FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS FOR THE
2025 NCS LAS VEGAS WORLD SERIES

FIRST THINGS FIRST... THIS IS A WORLD SERIES EVENT WITH HUNDREDS OF TEAMS. IN ORDER TO KEEP THINGS PROFESSIONAL AND RESPECTFUL, OUR UMPIRES AND STAFF HAVE BEEN TOLD TO NOT TOLERATE ANY ABUSIVE BEHAVIOR (VERBAL OR PHYSICAL) OR ANY UNSPORTSMANLIKE CONDUCT INCLUDING:

NO “F” bombs
NO drinking or smoking at any time in or around the dugouts or on the field of play
NO throwing the bat
NO taunting
NO loud or vulgar music inside the parks
NO verbal or physical altercations
NO out of control fans (Coaches must be 100% in control their fans)

(Any violations to these rules could result in immediate ejection from the game and/or the tournament. Warnings may or may not be given as this statement is your warning. The NCS Director at your park has the right to remove any team or players at any time for any violations.)

There are also no paper brackets out at the fields so you must check the website frequently for updates to game times, scores, etc.

WHERE DO WE GO TO CHECK IN AND GET OUR BALLS?

For teams that play December 4th and 5th (Thursday and Friday only), checking in and getting your balls are done at the park where you play your first game. NCS will have a merchandise booth set up and that’s where you'll want to go. This is also where you will pay any outstanding fees owed (CASH ONLY). These are due before your first game starts. NO EXCEPTIONS!

For teams participating over the weekend (December 6th - 8th), we will have team check-ins at BIG LEAGUE DREAMS starting at 5PM on Friday, December 6th. This is where you'll pay your final balance (CASH ONLY) and pick up your (2) starter balls. (Your whole team doesn't need to be in attendance. Only one representative needs to be there to check your team in, pay, and get your starter balls.) That night you will also be able to buy our one-of-a kind custom Las Vegas Worlds merchandise, buy additional balls, participate in our Annual Home Run Derby, and get raffle tickets for various give-away items.

WHAT KIND OF BALLS ARE ALLOWED?

The only two balls allowed in the Las Vegas World Series are the NCS STAMPED Dudley ball (if not stamped with the NCS logo, you can't use it) or any ONYX ball (no stamp or any stamp is OK for play).

We will have NCS STAMPED Dudley balls for sale at each field. Please don't drive to other fields to purchase balls because the TD's can only sell balls to the teams playing at their own fields.

DUDLEY is our official NCS BALL... 12 inch balls for the MEN and 11 inch balls for the WOMEN.

- All Game Balls must be OPTIC YELLOW in color

- Men's divisions can hit any 12" NCS DUDLEY STAMPED BALL except for the Senior ball (44/525)

- Women's divisions can hit any 11" NCS DUDLEY STAMPED BALL

- COED divisions can hit any NCS DUDLEY STAMPED BALL except for the Senior Ball (44/525). Men must hit the 12" ball and Women must hit the 11" ball

- Senior divisions can hit any NCS DUDLEY STAMPED BALL

- We will give each team a couple balls at check in

- ***New in 2025 - You can also use the ONYX Energy ball - stamped or no stamp as the stamp does not matter***

WHAT KIND OF BATS CAN WE USE?

All bats must have new or older USSSA, ASA-USA or NSA stamp (220 compression and 240 compression bats are ok)

No fastpitch bats, baseball bats, or cheater bats allowed. We don't have a bat ban list like other associations.

*** Senior Bats can only be used in the Senior Division ***

WHAT FIELDS ARE DIRT AND WHICH FIELDS ARE TURF?

The majority of the fields used for the Worlds Series are dirt and grass except for the following parks:

Big League Dreams has a turf infield and grass outfield
Shadow Rock and Desert Breeze both have dirt infields and turf outfields

WHAT DOES IT MEAN WHEN IT SAYS WE ARE PLAYING IN A RED BRACKET OR A BLUE BRACKET?

If your division has enough teams to be broken into two separate brackets, you'll show up as either playing in the red bracket or the blue bracket of your division. The teams that make the Championship Game of their colored bracket will be playing for a chance to make it to the one game, winner-take-all Division Championship. So... The losers of the Red and Blue Bracket Championships will tie for 3rd place and the two teams that win the Red and Blue Bracket Championships will play one game for all the marbles (it does not matter if one team is undefeated and one team is not in the final Division Championship... it is only one game).

WHY ARE SOME GAMES TIMES IN RED ON THE BRACKET AND SOME ARE IN BLACK?

If your game time is showing up in BLACK TYPE on your bracket, the loser of your game has another game somewhere in the bracket. If your game time is showing up in RED TYPE on your bracket, the losing team is out of the tournament.

WHAT DO I DO IF I NEED TO ADD A PLAYER RIGHT BEFORE THE START OF THE EVENT?

Emergency roster adds will be available all the way up to December 2nd at 5pm. After that, rosters will be locked. Email jay.zetz@playncs.com with your name, team name, state, and division along with your contact info and we will unfreeze your roster so you can add your player. You have to let us know when you're done adding your player in the NCS system so we can check the added player. We will email you back to give you our approval or denial and then we'll re-lock your roster. If you don't let us know when the new player is added, we will not know to approve him / her. If you are caught adding a player that wasn't approved or if for some reason your roster wasn't locked and you add a player after the start of your first game, you will automatically be kicked out of the event. NO EXCEPTIONS!

WHAT DO I DO IF I LOSE PLAYERS AND I AM SHORTHANDED?

Post on social media and any Facebook softball sites your team's needs. We have found this to be the easiest and best way to find players willing to join a team for this event. If that doesn't work, email jay.zetz@playncs.com with your name, team name, state, and division along with your contact info and we will email players and also post on social media to help you find players.

HOW DO I KNOW IF OUR TEAM IS 100% LEGAL TO PLAY IN THE DIVISION WE SIGNED UP FOR SO THAT WE CAN FEEL COMFORTABLE BOOKING OUR TRIP FOR WORLDS?

We will be going through every team's roster prior to the event to make sure all teams are legal. If you'd like to get your team approved as early as possible so you feel confident in spending money on your team's trip to Las Vegas, please feel free to email us at jay.zetz@playncs.com. Make sure your team and players are signed up on our website and make sure all your players have approved their roster spot on your team by replying to the email that was sent to them from NCS. If they haven't approved via the link that was emailed to them, they will show as pending on your roster. Once all your players approve their roster spot, then email us your team name, state, and division and we will check your roster and email you back to let you know if you are approved.

WHY DO I SEE MAJOR, AAA, AA PLAYERS PLAYING IN THE “E” AND “D” DIVISIONS?

Our website shows the rating of players including those that play in our Senior Division.

Major, AAA and AA ratings are in general equal to "REC" “E” and “D” players in our Adult Divisions. Our programmers are working on dual ratings for those that play in both our Senior and Adult divisions so we are hoping those will be in place before the start of this event.

DO I GET MY DEPOSIT BACK IF I HAVE TO PULL OUR TEAM OUT AFTER THE DEADLINE?

NO... Not only do you not get your deposit back but you will also still owe the remaining balance of your entry fee. The deadline is the deadline to be able to pull your team out of the event with a full refund so any team that pulls out AFTER the posted deadline date is still on the hook for the full entry fee. Failure to pay your entry fee will result in you and all your players being banned from ever playing in an NCS tournament again. Please reach out to Jay Zetz at jay.zetz@playncs.com to make arrangements to pay your balance.

ARE THERE ROSTER CHECKS AT THE EVENT?

Yes, roster checks can happen at any time. All players must have their legal photo I.D. / Drivers License on themselves at all times that 100% match the name and DOB on the roster. If a roster check happens and a player doesn't have their I.D. on them at the time of the check, the team will forfeit the game immediately for having an illegal player in the game.

HOW DO I CONDUCT A PROTEST OF A TEAM AT THE WORLD SERIES?

The only type of protest that is acceptable at the World Series is a protest of a player that is playing for a team that you know is not on their online roster. Since we have taken the time to check every team's rosters and have deemed them "legal", the only type of protest would be one where a player is caught jumping teams. If you find a player doing this, please follow these instructions:

Find the tournament director before the end of the 3rd inning and let him know what's going on.
Hand the TD the $150 protest fee.
The TD will walk into the opposing team's dugout and will ask to see the ID's of all the players on the team and the TD will check each and every ID to make sure all the players are listed as a player on the team's online roster.
If a player is found to NOT be on the team's online roster, the protested team will forfeit that game and the $150 will be returned to the team that placed the forfeit.
If all the players show up on the online roster, play will continue and the TD will keep the $150 protest fee.

DO WE HAVE TO TURN IN A LINE-UP AT THE BEGINNING OF THE GAME?

If the umpire or opposing team asks for a copy of your line-up, you must give it to them immediately so have one ready to go before every game.

TEAM UNIFORMS MANDATORY?

No but please do your best to look like a team. No need to be exact, full matching, etc. We just ask that there be clear individual #'s on the back of the shirt/jersey.

CAN I PLAY ON MORE THAN ONE TEAM IN THE TOURNAMENT?

You can only play on one team of the same gender. For example... if you're playing Men’s D, you can’t play on another Mens D team or on any Mens OPEN or any Mens E team. If you're playing Womens D, you can't play on another Womens D team or on any Womens OPEN or on any Womens E team.

You CAN play on a Mens D team or a Womens D team and ALSO play on a COED team (No Mens or Womens E players can play in the COED OPEN division)

You CAN play on a Mens team or a Womens team or a COED team and ALSO play on a SENIOR team.

You CAN also play COED OPEN on Thursday and Friday and COED D on Saturday and Sunday as long as you fit the COED D matrix

Please keep in mind... The different division's times will conflict. Divisions will also be at different parks throughout the Vegas area so it will be extremely difficult to play on two separate teams. Please don't call and ask us to move venues or game times to fit your schedule. There are so many variables including curfews, park base distances, and most of all park capacities that make fitting 450 teams into this event almost impossible (but we somehow make it happen for all of you).

WILL YOU HAVE FOR SALE ITEMS AT THE PARKS?

Yes... Each park will be selling balls and great swag like jerseys, jackets, hoodies, hats, beanies, batting gloves and more!

These are sought after items every year so get them as soon as possible before they are sold out. Sizes start to diminish from Day 1 of the event so get what you want immediately upon arrival at your park or it will be gone before you know it.

IS THERE A HOME RUN DERBY?

Yes... Noon to 5:00pm Friday @ BLD For Adults & Seniors (40&Over)

WHAT IF A TEAM NO-SHOWS DURING THE EVENT?

If a team NO-SHOWS and you receive a forfeit victory, this does give your team a win and counts toward your minimum game guarantee.

IS THERE A MANAGER'S MEETING?

No... Enjoy Vegas and read all rules, rankings information, and EVENT INFO pages on our website.

HOW ARE THE AWARDS DETERMINED? (Example.... Not always exact)

We award (15) individual items in our awards packages along with extra MVP, All-Tourney, and Coaches awards.

- With divisions of 5 - 19 teams, we will award team packages to two teams.

- With divisions of 20 - 29 teams, we will award team packages to three teams.

- With divisions of 30 or more teams, we will award team packages to four teams.

EXTRA INFO

PAYMENT TYPES

For payments, we DO NOT take Venmo, Zelle, CashApp, PayPal, etc. You can pay your entry fee by check as long as we receive it by October 20th. Otherwise, you must pay your entry fee online under your team account at www.playncs.com.

BRACKETS

We don't use paper brackets at the fields. All times and results are posted at our website

UMPIRES

We use one man system but we always try to use a two man system for semi’s and finals (not guaranteed, but very likely).

FIRST AID KITS (We Do Not Supply)

Please bring your own First Aid Kits, ice packs, and any other safety related items (we suggest purchasing team insurance to be safe).

TOILET PAPER

We want to let you know that some of these parks don't do a great jop keeping up with the toilet paper supply throughout the day on the weekends so do yourself a favor and bring a roll or two out to your parks, just in case. You don't want to get caught with your pants down, if you know what we mean.

FIELD PREPS

We usually do initial full preps each day and then just quick preps/water when we can (time permitted)

RULES/RANKINGS

Visit www.playncs.com and read up before entering any NCS tournament as once you enter you are agreeing to our rules and policy.

TRAFFIC INFORMATION

We can’t postpone games because of any freeway closures or heavy traffic. Plan on heavy traffic all weekend and leave to your park early.

PARKING LOTS

Don’t leave valuables in your car. Vegas, as in most cities, has some great areas but they also have some not-so-nice areas where petty crime is a possibility.

FOOD AND DRINKS

BLD and Arroyo Grande have snack bars. All the other parks may or may not have them so feel free to bring your own food and drinks to any park except the two mentioned above.

ILLEGAL TEAMS / PLAYERS

At any time, if you get kicked out of our tournament for having an illegal player, your team will not get a refund.

If you have not received an email stating your roster is approved before the start of the event, you can be kicked out of the event at any time.

USE OF VIDEO FOR UMPIRE CALLS

We will not use video to determine calls. You are welcome to send the video after the event to jay.zetz@playncs.com for use in coaching our umpires for future events.

PLAYING LOCATIONS BELOW

Get directions now for the park/parks you are playing at and forward this information to your teammates.

See playncs.com Las Vegas Worlds EVENT INFO PAGE for exact locations per division.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS FOR THE 2025 NCS LAS VEGAS WORLD SERIES