INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – One rules change for the 2016 softball season was made at the rules committee meetings last month in Indianapolis. Those changes were subsequently approved by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) Board of Directors.

One rule change was recommended by the NFHS Softball Rules Committee at its June 15-17 meeting, and in the new Article 4 of Rule 2-57, the committee provided a standard definition of a "projected" substitute.

Rule 3-3-3 prohibits the use of a projected substitute, which is now defined in the new article as "a player who does not immediately participate in the game."

"There has been some confusion among both officials and coaches about substitution procedure," said Theresia Wynns, NFHS director of sports and officials education and liaison to the Softball Rules Committee. "Therefore, the committee felt it was necessary to clear up that process and provide coaches and officials with a standard definition of a projected substitute."

The following Points of Emphasis were approved by the Softball Rules Committee:
STRIKE ZONE (FP)
DP/FLEX EDUCATION
PITCHING (FP)

According to the NFHS Athletics Participation Survey, fastpitch softball is the fifth-most popular sport for girls with 364,297 participants in 15,225 schools during the 2013-14 season.

This press release was written by Brandon Jones, a summer intern in the NFHS Publications and Communications Department and a junior at Indiana University Bloomington.

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About the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS)
The NFHS, based in Indianapolis, Indiana, is the national leadership organization for high school sports and performing arts activities. Since 1920, the NFHS has led the development of education-based interscholastic sports and performing arts activities that help students succeed in their lives. The NFHS sets direction for the future by building awareness and support, improving the participation experience, establishing consistent standards and rules for competition, and helping those who oversee high school sports and activities. The NFHS writes playing rules for 16 sports for boys and girls at the high school level. Through its 50 member state associations and the District of Columbia, the NFHS reaches more than 19,000 high schools and 11 million participants in high school activity programs, including more than 7.7 million in high school sports. As the recognized national authority on interscholastic activity programs, the NFHS conducts national meetings; sanctions interstate events; offers online publications and services for high school coaches and officials; sponsors professional organizations for high school coaches, officials, speech and debate coaches, and music adjudicators; serves as the national source for interscholastic coach training; and serves as a national information resource of interscholastic athletics and activities. For more information, visit the NFHS website at www.nfhs.org.

-- Courtesy of the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS)