Field Procedures: If Lights Go Out

PLL families:

In the past game play has been interrupted by lights turning out during games. First and foremost PLL sends a lighting schedule to the county based on our best estimate of start times and finish times plus extra time, usually an extra hour, to give teams adequate time to play their game, pack up, and exit the Park safely. The Lights are programmed by our county Parks and Recreation representative, not PLL. We have NO access to program lights or turn them off before the allotted programmed time. The county has gone to programmable timers on ALL fields due to negligence of residents in turning the lights off when they leave the field. With that being said our representative had over 400 games to program between PLL baseball, Powhatan Fast Pitch Softball, Football, lacrosse, and Soccer. Mistakes will happen, she is only human. The procedure to follow in the event the lights turn off during a game is as follows:

1. Don’t panic. Have all players return to dugout and remain calm.
2. Coaches contact your division director and relay the problem.
3. Division director will contact a senior board member to relay the situation to the County Representative.
4. Senior Board member will cal county Representative to request an extension on the lights. PLL can usually get lights turned back on, and with the cool down period for the lights, it usually takes about 15 min to get them back on.
5. In the event the lights cannot be turned back on the game will either be “called” if said game has reached appropriate inning laid out in Little League Rule book to be ruled a complete game. The team having the lead at this point in time will be awarded the win. If the game has not reached the appropriate inning then the game will be “suspended” and completed on another appropriate day and time.

DO NOT leave the field until these conditions have been resolved. If coaches leave before these conditions have been met, then the Boars of Directors will have no Choice but to call the game regardless. Umpires will be made aware of this so as there is no confusion on the correct procedure for calling or suspending a game. This process should only take a few minutes as there are numerous senior board members at the field at any given time. Again stay calm and sort this out the correct way. The only other way a game will be called in this occasion is if time limit has been reached. Time limits apply to all games EXCEPT TOURNAMENT GAMES. Tournament games have no time limits and lights will be programmed to account for this.

PLL Board of Directors