Meetings & Key Dates
February 25th, 2024 @ 7:00pm (184 W. Main St., Norton, MA)
March 24th, 2024 @ 7:00pm (Foxboro)
April 28th, 2024 @ 7:30pm (Foxboro)
May 19th, 2024 @ 7:30pm (Foxboro)
May 24th, 2024 - Team Declarations are Due (via submission form)
May 28th, 2024 - Team Declaration Review (via Zoom)
May 31st, 2024 - Senior Team Declarations are Due (via submission form)
June 4th, 2024 - Senior Team Declaration Review (via Zoom)
June 9th, 2024 - Coaches Meeting (Foxboro)
- Division 1 - 7:00pm
- Division 2 - 8:00pm
- Division 3 - 9:00pm
July 21st, 2024 @ 8:00pm (via Zoom)
All in-person meetings will be held at 8 Chestnut St., Foxboro, MA unless otherwise noted.
Participants
Towns MUST identify a representative to attend meetings and advocate for their town with the league. While multiple people from a town may attend, the official town rep is the accountable individual who is responsible for completion of deliverables required for a town's participation in a given season. Non participation in meetings does not constitute an excuse for missing key league deadlines. It is the HSL's responsibility to share key dates, clearly explain and provide guidance on processes, and to answer questions. However, it is NOT the HSL's responsibility to track down town reps and make sure they understand important milestones and steps which need to be completed to ensure team eligibility.
Each season, the HSL will announce a team declaration date. Participating towns declare teams for each age and divisional level by the required date. The HSL format is that team rosters must consist of players who are attending the same school system together at the same age group (9U, 10U, etc.). Baseball age is a player's age as of April 30th in a given year. If a player is home schooled or attending a private school, they must be rostered in the same town/zip code. If a town has players wishing to play, but not enough to form a full team, that town should contact the Hockomock as there may be other towns in similiar situation who they can be connected with.
Towns should never:
- Roster an older player to a younger cohort team (i.e., 10U player playing on a 9U team)
- Share jerseys in an attempt to pass off a player as a different player
- Call down a player to play in a lower level division (i.e., a Division 1 player substituting on a Division 2 or 3 team).
- Collude with towns across town lines/zip codes to build teams.
- Double roster players on multiple teams
Towns may:
- Allow players in lower divisions to be "called up" to higher level divisions to sub in and ensure teams have enough players for a given game.
- Allow younger cohort players to play on an older team (i.e., a 11U player playing on a 12U team)
Local town baseball boards may have additional placement guidelines through which they roster teams. The HSL fully supports local baseball board guidelines around roster construction as long as they do not violate HSL rules (i.e., older players playing down, etc.)
Teams submitted to the HSL must be approved and sponsoired by their town program boards. The HSL does not accept independently formed teams.
Exceptions to any of the above situations need to be brought to the HSL board for review. Any town found to be in violation of the above policy is subject to penalty, which could include disqualification of that team and removal from participation in future years.
Divisions
The Hockomock Summer league provides three different divisions of play. Below are descriptions of the divisions to help guide towns as they determine the right level for their teams to play based on skillsets.
Keep in mind the majority of players who decide to continue their baseball experience into summer are typically as good or better than the average town spring season player. High quality baseball is played at all divisional levels.
Division 1
The strong majority, if not all of the roster is comprised of all-star level talent. All of these players are consistent hitters and fielders with high baseball acumen. Players who pitch and catch are greatly skilled in doing so.
Division 2
Less than half of the team is all-star level talent. The rest of the roster is comprised of players that are above average talent, but maybe have gaps in parts of their skill set. Division 2 is a great choice if a town has more all-star players than rosters spots in Division 1, or simply not enough all-stars for a Division 1 team.
Division 3
Teams are mostly comprised of players who would be considered above average to average level talent in their town spring programs. Roster exceptions also may include:
- One or two higher skilled players, or even all-stars who are from towns that may not have enough players for a Div 1 or Div 2 team. These higher level players should be EXCEPTIONS to a division 3 roster.
- Lower skill players who love the game and want to keep developing
Division 3 combines 9/10U and 11/12U age groups for additional flexibility for towns who may have very low populations at certain age levels and therefore cannot field a full team at Div 1 or 2. Towns are not allowed to declare a division 3 team if they have not declared at least one team at Division 1 or 2 at a commensurate level. If town population issues are severe, the HSL board does grant exception reviews to this placement criteria.
Declaration Examples:
"Town A" has a high population of 12U players and a low population of 11U players. Because there are not enough 11U's to form a team, they have a few options:
OPTION 1
- 12U Division 1 (all-star level players)
- 12U Division 2 (above average players)
- 11/12U Division 3 (mix of talent players at 11U and remaining players from 12U)
OPTION 2
The town could declare it's 12U teams and reach out to the HSL to indicate their 11Us do not have enough to form a team and they are seeking to work with another town to place those players.
Scenario B
"Town B" has 33 13U players. The talent is evenly split between all-star level, average level, and below average. While Town B could simply split the players between the three divisions, the division 3 team will likely get beaten more often than not.
OPTION 1
- 13U Division 1, 13U Division 2, and 13U Division 3
OPTION 2
- 13U Division 1, 2 13U Division 3 teams which have the talent balanced between the two.
Please reach out to the Hock Board of Directors if you need assistance determining the best division for your team based on makeup.
Team Declarations & Schedules
Team declarations consist of a two-part process. The first step is to complete the team declarations submission formby the communicated deadline in a given year (see Meeting Dates above). The second deadline is an actual live review of the teams to confirm, this usually occurs 2-5 day following the initial submission. This is a final, hard deadline. Once the final live review is concluded, the HSL does NOT accept changes. Given the size of the league, there are a massive amount of games that need to be scheduled in a way that result in equitability for all teams. This cannot be done if team declarations are continually shifting.
Towns are required to submit a minimum of four teams at any division/age level in order to be eligible for league play in a given season. Teams should be declared based on the criterion noted above. The HSL is very sensitive to the experience of the players. As a result, towns should never place teams well above or below their perceived competition level. If there is uncertainty, it is better that teams play at a higher level than run the table at a lower level.
Failure to adhere to this standard may result in penalties being levied, including fines, ineligibility for playoffs, and/or direct assignment to a division the following year.
Schedules will be communicated prior to the start of the season. If a coach wants to change a game to a different date and time, it's their job to work with the opposing team coach on an alternative that works for BOTH coaches. This means that both teams are available to play, there is an available field that has been identified, the home team can arrange for umpires, and the date selected falls in the window of the regular season. If both teams can come to an agreement on a change, then the team that initiated the request for a change should email the HSL scheduler (CC'ing the opposing coach) and indicate the details of the change so that the master schedule can be updated to reflect the change.
Towns/Coaches should not email the HSL directly looking for assistance to help negotiate a change. This is done exclusively between coaches and the HSL should only be notified once the change has been fully discussed and agreed upon.
