• UIL softball rules and regulations apply to all conferences.girl playing softball image by pixelcarpenter from Fotolia.com
  
  The University Interscholastic League operates an annual softball schedule featuring high school teams from Texas. The University of Texas-sponsored league features five different conferences, with the teams sorted out according to enrollment size of their respective schools. Within each conference are dozens of subdivisions sorted by region. Each of the hundreds of teams included must follow a detailed list of rules and regulations to remain in the league.
  
  

Pre-Season Rules

• To be eligible for UIL softball, participants must be no older than 18 as of Sept. 1 of the coming season, and must not have graduated from high school. New students wishing to compete must first fill out a detailed questionnaire, indicating enrollment status and living arrangements. All coaches must be employees of the school district in which their team is based. No teams are permitted to hold practices or hold competition-related meetings on Sundays. Coaches are allowed to go over notes or video, but there must be no student present for these meetings.
  
  

Regular Season Rules

• All league games run seven innings, except in the case of a tie, when extra innings are played until the game is completed. Schools are limited to one day of action (either a single game or a doubleheader) per school week, though they can play as many games as desired between Friday after school and Saturday at midnight. If a team leads by 10 or more runs after five innings, the game is called due to the mercy rule. A game can also be called if a team is up by 15 runs after three innings, although this requires the approval of both teams. Organizations should work together to find neutral umpires.
  
  

Playoff Rules

• Playoff format (either single elimination or two-out-of-three) must be decided upon by the districts involved. If neither side can agree, a coin flip can be used to determine which format will be used. Warmup games can only be played prior to a team's first post-season game. All playoff games contested between teams more than 100 miles apart will be played at an agreed upon site midway between the schools. The state tournament is held annually during the first week of June.