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Site maintained by
Matt Murphy
(matt@actonasl.com)
and Rich Gottesman
(rich@actonasl.com).
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Playoffs
2009 Playoffs!
Bracket
The 2009 bracket is structured to have lower-ranked teams "play-in" to reach successive rounds, and gives byes to teams who finish in the top half of the bracket.
If you find errors in the bracket, contact Matt immediately.
Champions
At the end of the regular season, AASL has single-elimination playoffs
to determine a league champion.
- 2000: Media Bridge beat Last Chance (now known as Misfits) in a disputed championship game.
- 2001: Sit 'n Bull (now known as Misfits) beat O'Brien's Pub in the final game.
- 2002: Sit 'n Bull beat Raging Inferno (the 7th seed entering the playoffs, now known as Infernos) in a high-scoring, dusty affair.
- 2003: Rockets defeated Sit 'n Bull under the lights at Elm and made the front page of the Acton Beacon!
- 2004: Sit 'n Bull defeated the Rink Rats for their third AASL Championship!
- 2005: Sit 'n Bull held off the Bombers for their fourth overall title and sixth-straight championship appearance.
- 2006: Rink Rats bring home the trophy with a win over Rockets!
- 2007: Rink Rats earn back-to-back championships with a win over Rockets!
- 2008: Rink Rats three-peats with a 12-6 win over Colonial Spirits, a 9th seed who made it to the final game!
2009: Rink Rats four-peats with a 15-6 win over Infernos!
Teams
We expect all 16 teams to participate in playoffs, however Westies forfeited their spot on Thursday, August 13. Based on the newer bracket structure, we decided to leave Westies in their 8th ranked spot (keeping the 9th through 16th teams in first-round games) and skipping the Westies "play-in" game.
Playoff seeds are determined by winning percentage in the regular season, shown in the standings.
- Seeds are ordered by winning percentage.
- If two or more teams have the same winning percentage, head-to-head results among all teams with that winning percentage will determine better seed. (O'Brien's and Infernos were tied, but with O'Brien's beating Infernos in the regular season, O'Brien's has the higher seed.)
- If two teams have the same winning percentage and the same head-to-head record among that group, individual head-to-head records will determine remaining seeds.
- And, if all else fails, the Commissioner and Assistant Commissioner will toss a coin (an 1879 tarnished silver Morgan dollar, last flipped at the end of the 2008 season to break a Swarm/Squeeze Play tie) to determine seeds, with the alphabetically first team being heads and the alphabetically last team being tails. If the Swarm is one of the teams affected by the coin toss, we'll seek out an impartial coin-tosser and venue.
Umpires
In the playoffs, AASL uses ASA certified, paid umpires at home plate for each game. They use ASA rules, modified with AASL rules. Specifically, with ASA certified umpires, the infield fly rule is in effect. See AASL rules for reasoning and clarification. The umpires make all the calls behind the plate as well as in the field. Your base coaches need not act as umpires in the playoff games, though you still need coaches to help your runners. Umpires are provided by the Greater Lowell Softball Umpires Association (GLSUA) who have done a fabulous job for us since our 2001 playoffs!
Rainouts
Rain? Never...especially not this season...If a game is rained out, we will try to post information online and alert captains as we have done during the regular season. Games will be made up in the first available slot. Commissioners will schedule these as necessary with regard to progressing the playoff bracket and completing two rounds in the first week. In most cases, we hope this is in a slot that doesn't yet have teams scheduled, however, we may need to bump a second-round game to accommodate a rained out first-round game. If anything happens, we will alert captains, post on the site, etc. Games are expected to be scheduled from Mondays through Thursdays, however if extreme weather conditions prevent play, we may need to schedule games on Fridays and Sundays.
Contacts
Both Rich (AASL Commissioner) and Matt (AASL Assistant Commissioner) are on vacation for part of the first playoff week, though both can be reached by cell phone at Rich: 978-808-0766 or Matt: 617-877-3961.
Rules/Fine Print
- Games must start at the appointed time, with a 5 minute grace period only. Note at NARA, games are scheduled to start at 6 PM (to avoid potential darkness - we had one long, dark game in 2003), however it is likely that Pop Warner football will need to adjust their practice area to yield to our field permit, so some time may be necessary to coordinate that.
- There will be no time limit on the games, with some notable exceptions:
- For 6 PM games at Elm, the game will be played to completion, even if this passes 7:45 PM. Keep it moving.
- For 6 PM games at NARA, the game will be played to completion unless an ASA umpire calls the game because of darkness. If a game is called because of darkness, we must stop the game and continue it on the next available game slot from the point of stoppage. This is likely the same night as the winner's next-round playoff game.
- For the 7:45 game at Elm, the inning in progress if we pass 9:30 will be the last inning that night. Lights must be off at 9:45 PM. If a game is called because of this curfew, the game will continue in the next available game slot from the point of stoppage.
- See AASL rules for player eligibility requirements. In a nutshell, a player is eligible if (a) he/she has filed a waiver with the Rec Dept and is listed online on your roster (these are up to date as of 8/9 with all submitted forms shown) and (b) that player has participated in 5 regular-season games or 1/3 of a team's games if they've played 12 or fewer games. Opposing captains or league management may ask for proof from other teams that both criteria are met, which will include rosters supplied by AASL and scorebook review if necessary.
- All league rules (except as noted above) apply during playoff games.
- In each game, the better seed is the home team.
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