FIBS Federal Council announces dates for 2022 championships and CON6

With a moment of silence in memory of Gino Galati, Serie A baseball umpire who passed away this past week at the age of 49, the 13th Federal Council for the four-year period from 2020-2024 began. After opening comments from FIBS President Andrea Marcon and the approval of the minutes of the session of September 18, 2021, the results of the 2021 Championships were ratified.

The new Covid-19 health protocols were then issued for indoor and outdoor training activities. It requires a Green Pass for everyone during any activity carried out indoors. The documents, as always, will be published on the appropriate page of the FIBS website.

The documents relating to the 2022 Sports Activity have been analyzed: the procedures for affiliation, membership, registration to the championships, the Baseball and Softball Circulars, the Youth Circular and the amateur activity are brought together in a single document, integrated by the tables season specifics, with dates and deadlines. The cards will also be placed in a special publication space on the home page of the fibs.it website. It is mandatory to complete all the required documentation for the registration of athletes by the date set in the schedule.

The schedule, unilateral release, balls and clubs table and plant approval procedures have been approved. The first deadline for companies is the re-affiliation which must be carried out by November 30, 2021.

The 2022 competitive season kicks off on April 2, 2021 with the first day of Serie A Baseball and the Italian Softball Cup.

The structure of the championships has not changed substantially, consolidated over several seasons, with the exception of Serie B Softball, which passes to two weekly matches and is a national event, and Serie A Baseball, whose format has matured through the synthesis of the comparison. carried out between the representatives of the Federal Council and those of the companies.

In detail, a new Serie A will be launched by the Federal Council for 2022. At the start, which will take place in the first weekend of April, there will be 32 teams that in the first phase will be divided into four groups of eight: each of the groups will be composed of two seeded (chosen among the eight who played the second phase 2021), One newly promoted and five other teams among those who played the Salvation Pool, based on proximity. In the first phase, only one first leg will be played, with two games of nine innings, at the end of which the first two classified will qualify for the Scudetto Pool: the eight teams will be divided into two groups of four who will play three weekly matches of seven innings for a total of 10 weeks and 30 games; the rotation of the pitchers will see game one for pitchers with a visa, game two for AFI pitchers and game three for non-AFI community pitchers. Once the second phase is closed, there will be the crossed semifinals between the first two classified of each group structured in a series of the best of seven games (always in seven innings) to be played in two weeks, followed by the Italian Baseball Series, always at the best of seven games out of seven innings in two weeks. Eventual game seven of the Italian Baseball Series will be played on Sunday, September 18, 2022. At the same time, the other 24 teams will be divided into four groups of six, which will play round robins in two weekly matches of nine rounds. At the end of this phase, the last two classifieds of each group will cross in the playout series with the best of five games and the losers will be relegated to Serie B. The four teams per group not involved in the playouts will be divided into four concentrations, with the formula of the Final Four, for the dispute of the Italian Cup. In the meantime, the losers of the Scudetto semi-finals will cross paths with the two winners of the play-off between the third and fourth classified groups of the Scudetto Pool (best-of-three series). The two winning teams will join the four qualifiers of the Italian Cup concentrations and will give life to another two concentrations, this time with three teams with a one-way Italian Cup round, to be played in a single day. The two winners access the Final Four of the Italian Cup together with the teams that played in the Italian Baseball Series. The winner of the Final Four, scheduled for the weekend of September 24-25, 2022 will win the Italian Cup and the second place available in the 2023 European Cup.

In Serie B Baseball the most important novelty will be the reintroduction of the playoffs to decide the four promoted in Serie A 2023 and the playouts for the four relegations foreseen in Serie C.

In Serie A1 Softball small changes compared to 2021. There will be the return of the Italian Cup which will be the prologue to the championship: the cup has already he will start in the first three weekends of April and then give way to the championship from the last weekend of the month. For the award of the Scudetto, after the regular season, it will go directly to the semifinals and then to the Italian Softball Series, all best of five games series. There will be three relegations: directly the last classified of each of the two groups, while the fifth classified will play the playout. The increase in relegations, remaining only one promotion from Serie A2 Softball, will bring the top series to 10 teams in women in 2023. Relegations also increase in Serie A2 Softball, passing to three, two direct for the last of the groups and the third that will emerge from the playout between the seventh classified of the two groups.

In terms of Youth Championships, the most important change will concern the non-application of the rule of the maximum points per inning for all national stages.

The CF therefore kicked off the procedures for registering for continental competitions for next year: at club level, San Marino and Parma for the European Cup baseball, Forlì and Bollate for the Premiere Cup, Saronno for the ESF Cup Winners Cup; at a blue level, the U18 and U12 European Championships for baseball; Senior, U22 and U15 for softball; European Youth Baseball5. The Palacongressi di Rimini will host the return of CON6, dedicated to coaches, umpires, scorers, players, managers and medical staff. from February 4-6, 2022.

After having accepted the resignation of Team Italy U15 baseball manager Roberto De Franceschi and thanked him for his years of devoted leadership, the Federal Council has entrusted Stefano Burato to take on the new role to give continuity to the younger players who have worked under him as manager of the U12 manager. In addition, he will also continue working at the helm of the Team Italy U12 program.

Italy is a candidate to host the Under 12 European Baseball Championship, the Under 15 European Championship, and Baseball5 in 2022 and the qualifying and final phases of the new Softball World Cup format which will take place in 2023 and 2024 respectively.

For the administrative part, the change to the 2021 budget has been approved. An additional sum of 400,000 euro has been allocated to the companies, which will be distributed by mid-December.

A survey was launched to evaluate the supply of second-timer watches for the Serie A Baseball and Serie A1 Softball playing fields charged to the Federation, in order to align the top national competitions with the international ones through a tool that has demonstrated its effectiveness in cutting down the duration of the games.

The amounts of the 2022 tender fees have been approved with cost cuts for companies, compared to 2019, which reach up to 50%.

The meeting of the Federal Council is now adjourned. Next appointment, via videoconference is set for Friday, November 26, 2021.

Marco Landi and Fabio Ferrini in Florence