Florida Hardball presents the 13th annual 2014 Florida Cup Baseball Tournament. This contest, which is open to any and all teams in the region regardless of affiliation, takes place in Miami, Florida on Labor Day weekend, August 30 – September 1, 2014.
Tournament Summary
The tournament features some of the best competition in Florida with teams coming from various leagues including the South Florida Baseball League, Fort Myers Hardball, the Orlando – Central Florida Baseball League, the Federal League, Grapeland League, and the Liga Nica. The winner-take-all tournament is highlighted by a tournament trophy for the championship team and champions t-shirts for the players. The registration fee is $850 per team, regardless of player count. The deadline for team registration is Saturday, August 20, 2014. All interested teams and players are urged to contact the tournament director immediately.
Tournament Contact Number – 305.496.2962 – Mickey Filippucci
Tournament Format
The tournament will be limited to 6 – 8 teams using an open division WOOD BAT format (18 years of age and over). Teams will be seeded by the tournament director based on past experience, team history and other objective and subjective factors. Once seeding is complete, the tournament field will be broken down into two divisions. All teams are guaranteed a minimum of three games in the qualification round played against teams within their respective division. Two games are played on Saturday, August 30, 2014 with the third game played on Sunday morning, August 31, 2014.
The top two teams with the most points after the three game qualification round in each bracket will advance to the semi-final playoffs. All ties are resolved based on tie-breaker rules listed below.
Playoff Qualifiers: Teams qualify for the playoffs based on the following point system:
Points: Win = 2 points, Tie = 1 point, Loss = 0 points.
Tie Breaker Rules: Tie breakers are applied in the following order:
1. Head-to-head result
2. Fewest Runs Allowed: If no head-to-head result, the team with the fewest runs allowed will win the second tie breaker.
3. Net Runs: In case of another tie, an equation of net runs will be employed and the team with the greatest number of net runs wins the third tie breaker. Net Runs = (Runs Scored – Runs Allowed).
4. Coin Toss: In case of a third tie, a best-of-three coin toss will determine the final tie breaker.
Playoffs: The semi-final games are scheduled to play Sunday afternoon, August 31, 2014. The winners advance to the Florida Cup Championship and the greater glory Monday morning September 1, 2014.
Tournament Rules
The Florida Cup is played under the rules undertaken by the South Florida Baseball League. A copy of the SFBL Official Rules and Regulations will be provided to each participating team. To access the rules immediately, click on the underlined reference. Some imperative rules are as follows:
1. In each team’s offensive line-up, a minimum 10 batters must be used. You may add to this minimum at any time during the game but you may not shrink the line-up once expanded.
2. Free defensive substitution. As implied, no restrictions on defensive changes except for the pitcher re-entry rule.
3. Pitcher re-entry rule: In the case of a pitching change, once a pitcher is removed, he can only be re-entered as a pitcher after one complete inning has been played. This move can only be done once per game.
4. No deliberate physical contact between base runners and defensive players, i.e. NO BARRELING INTO THE CATCHER, SECOND BASEMAN, etc. Automatic ejection penalty.
5. Qualification round games are subject to a 3 hour time limit = no inning shall start after 3 hours has elapsed. Tie games are permitted – see tie breaker rules. However, all playoff games will play without time limits.
6. In case of rain, official game recorded only after 5 full innings completed. Games started but not registering 5 complete innings will be suspended and completed later. Offensive line-ups remain frozen and the suspended game must resume at the point of suspension (per scorebook).
7. All team managers must call in game results – win or lose- to the SFBL office 305.496.2962 within 10 minutes of game completion or suspension. All results will be posted to this website page live throughout the tournament.
Tournament Locations
The Miami Open will be played at (Links to Google Maps):
Flamingo Park – Miami Beach
American High School – Hialeah
West Perrine Park – Perrine