PONY coaches,
We will be having all-star games for each of our three PONY divisions (Mustang, Bronco, and Pony) on June 3 at Silver Terrace.
If you have players you would like to send to this game, the limit is as follows:
Mustang: two players
Bronco: two players (plus alternate)
Pony: three players
Please email SFYBL the players you wish to represent your team by Friday, May 25.
SFYBL Coaches, Players, Parents, and Fans:
We would like to take a moment to remind you that the San Francisco Youth Baseball League, like all youth athletics leagues, expects good sportsmanship from its players, coaches, and fans. Please keep in mind that as adult mentors, our actions set life-lesson examples for the kids we coach.
Arguing judgment calls with umpires or standing by doing nothing while one or more of your fans does so; allowing your players to heckle umpires; using profanities on the field; initiating physical or verbal confrontations with another coach, fan, or umpire – are all examples of poor sportsmanship and leadership which have happened in more than one game this season…including in at least one play-off game.
This is not acceptable behavior in our league or in youth sports in general. Teams which violate these common-sense rules of sportsmanship are subject to: game forfeit, coach ejection, and coach suspension for the next game (first game of next season if the offense happened in the last game of this season), or being banned from the league subject to SFYBL board determination.
Chet Spirlin
SFYBL League Commissioner
We have most of the play-off information (35 total games) scheduled out. It is published on the “2012 Play-Offs” page of our web site.
The only changes we will be making are to correct any errors or missed information. We should have the brackets complete by Monday (May 14) evening.
Today marked the end of regular season play in our PONY divisions. We are working on the play-off schedule, but will be taking a complete break from it on Sunday (don’t forget Mothers Day!!). You can expect to see substantive play-off info posted here on Monday, May 14 (all PONY coaches will be emailed detailed play-off info).
The first play-off games will be on Wednesday, May 16, 5:30 PM for the top eight Bronco and Mustang teams; Thursday, May 17, 5:30 PM for all Pony teams and four of the bottom six Mustang teams; and Saturday, May 19 for most teams. The Mustang play-off structure for teams not in the top eight in the final standings is being redrawn to accommodate one of those teams dropping out of the league today.
Although we will have detailed pairings and fancy brackets for your viewing pleasure…for now you can click the Calendar menu item just below the banner on our site to get a rough idea of where we’re at now with play-off scheduling.
We have updated all t-ball through 3rd grade division schedules to reflect a great number of make-up games made necessary by the rainy March in SF. Actually, it was the SF Rec & Park volunteer scheduler (thanks, Dana!) who did all this. With 122 such teams, it wasn’t easy, but 5 hours later…it is done.
The dates/times of the make-up games were drawn up based on availability feedback from our t-ball through 3G coaches.
If you are a coach or a parent of a TB through 3G team please consult your team’s updated game schedule:
http://sfybl.com/2012/aplsteamlist.htm
PONY divisions play-offs will begin on Wednesday, May 16 for the Mustang and Bronco divisions and Thursday, May 17 for the Pony division.
Our planned structure is as follows:
Pony (8 teams) – 1 seed vs 8 seed; 2 seed vs 7 seed, 3 seed vs 6 seed, and 4 seed vs 5 seed. Teams who lose their first game will go into a consolation bracket.
Bronco (11 teams) – The top eight teams in the final regular season standings will be in the championship bracket: 1 seed vs 8 seed; 2 seed vs 7 seed, 3 seed vs 6 seed, and 4 seed vs 5 seed. Teams who lose their first game will go into a consolation bracket. The bottom three teams in the regular season standings will start off in the consolation bracket.
Mustang (15 teams) – this division has two conferences formed arbitrarily at the beginning of the season: Willie Mays (8 teams) & Jo DiMaggio (7 teams). The top four teams in each conference will be in the championship bracket with cross-conference 1 vs 4 and 2 vs 3 initial pairings. The bottom four teams in the Willie Mays and bottom three teams in the Joe DiMaggio conferences will start off in a 5th place consolation bracket.
Play-off seeding will be determined by the following criteria (in order):
1) season win percentage
2) head-to-head results (first tie breaker)
3) head-to-head runs allowed (second tie breaker)
4) overall runs allowed (third tie breaker)
Again, the play-offs will be starting in just over two weeks with the championship games currently scheduled for:
Pony: May 21
Mustang: May 23
Bronco: May 24
PONY Coaches and Players:
Through the first half of the season we elected to ask our umpires to issue warnings only for balks. We ask our umpires to explain to the pitcher what he/she did to cause a balk…but there has been no penalty.
The second half of our season begins this Saturday, April 28. From this Saturday on, all balk calls will result in the base runner(s) being awarded a base.
PONY Mustang Coaches:
There has been some confusion with respect to secondary leads, so we would like to clarify the rules.
1) Base runners can not take a secondary lead until AFTER the ball has crossed the plate.
2) there is no base stealing allowed (at least not this season)
3) If a base runner takes a secondary lead, he/she does so at his own risk. A defensive player can (or at least attempt to) throw out a runner who has taken a secondary lead if he wishes.
4) If the catcher (or any other defensive player) attempts to throw out a runner who has a secondary lead and the thrown ball is missed; the ball becomes live, and the runner can then attempt to advance.
We’re pointing this out for two reasons:
a) some Mustang team runners are taking leads before the ball crosses the plate (in some cases, before the pitch is even made)
b) some runners are taking secondary leads more than half way to the next base under the mistaken impression that there’s no risk in taking dangerously long leads.
07:39 – the following fields are closed: Portrero Hill and St. Mary’s. All other fields remain open for games at this time. We are working to find alternate locations for games schedule to be played at the two closed fields but may not be able to do so in time for the 9:00 AM games.
Unfortunately, due to even more heavy rain last night and this morning; all SF Rec & Park grass fields are closed for a second day in a row. This means all practices and games scheduled on grass fields today are canceled.
If your practice is on a turf field (South Sunset or Silver Terrace); it is still on.
Weather forecast by WP Wunderground & Denver Snow Removal