How do courtesy runners work in adult slow pitch?
Rule- USA
- USA Softball
- Adult slow pitch
- Men's, women's and coed
- Championship play
- 2026 rules
- Players
Under Rule 8, Section 9:
- Any eligible player on the lineup card, including listed substitutes, may be a courtesy runner.
- You get one courtesy runner per inning for any player other than the pitcher.
- The pitcher can also have a courtesy runner (the same or a different player) if the pitcher bats and reaches base safely.
- In coed, you get two per inning for players other than the pitcher, one man and one woman. Every courtesy runner must be the same gender as the player they replace.
- A courtesy runner is in the game once reported to the plate umpire, and can't then be replaced by a substitute.
- A courtesy runner can't run for another courtesy runner (except for an injury). A player who has been run for can't be a courtesy runner for the rest of that inning.
- If the courtesy runner's own turn at bat comes while they're on base, the player they're running for is called out and the courtesy runner leaves the base to bat.
Using a courtesy runner more than once in an inning for non-pitchers, or breaking the other limits, results in an out and the runner coming off the base.
Added 21 Oct 2026