How Does Scoring Work In Tee Ball?

Tee ball is a form of baseball meant to be played by younger children. Young kids usually can't throw a baseball far enough to pitch and do not have the hand-eye coordination to hit a ball thrown at them. Therefore, tee ball was invented to allow kids to be able to enjoy the sport of baseball. In tee ball, children hit a mounted baseball off a tall tee. Since the baseball is not moving, it is much easier for them to have fun and play the game. Read on to learn how one scores a tee ball game as well as some tee ball logistics.

Tee Ball Scoring

An umpire (or if there is no empire, then the coaches do the scoring) scores a tee ball game. Each runner that makes it around all four bases before their team gets three outs scores a point. The general gameplay and scoring of tee ball occurs as described below.

1. Players on the batting team take turns hitting the baseball off the tee.
2. If the fielding team does not get them out by tagging first base before the runner arrives, that player stays on first base.
3. Another player gets up to bat and hits the baseball off the tee. The player on first must run to second because two players cannot remain on the same base.
4. If the base a runner is headed towards is tagged, or if the runner is tagged, they are out.
5. Batters continue to hit the ball off the tee until their team receives three outs. If a runner manages to get to all four bases without getting out, their team receives a run.
6. After a team gets three outs, they have to switch to fielding. Once both teams have had a turn batting and fielding, we call it an inning.
7. At the end of the game (most tee ball games last about four innings or one hour), the runs of each team from each inning are tallied up, and the highest score wins.

It is important to note that tee ball is a very relaxed game. Mostly played by four- to five-year-olds, tee ball allows kids to hang out with their team, develop hand-eye coordination, learn valuable life skills, and have fun. Usually, tee ball is not very competitive. More advanced rules like stealing, leading off a base, tagging up, and even strikeouts are usually not enforced or allowed.

Furthermore, a tee ball game is often not even scored, as the game's goal is simply for the kids to have a good time. Finally, tee ball usually involves mercy rules. If one team is ahead by a lot of runs, that team may have to lose a fielder, the other team could gain a fielder, or the game might just end altogether.

How to Record Scoring in Tee Ball

Sometimes, parents wish to instill a competitive nature in their kids. In that case, coaches may be a little more strict with how they score the game and how the kids play it. When serious about scoring, coaches often use a tee ball score sheet. These sheets have all the children’s names in a single column. Next to each child’s name are boxes with information regarding their play in each inning. Therefore, four innings in a tee ball game would mean that there would be four boxes to the right of each child’s name.

The tee ball score sheet looks much like a table with the children’s names on the left, succeeded by what they did each inning on the right. At the bottom of each inning’s column lies the total runs scored of the inning and the total runs scored in the game so far.

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