We had two main goals when creating these new rules.
- To have a static batting order that does not change. This also eliminated the need to have separate batting orders for men and women, which resulted in some players batting more often and changing their place in the order throughout the game.
- To ensure our rules enforce an equal opportunity for everyone to be included in gameplay. We feel that all players, regardless of gender, deserve an equal opportunity for at-bats.
See the new batting order rules below:
The golden rule when making a batting order is that everyone should bat once through your order. A team must use their full roster for batting and keep the order the same throughout the game. Players cannot only play defense; they must be in the batting order.
- Should a team only have two (2) players for either gender minimum at the game, they must include a ghost batter in their batting order which will be an automatic out each time through the lineup.
- Ghost Batter: A placeholder slot in the batting order when a roster does not meet one of the gender requirements. When this ghost batter would come up to bat, an automatic out is recorded. If there are two (2) outs in the inning when the ghost batter comes up to bat, the inning is over. The ghost batters' position in the batting order is static and does not change.
- Teams must make sure that players are evenly distributed throughout their batting order based on the teams’ gender ratio.
- Gender ratio is calculated by dividing the gender majority players by the gender minority players – including any ghost batters in the calculation.
- If a team has 6 women and 2 men, the gender ratio is 2 : 1 (accounting for the ghost batter)
- If a team has 6 men, 2 women and 1 nonbinary, the gender ratio is 2 : 1
- If a team has 9 women and 3 men, the gender ratio is 3 : 1
- If a team has 10 men and 4 women, the gender ratio is 2.5 : 1
|
Gender Ratio |
Examples (Including Ghost Batters) |
Batting Order Rule |
|
1:1 |
4:4, 5:5, 6:6 |
No more than one (1) player of any gender may bat in a row |
|
Between 1:1 and 2:1 |
5:3, 5:4, 6:4, 7:4, 6:5, 7:5, 8:5 |
No more than two (2) players in the gender majority may bat in a row |
|
2:1 |
6:3, 8:4, 10:5 |
No more than two (2) players in the gender majority may bat in a row |
|
Between 2:1 and 3:1 |
7:3, 8:3, 9:4, 10:4, 11:4, 11:5 |
No more than three (3) players in the gender majority may bat in a row |
|
3:1 |
9:3, 12:4, 15:5 |
No more than three (3) players in the gender majority may bat in a row |
|
Between 3:1 and 4:1 |
10:3, 11:3, 13:4, 14:4 |
No more than four (4) players in the gender majority may bat in a row |
|
4:1 |
12:3, 16:4 |
No more than four (4) players in the gender majority may bat in a row |
Batting Order Examples
- A team has 7 women and 2 men, the gender ratio is 2.3 : 1 and the batting order could be: woman 1, woman 2, woman 3, man 1, woman 4, woman 5, man 2, woman 6, woman 7, ghost man 3 (automatic out). (i.e. the number of women batting in a row can’t exceed 3)
- A team has 6 men, 3 women and 1 nonbinary, the gender ratio is 1.5 : 1 and the batting order could be: man 1, man 2, woman 1, man 3, man 4, nonbinary 1, man 5, woman 2, man 6, woman 3. (i.e. the number of men batting in a row can’t exceed 2)