When initially designing the HITFAIR Tournament, the KonaBaseball.com administrators (founders of HITFAIR, LLC) were concerned that monetary rebate incentives could prompt unsportsmanlike conduct. In order to minimize overly aggressive play, the original "winner takes all" concept was modified. The structure was modified so as to provide for additional, lesser rebates for other teams in the tournament. In other words, the rebate was doubled and spread around the tournament ... so please be nice to one another, and enjoy the game of baseball.

All participants are reminded that the umpires and tournament directors' decisions are final. It is important that everyone recognizes that the local culture frowns upon displays of temper, etc., and that outbursts of offensive language are considered in very poor taste. Please be mindful that the people of Hawaii genuinely live a life of Aloha, and all tournament participants are expected to be respectful. Offending players may place their teams at risk of not being invited to a subsequent year's tournament.

Each team must register its uniform colors according to the following guidelines (designed to guard against two opponents wearing the same colored uniforms).

Each team's uniform must consist of matching shirts. Official KonaBaseball.com league alternate uniform T-shirts are acceptable for HITFAIR Tournaments.

Caps are required but are not required to be matching. Unique hats may be used for displaying sponsorship logos of individual players. Rules regarding use of logos prohibit copyright violations. Accordingly, major league replica hats are not allowed.

Matching socks are encouraged, especially two-toned white and contrasting colored high socks that give the appearance of the stirrup style socks of yesteryear, without creating the risk of injury.

Matching pants are recommended, but not required. Baseball pants must be worn, no blue jeans, shorts, etc. No bare legs are permitted (socks required).

Baseball shoes with or without metal or rubber spikes or non-spiked athletic shoes are required. Open-toed sandals are not permitted.

Each player's shirt shall minimally display a unique number for that player on the back and display the name of the team (or team logo) on the front. Official KonaBaseball.com league alternate uniform T-shirts may be substituted.

Corporate or other sponsor advertising may appear across the back of the shoulders, on the front of the uniform, or on the sleeves, no more than 80 square inches per garment.

Good taste shall prevail in advertising and logo displays on all uniforms, and advance approval is required. Team names that are demonic (such as the "Devils") are not permitted, but fierce names (such as the "Growlers"), animal names (such as the "Bat Men") and environmental names (such as the "Hurricanes") are acceptable.

Teams may be named in recognition of their sponsors (such as "Watson Foods"), and the area of the shirt that displays that name will not be considered part of the advertising limitation on the uniform.

Any team names with reference to ethnic or racial groups (such as the "Irish Fists") are prohibited. However, geographic identity on the uniform is encouraged (such as the "Boston Blue Sox"). Names of MLB teams (Red Sox, Yankees, Dodgers, etc.) are not permitted.

Logos on uniforms shall not be replicas of any logos used by major league teams nor shall teams use logos owned by MLB or others. For example, a team called the "Salem Foresters" cannot use San Francisco Giants nor Fresno State University caps in its uniforms.

Each team must include at least 5 youth players (age 21 and under). At least 2 of those youth players must be in the junior category (age 18 and under). The minimum age is 15.

Each team must include at least 5 mature players (age 42 and over). At least 2 of those mature players must be in the senior category (age 49 and over).

Alternatively, when submitting its tournament roster, a team may choose to substitute one or more mature players for youth players on its team. Also, a team may choose to substitute one or more senior players for either junior players or youth players on its team. These substitution options are only allowed for players in the older categories substituting for players in the younger categories. The reverse is not permitted.

For purposes of age qualification, the summer solstace shall prevail so that it shall be the player's age on his choice of June 21 or June 22 of the year or, at his option, his age as of any date that falls during the tournament itself that shall be used. At the tournament's orientation meeting and photo event, all participants must be able to supply, upon request, proof of age in the form of a recognized photo ID with date-of-birth particulars (such as a driver's license) or a copy of a birth certificate. Any challenges regarding age qualifications will be resolved before the tournament begins.

At all times defensively, at least 3 players from any of the age-restricted categories (youth, junior, mature, or senior) must be on the field. Failure to do so shall be corrected before the next pitch at no penalty to the defensive team, so long as a "time out" is initiated by the manager of the defensive team who immediatly notifies the umpire.

However, should a pitch occur during a violation of the three-restricted-player provision and such situation is immediately brought to the attention of the umpire by the offensive team's manager (before the next pitch or before the aforementioned action by the defensive team' manager), the result of the pitch is voidable at the option of the batter and a one-run penalty is assessed (adding one run to that inning's tally of scores made by the offensive team).

All age-restricted players must make appearances in a minimum of four games during the regular season of six games and must not miss two consecutive games during the playoffs. The penalty is that the team forfeits its remaining games. In event of injury to an age-restricted player, a KonaBaseball.com league player from that same age category may be substituted.

Pitching substitutions are not limited, except that a pitcher returning to the mound for more than two appearances in the same game will forego additional warm-up pitches. In each game, at least six outs must be recorded (four of which must be consecutive) while an age-restricted player is pitching. It shall be the team manager's responsibility to advise the scorekeeper when the requirement has been met.

In each game, at least 16 players (regardless of age group) must be included in play: either offensively in the batting order for at least one at-bat (or in some other way such as a pinch runner) or defensively (for at least one full inning). It shall be the team manager's responsibility to advise the scorekeeper when the requirement has been met.

Failure to include at least 16 players shall result in a forfeiture of the game.

To encourage participation, the team may choose to start the game with a standard 9-batter batting order, or may include any additional batters up to and including all 20 players on the roster. Also, at any time during the game, additional batters (who have not already batted) may be added to the end of the batting order.

By way of example, a team could choose to start the game with 12 batters occupying 11 batting positions (perhaps the lead-off position is being "platooned" by two batters who take turns batting in the #1 slot). As the game progresses, the manager may elect to add a 12th batting position in the 3rd inning, and a 13th, 14th, etc. 15th batting position in the 5th inning.

The only restriction is that, once a player bats in a specific position in the batting order (or appears as a pinch runner), that player may only bat/run in that same position in the batting order. However the original player and the substitute player may re-enter for one another freely throughout the game.

Again, referring to the example of platooning lead-off batters, each of the two players may only bat in that same lead-off position, but the two platooning players may re-enter freely (either player taking the "at-bat" throughout the game). Or, one player might be the strong batter whose platooning partner might be a superior base runner. Thus, a pinch runner is the same as a platooning player.

The batting order rules have nothing to do with the defensive fielding, wherein unlimited substitutions are permitted. Accordingly, it is possible for a team to use nine players for defensive purposes only, nine different players for offensive purposes only, two players available in reserve, and none of the team's players in the game participating both offensively and defensively.

Up to two players and/or defensive positions are eligible to use a courtesy runner when safely reaching base. Once a player exercises that option, he must use a courtesy runner for the rest of the game. Failure to do so invalidates his courtesy runner eligibility for the rest of the game, and he or the position eligible player must run for himself.

In order to exercise the courtesy runner rule, the eligible player must, at the end of the play wherein he safely reaches base, request time out from an umpire in an expeditious manner. Upon the umpire's call of time out, the offensive team has one minute to produce the proper courtesy runner at the appropriate base. Failure to do so in a timely manner invalidates that player's courtesy runner eligibility for the rest of the game, and he must run for himself. Accordingly, it is highly recommended that each team be prepared to respond promptly whenever one of its players (eligible for courtesy runner) comes to bat.

If anyone detects that the wrong player is serving as courtesy runner, corrective action shall be made without penalty, so long as the offensive team proceeds in an expeditious manner. However, once the umpire has put the ball back in play for the first pitch to be delivered to the next batter, any incorrect courtesy runner is deemed to be the proper courtesy runner.

The courtesy runner shall be the last batted out or other batter who did not safely reach first base. If, at the start of the game, there are no batted outs recorded as yet (or this is the second courtesy-runner incident with only one out recorded so far), the courtesy runner shall be the player furthest away in the batting order (generally, the player listed on the bottom of the lineup).

There is no provision for any reserve player (not in the batting order) to be the courtesy runner, and there is no "designated" courtesy runner allowed. However, the same effect may result by using the liberal offensive substitution rules for two players who may be platooning in the same spot in the batting order.

If the player who made the last batted out is someone who also qualifies for a courtesy runner, the player who made the second most recent batted out shall be the courtesy runner instead. If the player who made the last batted out is either on deck or coming to bat, the courtesy runner shall be the player who most recently crossed home plate. Similarly, if a courtesy runner is on base when it is his turn to be on deck, the courtesy runner shall be replaced by the player who most recently crossed home plate.

The courtesy runner rules are separate and apart from pinch runner rules. A pinch runner is treated like a pinch hitter, locked into a specific position in the batting order. This is similar to the platooning example discussed in the batting order rules.

For purposes of determining last batted out or other batter who did not safely occupy first base: (a) a batter who is thrown out in his attempt to stretch a single into a double is not the last batted out, (b) a batter who grounds into a force play wherein the fielder's choice ends the inning is considered to be the last batted out for this purpose because he never safely occupied first base.

After a regular season in which each team plays all six of its opponents, the playoffs begin. In order to recognize the top regular season teams, the playoff structure calls for double-elimination status to be awarded to the top two seeded teams. The other three qualifying teams are positioned in elimination contests. The bottom two regular-season teams are eliminated.

In a short season, it is highly likely that some teams will have identical win/loss records. In order to perform the tie-breaking comparison, a combination of the statistics of: (1) runs given up to opponents and (2) the results of the head-to-head play of the teams involved, will be used.

In 2-team tie-breakers, a team's total runs given up to all opponents (including those runs given up in the head-to-head game) will be divided by the number of games played (generally 6, assuming no rain-outs) to determine the average runs given up per game (to two decimal points). That amount will be added to the head-to-head opponent's score from the regular season head-to-head game. The revised head-to-head score will determine the higher seed.

Should there be a 3-way tie (or one involving more teams) that does not produce a clear seeding order under these provisions, the least number of total runs given up to all opponents shall prevail.

Should there be a 3-way tie (or one involving more teams) that does not produce a clear seeding order under these provisions, the least number of total runs given up to all opponents involved in the tie-breaker shall prevail.

Once a 3-way tiebreaker has been reduced to 2-team tie-breaker, the above rules shall be applied to the two remaining teams' records.

Any further unresolved tie-breakers will compare the teams' strike-outs offensively (with the lower number prevailing), followed by a comparison of the teams' strike-outs defensively (with the higher number prevailing).

Rainouts are rare in Kona, and all efforts will be made to reschedule games within the tight time-frame of the tournament. A game that goes less than four at-bat innings for the losing team will not be counted as a complete game.

In order to keep the tie-breaking statistics reasonable, a "mercy rule" is provided. After 5 at-bat innings for the losing team, the game will be declared over if the variance in the score is 10 runs or more. In addition to the mercy rule, a run-away rule of 15 runs is applied in situations where, after five at-bats, the home team is unable to retire the visitors.

Unless the team can provide a proper substitute in the batting order, an injured or ejected player is counted as an out in his next at-bat. That player is then merely passed over for the rest of the game.

Aluminum or wood bats or wood-barreled alumunium / titanium / composite-handled bats are permitted for use in the HITFAIR tournaments meeting these conditions:

1) The entire bat must be round with a constant radius at any point and the finish of the hitting area must be smooth.

2) There must be a direct line from the center of the knob to the center of the large end.

3) The maximum length is 36 inches and the maximum diameter is 2 3/4 inches.

4) The knob and end plug (if applicable) must be firmly attached.

5) A bat may not weigh, numerically, more than five units less than the length of the bat (e.g., a 34-inch-long bat cannot be less than 29 ounces in weight).

Batting helmets are required for all batters, baserunners and batters on deck. They are optionl for all others.

Catcher must wear a safety cup and protective helmet (either face mask/helmet combination or goalie-style mask).

Infielders and pitchers are permitted to wear safety gear, as deemed needed for protection.

No player shall be permitted to play if he is currently under a professional baseball contract with Major League Baseball and/or its members' affiliated teams, or who is represented by a professional agent in the player's aspirations for a professional baseball career.

Ex-professional players are permitted with the exception that, a pitcher at the AAA or higher level of professional baseball must wait three years from his final professional pitching appearance before he can appear as a pitcher in a HITFAIR tournament.

A HITFAIR game is 7 innings in length. A game rained out after at least 4 at-bat innings for the losing team is considered a complete game. Games rained out prior to such point in the game will be rescheduled (as field availability permits). Replayed rain-outs will begin as new games with 0-0 score, regardless of the score and inning of the game rained out.

As described in the playoff seeding procedures, a 10-run mercy rule applies to games in the 5th through 7th innings and a 15-run mercy rule applies to late-inning runaway games wherein the visitors prevail.

Other than games wherein the score is tied, the last inning of play shall begin no later than 2 hours and 30 minutes after the official start time, as noted in the scorekeeper's book.

Tie games will be played until their conclusion under normal baseball rules, irrespective of the time clock and number of innings. Should a county-imposed field curfew be reached, play will be suspended and resumed the following day at the same point in the game so suspended.

The HITFAIR administrators reserve the right to make modifications to the rules at any time.