standings tie breaker

Question
I was wondering what is the ASA format to determine tiebreakers in the end of season standings. if you could give me the location of this rule in the handbook I would greatly appreciate it.

Answer
Hi Marcus,

Thank you for your question.  I'm sorry to say that I don't have the answer you're looking for, but I have a feeling that the answer doesn't exist.  I have a feeling that ASA leaves it up to its leagues to use their own method of determining league standings.

I have hard copies of ASA's Rules Book and Umpire Manual, and neither of them addresses determining tiebreakers in the end of season standings.  I called an ASA coach friend of mine, and neither does the ASA coaches' manual.  As well, I just went through with a fine-tooth comb ASA's 2011 Code on line and they do not address your subject.  In Article 510 they address how to break ties between tournament teams, but not league teams.  In Article 520, the Article dedicated to league play, there is no mention of what you need, either.  To view ASA's 2011 Code, go to www.asasoftball.com, hover your cursor above About ASA, then click on ASA Code.

Marcus, I know that you are looking for something official from ASA, but if in fact ASA doesn't outline how to determine league ties, then there are numerous web sites devoted to that.  One, for example, is www.quickscores.com.  It has 16 different criteria for breaking ties.  One thing that all the systems have in common, I found, is that a coin flip can always be used as a last resort!

Now I'd like to put out a plea to the other two softball experts or anyone else who uses www.allexperts.com to provide a followup answer for Marcus an official ASA reference about how to break league standing ties.  Thank you!

Scott Kelly