WIAA Rules for Softball

The WIAA (Washington Interscholastic Activities Association) is a non-profit rule-making and service organization created in 1905 to improve conditions between high schools and junior high schools in athletic and academic contests. The organization now serves almost 800 schools and oversees events like basketball, debate, gymnastics and softball. The WIAA has softball rules and regulations to ensure fairness when schools compete against one another.

  1. Season Dates

    • The WIAA high school softball seasons officially begins every year in late February with the first practice. There must be a minimum of 10 practice days and each team may play a maximum of 20 games (not including jamborees). The season ends in late May of each year. The middle school season length will be 12 weeks and has a limit of 10 games (not including jamborees).

    Jamboree

    • A jamboree is an abbreviated game played in the WIAA that has a shorter length and that does not count against the game limit of a team. The jamboree is like a pre-season game in which players can begin to learn the rules and regulations that will be enforced during the regular season. Teams may be split into an A and a B squad and play against several teams on the same day. At the high school level, a jamboree consists of no more than six innings for a player or a team. This is the same for a middle school softball contest as well.

    Rules and Regulations

    • Many of the WIAA rules are simply lifted from other major high school rule organizations. The WIAA takes its suspended contest rules directly from the NFHS (National Federation of State High Schools). A suspended contest is a game that must be stopped by umpires because of darkness, weather or any other reason before it is considered a regulation game (typically six complete innings). The WIAA takes its approved bats list from the Amateur Softball Association of America (ASA). These bats must bear the ASA certification mark and they must be on an approved list published by the ASA national office.

      Other rules are relatively standard like a limitation on how many contests an individual can play (four or less in a day, 20 or less in a season for high school).

    2010 Rules

    • There are several rules adopted by the NFHS in 2010 that have also been adopted by the WIAA. Female fast-pitching distance was changed to 43 feet. The circumference of 11 inch and 12 inch softballs are now allowed to be slightly larger (either 11 1/4 inches or 12 1/4 inches). Girls now have the ability to wear hard, unadorned devices like barrettes, hair clips and bobby pins for their hair as long as the devices are not longer than two inches. The 2010 rules also clarify that if a ball hits on or over fair territory when it lands beyond first, second and third base it is indeed a fair ball.