each of the teams involved in the
tie.
B. The Runs-Allowed Ratio is used to advance ONLY ONE team.
C. If, after computing the Runs-Allowed Ratio using results
of all pool play games played by the teams
involved in the tie:
1. one team has the lowest Runs-Allowed Ratio, that team
advances. After one team has
advanced using the Runs-Allowed Ratio, the breaking of any other ties must
revert to the
methods detailed in Section III – Tiebreaker Procedures, before the Runs-Allowed
Ratio is
used to break the tie.
2. two or more teams remain tied, and the methods detailed
in Section III – Tiebreaker
Procedures cannot be used (because no team defeated each of the other teams in
the tie each
time they played, or because no team has defeated all of the other teams
involved in the tie in
everyone of the pool play games played between those teams, or because the teams
involved
in the tie did not play one another an equal number of times during pool play),
then the Runs-
Allowed Ratio must be re-computed using statistics only from the pool play games
played
between the teams involved in the tie. The results are used to advance ONE team,
and any
other ties must revert to the methods detailed in Section III – Tiebreaker
Procedures, before
the Runs-Allowed Ratio is used to break the tie.
D. Any part of a half-inning played on defense will count
as a complete half-inning on defense for the
purposes of computing the Runs-Allowed Ratio.
E. If a game is forfeited,
in most cases the score of the game will be recorded as 6-0 (for Little League
Divisions and below) or 7-0 (for Junior League Divisions and above). However,
only the Tournament
Committee in Williamsport can decree a forfeit, and the Tournament Committee
reserves the right to
disregard the results of the game, to assign the score as noted above, or to
allow the score to stand (if
any part of the game was played).
F. If a game is forfeited, in most cases each team involved
in the forfeit will be deemed to have played
six defensive half-innings (for Little League Divisions and below) or seven
defensive innings (for
Junior League Divisions and above). However, forfeits and the final score and
number of innings
charged or credited in forfeits, can only be
decreed by the Tournament Committee in Williamsport.
G. In the event a team (defined for this purpose as a
minimum of nine players) fails to attend a scheduled
game, and it is determined by the Tournament Committee in Williamsport that the
failure to attend
was designed to cause a forfeit or delay the tournament for any reason, the
Tournament Committee
reserves the right to remove the team from further play in the International
Tournament and/or
remove those adults it deems responsible from the team and/or local league.