USSSA 2009 AA World Series
9, 10, 11, 12, 13 & Under
July 27th - August 2nd, 2009
Big League Dreams Sports Complex
Southern California
 

Congratulations on an outstanding season and welcome to the 2009 USSSA 9-13 AA World Series. Your tournament host will be Southern California USSSA Baseball. It will be our goal to create an experience that the players, coaches, and families will remember for the rest of their lives. Your USSSA State Director will enter all teams in this tournament   A separate World Series event will be held for each age group. 

The tournament will be played at the Big League Dreams Baseball Complexes in Chino Hills, Riverside and West Covina California from July 27-Aug. 2, 2009. Opening ceremonies will be on Monday July 27 and games will be played from July 28-Aug. 2. Other fields may be used if necessary.  Big League Dreams is one of the most spectacular baseball complexes in the United States. The Chino Hills and West Covina facilities have six stadium fields, with each stadium being a replica of a present or past Major League ballpark.  The Riverside facility had three stadium fields and four non stadium fields. Each facility has sports-themed restaurants on site as well as batting cages. For more information on the complex go to www.bigleaguedreams.com. 

Chino Hills and West Covina are located south and west of Los Angeles. Chino Hills is about 20 minutes from Ontario International Airport and less than one hour from Los Angeles International Airport. It is less than one hour from all major Southern California tourist attractions, including Disneyland, Knotts Berry Farm, Southern California beaches, and a number of Major League ballparks.  Riverside Big League Dreams is about 20 minutes from Chino Hills. West Covina is about 20 minutes from Chino Hills.

The AA World Series is open to any team that is classified as AA by their State Director and is open to teams from any state.  USSSA Southern California will mail an invitation to all Southern California teams that are eligible. At large berths may be available for Southern California teams that have supported the AA program

Entering Your Team in the Tournament:

Your team's application, roster, and cashier's check or money order in the amount of $495 for ages 9-13  must be received by your State Director by Mon. July 20 to be included in this tournament. Checks should be made out to USSSA Baseball.

CLICK HERE FOR ENTRY FORM

CLICK HERE FOR LIST OF USSSA STATE DIRECTORS 

Rosters: Your roster must be put online at www.usssa.com.  No players will be allowed to be added to the roster at the tournament.  Failure to comply with this rule will result in your team's suspension from play in the tournament. Please check the USSSA By Laws available at www.usssa.com for rules pertaining to AA roster additions.

World Series Program: Souvenir Programs will be available at the tournament with your team's picture and roster.  They make a great souvenir and wonderful keepsake.  Due to the difficulty in producing the design and layout for the program in a short period of time, we will be streamlining the process to make it faster and more accurate.  Please e-mail all your team information to usssawsprogram@yahoo.com  in the following format:

- In the subject line, please include your Team Name, Age Group, and Division.
- Typed Roster.  Please type your roster in the e-mail.  Do not attach a word document.  Do not include player's numbers or positions.  No hand written scans of rosters will be accepted, as mistakes are made due to poor scans or difficulty reading penmanship.
- Attached Team Photo.  The bigger the better.

Once again we are offering advertising space in the program to you and your team parents. Why would you want advertising space? We thought it would be a great opportunity for the parents to cheer the kids on or maybe you want to thank your local area team sponsor. The program will be printed in black and white (except for the color cover) and will be 8½ x 11 inches in size. We are devoting a half page to each teams picture and roster. We are offering the other half of the page to you for $100 or you can have the half page and the entire page adjacent to your teams picture for $200. If you purchase a full-page ad we'll give you 15 programs at no charge. If interested contact Anthony at usssawsprogram@yahoo.com.

- Ads must be submitted in PDF form.  No other forms will be accepted
- They must be complete and ready to print when you send them.
- We will be glad to help and answer any questions, but we cannot design your ad for you. 

If you have any questions about the program or need help attaching a photo, please e-mail usssawsprogram@yahoo.com

Send this information directly to the tournament director at the link above.  DO NOT SEND IT TO YOUR STATE DIRECTOR.

IMPORTANT: To have your team roster and picture included in the tournament booklet, all information must be submitted by Wed. July 15. Any information received after this date is not guaranteed to be in the program.

FOR STATE DIRECTORS ONLY:

Please send the following to Tournament Headquarters.  

1.     All teams must be entered through the usssa.com online World Series entry link. 
        Please enter teams online as soon as you receive their entry.
2.     An entry form for each team.
3.     Make sure all teams have a roster online.
4.     Entry fee of $495 per team for 9-13 .

5.     This is the AA Division World Series.  All teams must be registered as "AA" teams in your state

Please mail all information to the Tournament Director by Wednesday, July 22. 
If we do not receive your team information by this date, we cannot guarantee entry into the tournament.

USSSA Southern California

16027 Brookhurst St., Suite G-120

Fountain Valley, CA  92708

Hotel Reservations:

Click on the Big League Dreams website at www.bigleaguedreams.com for hotel information.

Tournament Organization:

The "Pool Play" format will be used in the World Series.  Teams will be placed in pools where they will play a round robin within their pool.  A double elimination format will be used in the championship bracket following pool play.  A single elimination consolation bracket will be held for the teams that do not qualify for the championship bracket.  The brackets will be posted on USSSA Southern California's website at http://www.baseballfirst.com/. The tournament director may change the tournament format depending on the number of teams in the tournament.

Tournament brackets will not be mailed in advance.  Brackets and other tournament information will be available on the USSSA Southern California website http://www.baseballfirst.com/  after 3:00 p.m. (PST) Sunday, July 26th.  Please check the itinerary for the time and location of all tournament-related events.

Pool play games will be played on Tuesday and Wednesday  July 28/29. The championship and consolation brackets will begin on Friday, July 31.  The tournament is scheduled to finish mid-day on Sunday Aug. 2  Remember that the schedules posted on the web are tentative. Final schedules will be provided on opening day at the Manager's meeting. Thursday is tentatively scheduled as an off day, but this is subject to change if necessary.

Awards and Recognition:

1.    Team trophies to the first 4 teams in each age.
2.    Individual player awards to the first three teams in each age..
3.    Consolation champion and runner-up awards where applicable.
4.    Individual player awards to the first place consolation winner.
5.    Outstanding offensive player award (championship bracket).
6.    Outstanding defensive player award (championship bracket).

Tournament Passes:

Admission during the tournament will be $25 for a tournament pass for adults and $20 for a tournament pass for children 6-12.  Children under 6 are free.  The charge applies to everyone except the players, manager, and coaches.  A maximum of three manager/coaches passes will be issued to each team.  The manager's  passes will be available at the Manager's meeting on opening day and are not necessary to attend Opening Ceremonies. Daily passes will also be available for $7 per day for adults and $5 per day for children. Senior citizens ( 55 and over) are also $5. per day.

Playing Rules:

1. All playing rules will be governed by the USSSA handbook and the rules for Major League Baseball.
2. USSSA uses a May. 1 cutoff for age qualification. 
3. All bases distances and pitching distances will be according to the USSSA rulebook. 
4. All players must be fully uniformed, which includes the following:  pants, socks, cap, and team shirt with numbers that are non-duplicating and at least 3 inches in height.
5. Managers and coaches must be properly dressed but are not required to wear uniforms.  Protests on uniforms will not be allowed.
6. While in the field as a defensive player, hats must be worn.
7. Metal spikes are prohibited in the in all divisions under 13U.
8. A full-use batting helmet which covers the top and back of the head and the side of the face must be worn by every player while in the on-deck circle, when at bat and while on the bases.
9. All batboys/girls will wear full-use batting helmets and are the responsibility of the manager of the team and their parents. 
10. The catcher must wear all appropriate protective gear.
11. Games will be 6 innings in ages 9,10,11,12 and 7 innings in ages 13.
12. Players may play with only one team in the tournament.
13. Time limits will be in effect in all games up until the final day. Time limits will be 1:45 in ages 9-12 and 2:00 in age 13.

RULES OF CONDUCT:

It is the purpose of the Unites States Specialty Sports Association to conduct the best possible tournaments from all aspects.  To achieve this objective, USSSA must have the cooperation of each player, manager, coach and sponsor.

We are guests in the City of Chino, West Covina and Riverside and nothing should occur that would reflect adversely on your team, players, our host city, or the United States Specialty Sports Association.  Therefore, it is required that all teams in the tournament comply with the following rules:

• Team managers must have full control of their players at all times.  This means "on" and "off" the field.

• In case of disputed play or decision, team managers or captains may consult the game officials.  The other players and coaches or sponsors are to be kept out of the discussion.

• Managers, coaches, and players are not to fraternize with spectators while participating in an event.  At no time will any participant be allowed to smoke while participating in any USSSA event.

• At no time will participants be allowed to drink alcoholic beverages nor have in their possession any alcoholic beverage while participating in any USSSA event.

• Managers are to report any unsportsmanlike or derogatory acts by players or spectators to the Tournament Director.  The purpose here is to prevent any serious situation developing that would be harmful to the tournament.

• Managers, coaches, players, sponsors, and teams my be suspended by the Tournament Director for violation of any of these rules. This could mean suspension for one or more tournament games, the duration of the tournament, or in the most extreme cases, a longer duration.

• A player, coach, manager or sponsor may be suspended for fighting, abusive tactics, or unbecoming acts that are detrimental and not in the best interest of the United States Specialty Sports Association and tournament play.

• The hotels hosting tournament teams will report any occurrence of destruction of property or abuse of hotel property attributed to a team staying in the hotel. All reports from the hotels will be dealt with very sternly.  Team managers please note that this is your only notice. Also, failure to pay hotel bills can result in team and its manager being disbarred from future USSSA play.

• Any teams submitting bad checks to USSSA will be subject to disbarment.

Tournament Week Itinerary:

Check-in: All teams participating in the 9-13 Under USSSA AA Baseball World Series must be checked in prior to the start of the event.  Check-in will be on Monday, July 27 at Big League Dreams Chino Hills from 3:00 until 5:30PM. Managers must have copies of their players' original birth certificates with them at check-in and in their possession at the field at all times during the tournament.  Failure to have a copy of the birth certificate available upon demand or falsifying a birth certificate will result in the offending team losing the game, being ejected from the tournament, being placed last in the standings, and forfeiting all awards. All names on the roster tuned in at check must exactly match the name on the birth certificate

Opening Ceremonies: Opening ceremonies will begin at approximately 6:00 p.m. on Monday,  July 27^st.  All teams must participate and should be in full uniform.  Details will be available to the teams once they are officially entered in the tournament.  Pin trading is a popular occurrence at opening ceremonies. 

Skills Competition: There will be around-the-horn, throwing accuracy, and base running contests held for the players. Awards will be provided to the winners and the runners-up. Exact times and locations will be announced at Manager's meeting.  In the around-the-horn competition, teams will use five players.  The ball starts at home plate and is thrown from home, to third, to second (second basemen), to first, back to second (shortstop), back to third and finishes at home.  Tags are not required.  Kids feet must touch the base before throwing to the next position.  A dropped ball ends the run.  Teams get one practice run, followed by two timed runs.  The best time from the two timed runs will be used.

TENTATIVE ITINERARY
Please note, most games are played during the day and early evening.

For more information

Craig Ciandella
Southern California USSSA
Phone    (714) 848-1850
Fax        (714) 848-1857
E-mail:    cciandella@aol.com

Website:    http://www.baseballfirst.com/

John Gleason

951-693-0541

John@baseballfirst.com