USSSA Southern Nationals · July 7–11, 2027 · Plano / Frisco / McKinney, TX
Seven games guaranteed. Four pool games, then multiple double-elimination brackets, then single-elimination Championship Sunday. All teams play all four days.
| Wednesday | Team check-in and Opening Ceremonies. Time and location TBA. Managers must attend check-in; players are encouraged to. |
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| Thursday | Pool play begins 9:00 AM. Two pool games. Skills competitions run during the day. |
| Friday | Two more pool games. Teams are seeded 1 through N in each division on the full four-game pool record. Bracket play may begin Friday evening. |
| Saturday | Each division is split into multiple seeded double-elimination brackets (seeds 1–4, 5–8, 9–12 and so on), stopped at the final two. Where a team finishes in its bracket decides whether it plays Gold or Silver on Sunday. |
| Sunday | Championship Sunday, single elimination. Where you finish in your Saturday bracket decides whether you play Gold or Silver. Very large divisions add a Bronze bracket. The exact number of teams advancing to Gold depends on how many teams are in the division and is published with the brackets. Every team plays Sunday. Awards follow the finals. |
Skills competitions. Three team skills competitions for 8U–14U: Infield Around the Horn, Team Base Running and Team Home Run Derby. Sign-up opens the week of the event. Full skills rules.
Pool schedules post no later than 12:00 noon Central on Saturday, July 3, 2027 on the USSSA event page and the USSSA app. Bracket schedules are not sent in advance; they post as pool play finishes.
Championship hats are awarded in the GOLD bracket only. How deep the hats go depends on how many teams are in the division. A division gets one of these, never both.
| 20 or more teams in the division | Elite 8 hats - the last 8 teams standing in the Gold bracket. No Final 4 hats are given in these divisions. |
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| 12 to 19 teams in the division | Final 4 hats - the last 4 teams standing in the Gold bracket. |
| Fewer than 12 teams in the division | No hats. Trophies and rings are awarded as normal. |
Silver and Bronze brackets do not receive hats. Team count is the number of teams entered in that division at the close of registration.
MVP medals are awarded in pool games only. Bracket games do not have MVP awards.
| 8U | 70-minute time limit.
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| 9U-14U | 75-minute time limit.
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| 8U bunting | Bunting is allowed. No pull-back-and-swing (slash). Penalty is an automatic out. |
| Rosters and check-in | Rosters must be finalized at check-in. No additions after that point. Roster protests go through the USSSA system. |
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| Protests | Protests are filed with the Tournament Director. A $100 protest fee is required and is refunded if the protest is upheld. |
| Run rules (all games) | A game ends early when a team is ahead by:
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| Time limit and official game |
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| Home / visitor | Pool play: the team with the most USSSA points chooses. Bracket play: the higher seed is home. |
| International tiebreaker (ITB) | Every bracket game tied after regulation uses PROGRESSIVE ITB - each extra inning starts with more help than the last:
Championship games are the exception. They use normal ITB - runner on 2nd base, batter starts 0-0 - unless both coaches agree to use progressive ITB. |
| Seeding procedure (pool to bracket) | Worked in order, top to bottom. Once you move past a tiebreaker, you do not go back to a previous one.
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| Bats and equipment | USSSA Fastpitch rules apply. Bats must carry the USSSA fastpitch mark. Only official USSSA licensed softballs are used. |
| Shortened games | A bracket game is official after 2½ innings if the home team is ahead. |
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| Championship “if” game | If the “if” game of a championship is rained out before a clear winner after 2½ innings, both teams are declared Co-Champions and flip for 1st and 2nd place awards. |
| Tournament Director authority | Tournament Directors reserve the right to play winners bracket games ahead of losers bracket games (possibly eliminating the losers bracket entirely) if necessary, or to reduce game times if the tournament can be completed with those revisions. If the tournament cannot be completed by any other method, the placement procedures below are used. |
| Note on calculations | All games in the tournament, pool play and bracket play, are used when average runs scored or allowed are computed. |
| Single-elimination brackets that cannot be completed | Teams still in the bracket are ordered first, in this order: (1) winning percentage including pool and bracket play - a bye in the first round counts as a win if bracket play has begun and only the first round is complete; (2) least average runs allowed per game played; (3) highest average run differential per game played, 8-run limit; (4) coin toss. If only two teams remain in the tournament, those teams are declared co-champions. |
| Double-elimination brackets that cannot be completed | First, teams still in the winners bracket are ordered by: (1) winning percentage including pool and bracket play - a bye in the first round counts as a win if bracket play has begun and only the first round is complete; (2) least average runs allowed per game played; (3) highest average run differential per game played, 8-run limit; (4) coin toss. Next, teams in the same spot in the losers bracket are ordered by: (1) head-to-head, used first when only two teams are in the same spot; (2) the team that advanced farthest in the winners bracket before losing; (3) least average runs allowed per game played; (4) highest average run differential per game played, 8-run limit; (5) coin toss. If only two teams remain in the tournament, those teams are declared co-champions. |
Looking for the other event? Oklahoma 14U–18U rules & format.
