League Rules and Constitution
Last updated - May 2th 2024

ARTICLE 1 NAME
This organization shall be known as the Prairie West High School Baseball League (PWHSBL).

ARTICLE 2 MEMBERSHIP
The Prairie West High School Baseball League shall be open to membership from any high school in the Westman Area provided their entrance is sanctioned by both the school administration and School Board. Membership may be acquired by the submission in writing of an application to the Executive prior to the (Spring) Annual or subsequent meeting and a majority approval by league voting delegates. Information regarding membership will be communicated to school personnel only. All co-op school applications must be approved by MHSAA.  No school can be added to the co-op without MHSAA approval.

ARTICLE 3 PHILOSOPHY
The Prairie West High School Baseball League (PWHSBL) provides student-athletes with an opportunity to benefit from a rewarding experience while maintaining a strong commitment to academic success and their school community. The PWHSBL promotes an environment which focuses on good sportsmanship, teamwork and the development of life-long skills, while promoting healthy living and individual growth.

ARTICLE 4 LEAGUE EXECUTIVE
The Prairie West High School Baseball League shall be governed by the League Executive duly nominated and elected at the Annual or subsequent meeting. Volunteers for any position may be accepted with the consent of the majority of the voting delegates.

The Executive shall consist of a President, Secretary/Website, Treasurer, and Scheduler/Complaints Commissioner.
          President - Curtis Plett - Virden - 204-720-0561
          Secretary/Website - Jerry Crampain - Hamiota - 204-764-0238
          Treasurer - Shayne Macgranachan - Crocus Plains - 204-573-0713
          Scheduler/Complaints Commissioner - Dale McKinnon - Deloraine - 204-747-2128

ARTICLE 5 LEAGUE EXECUTIVE DUTIES
President

• The President shall preside at all League, Executive and Special meetings and perform the duties usual to the office of President.
• The President should exercise the powers of the Executive in case of emergency, when it is impossible for him to obtain a vote of the Executive or the Appeals/Suspension Committee.
• The President should sit on all Committees as an ex officio voting member.
• The President can suspend a member school, teams, players or coaches subject to ratification at the next following meeting of the Executive.
• The President will only vote in order to break a tie.
• The President shall organize and preside over any appeals.
• The President, if possible should not be directly affiliated with any member team.

Secretary/Website

• The Secretary/Website and/or President shall notify members of all meetings. The Secretary/Website shall record proceedings at all League meetings.
• The Secretary/Website shall prepare and distribute meeting minutes and all correspondence to teams on all League matters.
• The website commissioner will get the number of teams from the executive to post on the website.
• The website commissioner will place scores on the website within 24 hours of the game completion.
• The website commissioner will place all all-stars on the allstar page at the conclusion of the regular season.
• The website commissioner will explore methods to make score keeping easier for the league members.

Secretary/Treasurer

• The Treasurer shall keep accurate records of the Prairie West High School Baseball League (PWHSBL)  including a current list of all Executive officers and team contacts with addresses and phone numbers.
• The Treasurer shall maintain an accurate account of all monies and matters of a financial nature and to present a Financial Report at the Annual Meeting.
• The Treasurer shall process all accounts receiveable and accounts payable. 

Scheduler/Complaints Commissioner

• The Commissioner in the absence of the President or in the event of his inability to act, shall have and exercise all the powers of the President and shall at all times be an ex official voting member of all committees.
• The Commissioner’s primary function will be to see that the Rules, Regulations, and Procedures of the PWHSBL are carried out in accordance with the Constitution.
• The Commissioner will be responsible for scheduling, compiling results, playoffs, team registration and player registration.
• The Commissioner is the first contact with regard to suspensions/appeals. He shall record and enforce any suspensions (in accordance with constitution).
• The Commissioner shall notify the President and the Coach involved of any disciplinary actions taken against a particular player(s) or team.
• The Commissioner will validate players under suspension by other Leagues or organizations.

ARTICLE 6 APPEALS/SUSPENSIONS COMMITTEE
The Appeals/Suspension Committee shall consist of: The President -The Commissioner - One Administrator (The Administrator shall be appointed by the President.)

ARTICLE 7 APPEALS

• All appeals regarding matters which are not specifically provided elsewhere in the Constitution such as: eligibility, registration, releases and/or transfer of players, etc., shall be made in writing and submitted to the President for review by the Appeals/Suspension Committee.
• All appeals regarding suspensions shall be made in writing to the Commissioner within forty-eight (48) hours of the incident under consideration. Under exceptional circumstances a verbal appeal may be allowed by the Commissioner.
• All expenditures relating to an appeal will become the sole responsibility of the appealing party.
• All appeals are assessed a fifty dollars, ($50.) fee payable to the League. The League will refund the fee if the appeal is successful.
• Appeals can only be submitted by coaching staff, management or administration of member schools, i.e., parents, community organizations, community members, etc., must direct their concerns/problems to their school.

ARTICLE 8 SUSPENSIONS

• All suspensions shall be served immediately and in consecutive League, playoff, tournament and exhibition games.Team Members under suspension will not be eligible for any games.
• All suspensions carry over into play-offs and provincials. Commissioners should be prepared to forward records to Provincial Convenor’s Committee. In order for any game to qualify for a suspension served, the games must have been scheduled (i.e. sanctioned in writing) prior to the time that the penalty was incurred.
• Suspensions carry over from one year to the next.
• In order for a suspension to be served a game has to be scheduled before the suspension happens.  Any carry over suspensions from year to year has to be served after the starting of the league with a scheduled game in that year. 
• A tournament shall remain as counting two (2) games toward the total number of games played but all games played in the tournament will count towards serving a suspension.

ARTICLE 9 VOTING
Each member team in good standing shall be represented by a least one (1) delegate at all meetings.  If this delegate is a staff member from the school team they represent, they will be entitled to one (1) vote on any Prairie West High School Baseball League matter.

Any member of the Executive who is not the school’s voting delegate will be permitted one (1) vote on all Prairie West High School Baseball League matters with the exception of the President who will only vote to break a tie. The voting majority shall be a simple majority of the votes cast at the meeting.

More than one-half of all voting members will constitute a quorum.

ARTICLE 10 MEETINGS
ANNUAL MEETING
The Annual Meeting of the Prairie West High School Baseball League will be held no later than the first Friday of April of each year at a location and date to be decided upon by the President, a Zoom remote meeting maybe used in organized by the executive.

Amendments to the Constitution can only be made at the Annual or any Special Meeting of the organization, provided that thirty (30) days of notice of the special amendment has been given to the President and members of the organization.  Any changes/motions submitted inside the 30 days will require 2/3 majority approval to reach the floor for consideration.

REGULAR MEETINGS
All other meetings for the purpose of handling League business shall be at the call of the President. Members shall be informed at least one month prior to the scheduled meeting.

SPECIAL MEETINGS
At the request of the Executive, the President shall call a Special meeting. No subject shall be discussed or considered at any Special meeting except that specified in the notice.

ARTICLE 11 ELIGIBILITY
The Prairie West High School Baseball League will follow eligibility guidelines set by the MHSAA handbook and the current letter of agreement between MHSAA and Baseball Manitoba. In the event a team/school wishes to appeal a player’s eligibility to participate in the League, all communication, correspondence, and decisions shall be referred to MHSAA.

ARTICLE 12 ROSTER
All teams will submit an official team roster on the MHSAA exnet system prior to their first league game.  Failure to comply will result may result in a league fine and forfeitures of any games deemed ineligible by the League.
On the date established in the MHSAA guidelines roster will be finalized and only in extreme circumstances will the PWHSBL's Appeal Committee in conjunction with MHSAA permit alterations.  All teams must have a minimum number of ten (10) players registered on the roster.

Swan River allowed entry into the league in 2022, under the stipulation that no team more than 200 km from Swan River would ever travel to them.

ARTICLE 13 LEAGUE RULES
ALL SEASON - Specific rules that apply: 
Bats - Wood bats or starting in the 2020 season - MHSAA has approved the use of the BBCOR bat. 
Category                                   18U
Bat Type                                    Wood or Metal (BBCOR)
Max. Bat Length                      42 in.
Max. Bat Diameter                  2¾ in.
Bat Weight to Length Ratio  -3
Baseball                                     Rawlings - ROML baseballs will be used 

Player eligibility as per MHSAA regulations. 
The option exists of a "courtesy runner" for catcher with 2 out. There will also be No Designated Hitter (DH) in effect. 

We will insist that teams have a "teacher, counselor, administrator or other school personnel" from their respective school to be involved in some capacity on the field in order to compete. 

PWHSBL League champion to be recognized with a school banner to be awarded at the championship final game. The league standings will be based upon points, with 2 points for a win and 1 point for a tie. 

A fine system will be in place for games that are not played. The decision of the executive will be final. 

REGULAR SEASON GAMES - Specific rules that apply: 
7 Inning Games. Only 1 extra inning will be allowed to settle ties (day-light permitting), otherwise game is recorded as a tie. The extra inning will be an open inning as well. The last out from the previous inning for each respective team will start at second base for the extra inning. NOTE: The runner could be either the last person out or an eligible substitution. 

5 run mercy rule/inning with an open final inning. There is no 10 run mercy rule in effect after 5 innings. 

UNLIMITED RE-ENTRY
Two players can be entered and re-entered an unlimited number of times at the same position. For example; player A can be subbed for player B and vice versa as many times as possible. If the coach subs player C into the same position, then player A and B are effectively out of the game. Unlimited Re-entry applies to the pitcher as well, as long as the pitcher never comes out of the pitching position. 

INJURY/EJECTION
In the event that a coach has used all substitutions and a player is injured or ejected, the coach may use any player from the bench that is not currently in the ball game. If a team starts a game with 9 players and a player is injured or ejected, that team will be allowed to finish the game with 8 players (No less) and take an out every time the injured player bats. 

LEAGUE PLAYOFF GAMES
SEEDING FOR PLAYOFFS - will be based on total points accumulated during the regular season (2 points for a win, 1 point for a tie). 

Tiebreakers - the following system will be used to break ties that result after points have been totaled (regardless of number of games played): 
A - Head to head record (regular season) 
B - Winning Percentage 
C - Runs against per inning (Ave) 

ZONE and INTERZONE PLAYOFF GAMES - Specific rules that apply:
MBA rules as per Midget category. 

GAME DATES: 
Anticipated league start date: Last Wednesday of April (weather permitting)
Expected league end date: Last Day in May 
Last two weeks of May to complete zone, city, inter-zone and wildcard playoffs.
Provincials are hosted by MHSAA (A-AA-AAA-AAAA) the first weekend of June.

REQUIREMENTS:
Home teams will be responsible for contacting the following media outlets following each game: ***PLEASE USE THE MEDIA CONTACT SHEET/GAME SHEET TO COMMUNICATE SCORES AND STATS TO THE MEDIA. 
It is imperative that we follow this again in order to add credibility to the league and have our athletes recognized. 

MISCELLANEOUS.
Remember that a player of the week honor is handed out by the MHSAA through out the year. Names must be submitted by the league teams to MHSAA. (See MHSAA website) 

LEAGUE ALL-STARS 
Please submit your league all-stars to Jerry at completion of season. There is no All-Star game, just recognition on the website. 
1st place teams in your division get 6 players 
2nd place get 5 players 
3rd place get 4 players 
4-7th place get 3 player 

Jerry Crampain - Secretary/Website Hamiota Collegiate - 204-842-2803
jcrampain@pwsd.ca