High school softball rules: Innings and mercy rule explained
High school softball games have specific rules for innings and mercy calls. Learn how long games last and when they end early.
Spring showers, warming weather and blooming flowers means that the high school softball season is in full swing. Throughout the country, teams have been completing for the last few months and inching their way towards postseason play. Each state has a different timeline, with some already in the postseason, some getting ready to start, and a few select others still a few weeks out.
Regardless of where the season is for your state, what do you need to know about the game knockout play getting ready to start? How many innings are in high school softball game? Unlike sports such as basketball or football, where the quarter lengths differ from high school to college, softball at the high school level is the same length as college.
According to the NFHS , a standard high school game usually lasts between 1. 5 and 2 hours and goes for 7 innings. Certain tournaments can put time constraints, but that is not the norm.
If there is a time constraint and both teams are tied, that game will end in a tie. Some tournaments may implement a tiebreaker rule in which the last batter from the prior innings starts the next inning on second base. Is there a high school softball mercy rule?