Player's Guide to Softball Canada Slo-Pitch Canadian Championships 2026

• The official Softball Canada residency date is May 1. A Canadian citizen must be a bona fide resident of the province or territory they represent by that date in the year of competition.
• Full-time post-secondary students are exempt from the date requirement if they establish residence in the province or territory they represent immediately after finishing their commitments at the institution. Canadian citizens in professional sport other than softball or baseball are exempt if they establish residence immediately after the event.
• Permanent residents must meet the same minimums and must have obtained permanent resident status before the residency date.
• Canadian citizens living outside Canada may play with the official approval of the province or territory they will represent, by filing a Non-Resident Canadian Eligibility Form with Softball Canada and that province or territory by the residency date. If they play for a province other than their home province they have import status.
• Non-citizens who are not permanent residents must have been continuous residents of Canada for one calendar year before the championship. Players with a student visa must have arrived in Canada before September 1 of the previous year.
• Residency can be shown by employment, a provincial health care card (an application is not enough), a domicile, mailing address and phone listing, a provincial driver's licence (age 16 and over) or voter registration (age 18 and over), or full-time school attendance in the province or territory. Softball Canada decides legal residency.

Roster size (players)

• Master Men and Co-Ed: minimum 12, maximum 20
• Men's: minimum 12, maximum 17
• Women's: minimum 12, maximum 20
• Coaches and managers: 1 to 5 in total

Adding players
A provincial or territorial team may add up to 3 players if each one signed a Softball Canada Team Registration Form by the registration date with the province or territory picking them up, the player's own provincial or territorial association approves, the player is eligible for Canadian Championship play, and the pick-up is made by the end of the coaches/managers meeting with written provincial or territorial approval. A team from the Atlantic provinces may pick up to 5 players from any of the Atlantic provinces, and a team from Manitoba or Saskatchewan may pick up to 5 players from the other of those two provinces, in each case with the release of the player's home province.

Playing in the championship round
A player must have played at least 1 round-robin game of the Championship to be eligible for the Championship Round.

• 7 innings is a legal game. If it is tied after 7 innings, play continues until there is a winner.
• Softball Canada Canadian Championship Supervisors can shorten games in the qualifying and championship rounds to 5 innings when weather threatens the completion of the Championship. The championship game stays at 7 innings.
• The extra-inning tie-breaking procedure in the Softball Canada Slo-Pitch playing rules applies to all Canadian Championship games after 7 innings, except the final championship game(s) (Games 10 and 11).
• If a game is interrupted before it is official, it resumes at the exact point where it stopped, including the number of outs and the count on the batter.
• Home team: in the qualifying round it is decided by a coin toss at the coaches/managers meeting (or one hour before each game). In the championship round the higher-placed team chooses. A team not represented at the coaches/managers meeting does not get a choice of inning.

• The batter begins each at bat with a count of 1 ball and 1 strike.
• A legal pitch that the batter does not swing at and that lands on the strike mat is a strike. The mat is a 2 ft x 3 ft (0.61 m x 0.91 m) rubber mat with a "v" shaped cutout, placed behind the plate so the cutout fits around the back point of the plate.
• On a fair ball hit over the fence for a home run (touched or untouched), the batter and all runners are credited with a score and go directly to their team area instead of running the bases.

Each team is limited in how many over-the-fence home runs count in a game. The limit per team per game is:

• Men, Master Men and Women: 7
• Co-Ed: 5

If you hit an over-the-fence home run beyond the limit, you are out, the ball is dead, no runs score and all runners return to the base they held at the time of the pitch. If you hit an over-the-fence home run but miss a base or fail to score, it still counts toward your team's total. A fair ball that goes over the fence after being touched by a defensive player is a four-base award and is not counted as a home run.

In all categories at a Canadian Championship, a game ends when a team leads by:

• 25 or more runs after 2½ innings (home team ahead) or 3 complete innings (visiting team ahead);
• 20 or more runs after 3½ innings (home team ahead) or 4 complete innings (visiting team ahead);
• 15 or more runs after 4½ innings (home team ahead) or 5 complete innings (visiting team ahead).

Softball Canada's endorsed bats (slo-pitch, all levels)
Softball Canada has no bat certification program of its own. It accepts:

• WBSC-approved bats with an ISF (2005 only) or current WBSC stamp.
• USA Softball bats with an ASA 2000 or ASA 2004 stamp. The ASA 2013 stamp and the USA Softball 2019 adult stamp are no longer accepted for slo-pitch.
• Any bat currently approved by USSSA. Only the new 2021 USSSA stamp is accepted; older USSSA stamps are no longer valid.
• Bats must meet the certifying organization's compression standard, may be tested, and must pass a visual inspection. All other bats are not approved and must be removed from competition and visibly marked (for example with tape). Using one in a game results in ejection.

At Canadian Championships (when Softball Canada does not supply bats)

• Every bat must meet the 240 lb compression standard and show the 2021 USSSA NTS Tested stamp.
• All bats are inspected and approved before use. A bat that is not presented, or that fails, is illegal. A player who uses a bat that was not inspected or failed is ejected for the rest of the tournament, and there is no appeal for a bat that fails.
• Each team can have up to 34 bats tested free of charge; extra bats cost $10 each. A team representative may be present at the inspection.

The Directors of Softball Canada decide the official ball. In the Special Operating Rules:

• Men's, Master Men's 40+ and Co-Ed: the Hot Dot SBC12HDSY (COR .52).
• Women's: the Rawlings 11-inch Hot Dot SBC11HDSY or the Rawlings Super Green Dot YSX11RSC3.

• All players must wear identical uniforms. The Softball Canada representative and the tournament Umpire-in-Chief judge whether a uniform is acceptable. A player is warned before a game if possible; a player who is in a game must fix the problem immediately, and is ejected if they do not.
• Every player on the game sheet must wear a number on the back of the uniform shirt. No number may be repeated.
• Each team must have at least two sets of uniform tops, one dark and one light. The home team wears dark and the away team wears light. A team that wears the wrong colour loses the game.
• In Women's, Co-Ed and Masters slo-pitch, players may mix long and short pants provided they are the team colour.
• Coaches on the field must wear uniforms identical to the players, or sweat suits or slacks as near to the team colours as possible.

• The Double Base (Safe-base system) is used at first base for all Canadian Championships.
• Facemasks and head protection must be worn by all pitchers.

Protests

• A game protest must be made at the time of the play, before the next pitch. The home plate umpire announces the outcome.
• A three-person Protest Committee decides it: the Softball Canada Supervisor or Assistant Supervisor, the Umpire-in-Chief or Deputy Umpire-in-Chief, and a person appointed by the Supervisor.
• The protest fee is $250 (cash or certified cheque). If you do not hand it over when the committee arrives, the protest is void and play continues immediately. The fee is returned if the protest is upheld.
• You cannot protest the rescheduling of games or the contents of a line-up card.

Discipline

• No smoking, vaping, liquor or other impairing substances within 100 feet of the benches or on the playing field. You get one warning (the manager is told); a second incident means ejection from the game.
• If an incident on the field, including foul territory, makes players on the bench join in, everyone involved is ejected immediately and suspended for at least 3 games. The Disciplinary Committee can add more if it is a major infraction. A second offence means removal of that player or coach from the rest of the Championship.