Softball Run Rule: High School, USA Softball, Little League

USA Softball (fastpitch)

A regulation game is 7 innings. The run-ahead rule ends it when one team leads by:

After	Lead
3 innings	15 runs
4 innings	12 runs
5 innings	8 runs

That’s for girls’ (JO) and women’s fastpitch. It’s required at USA Softball national championships, and local leagues and tournaments often use it too. Innings are played out in full unless the home team reaches the margin while batting, which ends the game on the spot.

Many tournaments also use a time limit (for example, no new inning after 1 hour 30 minutes). Whether there is one, and how long, is in the tournament’s rules.

Little League softball

Division	Game length	Run rule
Majors and below	6 innings	15 runs after 3 innings (2½ if the home team leads), 10 after 4 (3½), or 8 after 5 (4½)
Junior and Senior	7 innings	15 runs after 4 innings (3½), 10 after 5 (4½), or 8 after 6 (5½)

The 8-run margin is a regular-season option; a local league can also choose not to use the run rule in the regular season. Little League softball and baseball use the same run rule.

High school

High school softball is 7 innings, and a game is official after 5 (4½ if the home team leads). The NFHS rulebook lets each state association set the run-ahead rule, and the margins and innings differ from state to state, sometimes between the regular season and the state tournament. Your state association’s softball manual has yours.

Slowpitch

Slowpitch uses bigger margins because more runs score: USA Softball’s general slowpitch rule is 20 runs after 3 innings, 15 after 4, 10 after 5, and some adult divisions differ. See slowpitch vs fastpitch.