The Farm Division is the first of NESLL’s five baseball divisions.  There are two divisions within Farm — Farm 1 and Farm 2.  The general gist of each:

General Info

• Boys and girls age 7 and under (7U) as of August 31 (predominantly 1st graders)
• Registration for Farm Baseball is open until March 15
• Thirteen players per team maximum
• No split games, as in tee ball (each matchup is a single game)
• Parents select their teams based on coach familiarity, child’s friends, etc.  (NESLL will assign players to teams if they have no particular preference)
• Practices begin late March
• Games begin the third week of April
• Two games per week during the season
  • One on a weeknight and one on Saturday (fourteen (14) games total)
  • Games begin at 6 pm on weeknights and 9:30 am and later on Saturdays
• Noncompetitive games
  • No scoring
  • Six innings or ninety (90) minutes, whichever comes first
• NESLL provides hats & shirts
• Parents provide gloves, cleats, pants & long sleeve under shirt
• Mandatory play
  • At a minimum each player must play six (6) defensive outs and have one (1) at bat.
  • The batting order shall be continuous and include all players on the team roster present for the game batting in order. Each player is required to bat in his/her respective spot in the batting order.

Batting/Pitching

• Coaches pitch to their own teams from about 40 feet from home plate
• 6-8 pitches — after that, players hit ball off a tee
• Bunting not permitted

Batting Order

• All players bat each inning
• Unlike tee ball, the ninth batter does not run the bases in total

Fielding

• Maximum of 9 positions players

Baserunning

• On infield hits, runners may not advance past first base on throws to first that aren’t caught
• On outfield hits, runners should stop once an outfielder controls the ball.  Inside-the-park home runs are discouraged unless the hitter crushes the ball past everyone.
• No leading off
• No stealing
• Unlike tee ball, if a player is retired (s)he leaves the bases
  
  

FARM 2