ISC announces appeals process for players in ISF competition

April 7, 2009 – The International Softball Congress is announcing a modification to existing ISC II eligibility rules for players and pitchers who compete in the ISF World Championship.

The modified rule will enable players or pitchers who play in the ISF World Championship to file an appeal for ISC II eligibility. ISF pitchers and players must follow the same appeals process in place for those named on the ISC II Ineligible Pitchers List or PRAWN list or who competed in the most recent ISC World Tournament, Canadian Senior Men’s National Championship or ASA Major National Championship. Pitchers and players who have previously been classified as eligible for ISC II are exempted from having to appeal.

The rule change was approved by the ISC Executive Committee.

Under the previous eligibility rules, pitchers and players who competed in either of the most recent Pan Am championship or the ISF World Championship were not eligible to play in ISC II competition, effectively a four-year ban with no avenue to appeal. The rule change provides the ability to appeal.

The stipulation with regard to the Pan Am championship has been deleted as men’s fastpitch is no longer a part of the Pan Am Games. Pitchers and players who participate in the Pan Am qualifier will be governed by the ISC II Ineligible Pitchers List along with the requirement for all international region pitchers and players to be approved by the ISC prior to playing in ISC II.

At the time when the Pan Am/ISF rule was conceived in late 2003, it wasn’t believed that any ISC II pitchers would be members of a national team, but with the continued “internationalization” of fastpitch, there are at least three pitchers currently at the ISC II level who would have been unable to continue to play in ISC II for four years under the old rule. In addition, interest has been expressed by some international teams about playing in the ISC II Tournament of Champions, which they would not have been able to do prior to this change.

The updated Eligibility Rules are reproduced below and can be found in the ISC II section of the ISC website at www.iscfastpitch.com.

For further information on the ISC, please contact

Ken Hackmeister
ISC Executive Director
iscken@comcast.net

or

Jim Williamson
ISC II Vice-President
jrwilliamson@foodfacility.com

ISC II Eligibility Guidelines
Below are the Guidelines for ISC II eligibility for teams, position players and pitchers. Please note that all eligibility issues must be resolved prior to any team, player or pitcher participating in any ISC II Travel League, Regional Qualifying Tournament or Championship Tournament. See below for submitting appeals.

Teams:
Teams that competed in the previous year’s ISC World Tournament, the previous year’s ASA “Major” Tournament or the previous year’s Canadian Senior Men’s Championship and are returning at least 70% of their roster cannot play in the ISC II Tournament of Champions unless an appeal is granted.

Appeals will be considered through the process outlined below until June 1 of the current year.

Position Players:
Any player who participated in the most recent ISF World Championship, the previous year’s ISC World Tournament, the Canadian Senior Men’s Championship or the ASA “Major” National tournament or is an ISC “PRAWN” cannot play in the ISC II Tournament of Champions unless an appeal is granted. Appeals will be considered through the process outlined below until June 1 of the current year.

Pitchers:
Any pitcher that participated in the most recent ISF World Championship, the previous year’s ISC World Tournament, the Canadian Senior Men’s Championship or the ASA “Major” National tournament or is an ISC “PRAWN” or whose name appears on the ISC II Ineligible Pitchers list published in the ISC II section of the ISC website cannot play in the ISC II Tournament of Champions unless an appeal is granted.

Appeals will be considered through the process outlined below until June 1 of the current year. Note: Appeals for pitchers/players in the most recent ISF World Championship must be filed by June 1, but evaluation will not begin until the first day after completion of the ISF tournament.

Exceptions:
Pitchers who are currently classified as ISC II eligible are exempted from having to appeal if they pitch in the ISF World Championship.

Rosters:
All ISC II team rosters must be approved by the ISC prior to participation in any Qualifying Tournament or Championship Tournament.

No team, player or pitcher will be allowed to compete in both the ISC World Tournament and ISC II Tournament of Champions in the same season.

No player or pitcher may attempt to qualify for the ISC II Tournament of Champions from more than one region or for more than one team in any one season.

Pitchers or players who play on an ISC team which qualifies for the ISC World Tournament but does not attend are not eligible to play in the ISC II Tournament of Champions.

ISC II teams may have up to three (3) out-of-region players, including from the international region. There is a limit of two (2) out-of-region pitchers per team, including from the international region. All out-of-region players must be registered with the ISC, and the appropriate fee must be paid by May 1 of the current year.

NOTE: It is mandatory that any international region pitcher or player be submitted for approval even if he doesn’t appear on the ineligible list.

Additional details on out-of-region player registration and fees can be found on the ISC website under the Rules section.

Once teams have qualified for the ISC II Tournament of Champions, they are allowed three (3) pickups from ISC II-eligible players from within their region. Pickups must meet all ISC II eligibility guidelines and must be noted on the final roster submitted at the Tournament of Champions registration.

Returning teams must have 70% of their roster to qualify for an automatic berth for the following year.

Appeals:
All appeals must be submitted no later than June 1 of the current year to your ISC Regional Vice President (see the Contacting Us page for details) using the ISC Appeal form (available on the Rules and Forms page).

Any eligibility questions not covered above should be directed to your team’s Regional VP and copied to ISC II VP Jim Williamson (jrwilliamson@foodfacility.com) and ISC II Commissioner Blair Setford (blairjs@rogers.com).

The ISC strongly suggests resolving eligibility questions early so there are no surprises or disappointments prior to league, tournament or championship play.

Jim Williamson
ISC II Vice President
jrwilliamson@foodfacility.com

Blair Setford
ISC II Commissioner
blairjs@rogers.com

At the ISC Board of Directors meeting in Kimberly, the following changes were approved for implementation in 2009. They appear below in no particular order of importance.

1. ISC II Player Reclassification Request Deadline – Appeals to have current World Tournament players reclassified for ISC II eligibility, must be submitted no later than June 1. See new process for requesting reclassification below.

2. Reclassification and Appeal Form Created – A new form and process for reclassifications and appeals has been created and is now displayed on the ISC Web Site www.iscfastpitch.com Click on Rules & Forms link in the left margin of front page.

A. The initial team request or appeal must be sent to the Regional Vice President.
Decision to be made within 5-business days.

B. Player reclassification requests from teams, denied at the Regional level, may be appealed to the ISC II Reclassification Committee jrwilliamson@foodfacility.com and blairjs@rogers.com and a decision will be made within 5-business days.

C. Player reclassification requests denied by the ISC II Reclassification Committee and all other appeals denied at the Regional level, may be appealed to the ISC Executive Committee by submitting the appeal form and a non-refundable $100 credit card fee and sending it to the ISC Executive
Director. Decision to be made within 5-business days.

D. Appeal decisions made by the ISC Executive Committee are final.

3. PRAWN Age Factor – If a non-PRAWN player makes an ISC All-World team in or after the calendar year of his 45th birthday, that player will be considered a PRAWN for only one year. PRAWN players who have made or make an ISC All-World team in the calendar year of their 41st through 44th birthday may request to be excluded from the PRAWN list in the calendar year of their 46th birthday by providing proof of age to the ISC Executive Director by May1.

The changed PRAWN rules are shown on the ISC Web Site (Rules & Forms) and the 2009 PRAWN list is also on the web site (Tournaments link and scroll down to the bottom of the page).

4. ISC II Move-up Berths – Beginning with 2009 ISC II Tournament of Champions, the top two finishing teams will be provided automatic berths in the following year’s ISC World Tournament (2010), and will not be eligible for ISC II qualifiers or the Tournament of Champions in that following year.

5. Mexico and Caribbean Return to US Regions – For 2009 ISC play, residents of Mexico and Caribbean countries will be attached to US Regions as they were in the 2007 season. Mexico is divided between US West and US Central while all Caribbean countries become part of US East. The revised Regional Definitions will appear on the ISC Web Site and in the 2009 ISC World Championship Guide.

6. South American Player Rep – Due to the number of South American players, now participating in ISC and ISC II play, a South American Player Rep has been named to serve on the ISC Player Rep Committee. Juan Potolicchio has been named to this new position and can be reached at juanpotol@hotmail.com

7. Out of Region Form Discontinued – The Out of Region – Player Letter of Intent Form will be eliminated beginning in 2009. The new process involves having the Out of Region player, send an email commitment to the ISC Executive Director iscken@comcast.net no later than May 1. The team manager is to be copied on the email. On or before May 1, the team manager completes the Out of Region Team Recap Form and mails it to the ISC Executive Director with the appropriate fee. The Team Recap form is displayed on the ISC Web Site (Rules & Forms link).

Sample email commitment from player is simply: “I intend to play the 2009 ISC season with (team name). My home region is (insert region of residence)”. Most player email addresses contain the players name so few if any problems are expected with this new, simplified process.

8. Roster Forms – Beginning in 2009, there are roster forms for both World Tournament and ISC II teams. The difference between the two are the list of email addresses the rosters are to be sent to. Those email addresses appear on the roster forms themselves. Both roster forms are available for downloading from the ISC web site (Rules and Forms). If you’re unable to download, email iscken@comcast.net and request the proper roster and we will email attach it to you. Preliminary rosters for both World Tournament (PRAWN declaration) and ISC II are due by May 1. Rosters can be changed during the season on July 15 and again on August 10.

9. Courtesy Runner Rule – While the ISC generally adopts ASA playing rules, we do have some differences. For 2009, the ISC is rejecting ASA’s new rule that allows courtesy runners for both pitchers and catchers. The ISC rule is: Courtesy runners are not allowed in ISC play.