Parent's Guide to Little League Majors Softball League Age 9-12 2026

Most leagues supply the jersey or shirt, cap or visor and shoulder patch, and many supply team bats, helmets and catcher's gear. Families usually buy:

• a glove that fits
• cleats with rubber or molded spikes. Metal cleats aren't allowed in Majors.
• pants, belt and socks in the team colors

Rules on protective gear:

• Batting helmet: NOCSAE approved with double ear flaps, worn at practice and in games. A face guard is optional in Little League Softball (unlike high school, where it's mandatory). Add-ons such as C-flaps need the helmet maker's written approval, shown to the umpire.
• Catcher: catcher's helmet and mask with a dangling throat protector, chest protector and shin guards. The catcher may use a catcher's mitt, first base mitt or fielder's glove.
• Defensive face masks for fielders are permitted.

Softball players don't have to wear a cap or visor in games.

Under Little League Softball Rule 1.10, a bat for Majors must be:

• a softball bat that meets Little League softball standards (there's no exception for tee ball bats),
• no longer than 33 inches,
• no more than 2¼ inches in diameter, and
• if non-wood, printed with BPF 1.20 and fitted with a cork, tape or composition grip at least 10 inches long from the handle end. Slippery tape isn't allowed.

Other points:

• Colored bats are fine.
• Batting donuts aren't allowed; a weighted bat sleeve is.
• Pine tar is allowed from the 2026 season. Thumb protectors are allowed, but choke-up knobs and similar add-ons aren't.
• A bat with cracks or sharp edges, or one that won't pass through the 2¼-inch bat ring, is removed from play. An altered bat is illegal.

• Jewelry is allowed, but the umpire will have it removed if it could cause injury, whatever it's made of (Rule 1.11(j)). Medical alert jewelry is allowed.
• Hair beads, including plastic beads, and other hard items used to control hair are allowed.
• Sunglasses are allowed, including worn on the cap.

Pitchers can't wear anything on the pitching hand, wrist or arm, except a single-color compression sleeve (black, white, gray or a uniform color) on the pitching arm.

Little League's mandatory play rule applies to softball the same way as baseball. Every rostered player present at the start of the game must:

• play at least six defensive outs in one of the nine fielding positions (not necessarily in a row), and
• bat at least once.

A player who misses their mandatory play must start the next game and make up the missed requirement as well as that game's before being removed. Managers who break the rule are penalized, starting with a warning; if a game is shortened, the league may choose not to penalize.

In Majors, teams may use a straight nine-player batting order or a continuous batting order.

Little League Softball limits pitchers by innings, not pitch counts:

• Maximum 12 innings in a day.
• Pitching 7 or more innings in a day requires one calendar day of rest.
• A single pitch counts as an inning pitched.

Innings in other Little League divisions count too. For example, a 12-year-old who pitches seven innings in a Junior League game in the morning can pitch only five more that day in Majors. Local boards may set stricter limits.

Returning to pitch (Majors):

• A pitcher who stays in the game at another position may return to pitch only once, in the same inning they were taken off the mound.
• A pitcher removed from the game for a substitute can't re-enter as a pitcher.
• A team may use no more than five pitchers in a game, unless the fifth is injured or ill.
• From 2026, the number of mound visits a team has left doesn't, by itself, stop a removed pitcher from returning as pitcher.

Pitching and catching: unlike Little League Baseball, softball has no restriction on switching between pitcher and catcher on the same day. The innings limits on pitching still apply.

In Majors, runners may leave their base once the pitcher releases the pitch (Rule 7.13). Stealing is allowed from then on.

A runner who leaves before the release is out: the umpire calls time, the ball is dead, and the batter goes back to the plate with the same count.

Local option: a league may adopt a rule for Majors softball requiring runners to stay on base until the ball is batted or reaches the batter. (In the Minor League and below, runners can't leave until the pitch reaches the batter.)

The circle rule stops runners from dancing off base once the pitcher has the ball. It uses the 8-foot radius circle around the pitcher's plate, which must be marked on the field.

When the pitcher has the ball inside the circle and isn't making a play (a fake throw counts as a play):

• any runner off base must immediately, interpreted as within three seconds, either advance or go back to their base;
• a runner may start to advance only once on each play or pitch. A runner who stops, then stops a second time without the defense making a play, is out and the ball is dead.

A shoulder movement or head fake by the pitcher isn't a play. If the pitcher fakes a throw at a runner, runners may stop, change direction or start again without penalty.

If more than one runner breaks the rule, the runner who left their base first is out. If the umpire can't tell who, the lead runner is out, and no one advances on the play.

Not while advancing. In the Major Division and below, a runner who slides head first into the base they're advancing to is out, and the ball stays live (Rule 7.08(a)(4)). Diving head first back to a base is allowed.

There's no "must slide" rule, but a runner is out if they don't try to avoid a collision with a fielder who has the ball and is waiting to make the tag.

Yes. The uncaught third strike is in effect in Majors softball, the same as in high school softball.

The batter can run to first when strike three isn't caught and:

• first base is empty, or
• there are two outs.

The defense gets the out by tagging the batter or first base before the batter gets there. With first base occupied and fewer than two outs, the batter is out.

A Majors softball game is six innings. If it's stopped early, it's a regulation game after four innings (three and a half if the home team is ahead).

The run rule ends the game when one team leads by:

• 15 or more runs after three innings (two and a half if the home team is ahead), or
• 10 or more runs after four innings (three and a half if the home team is ahead).

A league may also adopt an 8-run rule for the regular season, applying after five innings (four and a half if the home team is ahead). The home team, if behind, always bats in its half of the inning. There's no time limit unless the local league sets one for the regular season.

Under the Little League Child Protection Program, every chartered league must:

• run an annual background check on volunteers through JDP, using the Little League volunteer application. It searches the National Criminal Database, National Sex Offender Registry, U.S. Center for SafeSport disciplinary database and the Little League ineligible list.
• have all volunteers complete the Little League Abuse Awareness course every year.
• report suspected child abuse to the proper authorities within 24 hours, and bar retaliation against good-faith reports.
• limit one-on-one contact between an adult and a child unless it's within observable and interruptible distance of another adult.

Managers, coaches and umpires must also be appointed by the league president and approved by the board of directors.