In short, ChicagoBall.com is the equivalant of ESPN.com for softball. ChicagoBall.com displays all of the same content and information that ESPN.com displays for Major League Baseball, but for softball league, teams and players.

Almost all of the hard work of crunching all the numbers and calculating all the stats is built into ChicagoBall.com, but some amount of information needs to be entered into the website.

For each league, the names of the team in the league as well as the games from the schedule need to be entered at the beginning of the year. Then after each night of games, the scores need to be entered.

Then the scorebook will need to be kept for each game and starting with the first at-bat of the game on the scorecard, the result of each at-bat will simply have to be entered into ChicagoBall.com. Once that information is entered, ChicagoBall.com will crunch all the numbers, update all the stats and display all of the different webpages.

Yes, that is correct! By having the information from the scorebook ChicagoBall.com will save you time by calculating all the stats for you and recalculate them every time a new scorecard has been entered. In addition, ChicagoBall.com will run the information through even more formulars to calculate and display the in-depth statistical splits and breakdowns on the indivudual player pages and since all of the information is stored in a database it can be easily sorted.

ChicagoBall.com is full of different webpages that display league, team and player information. The following is a list of all the pages:

• League Home Page (statistcal top 5 breakdowns, league MVP race)
• League Schedule
• League Standings
• League Scoreboard
• Sortable League Stats (both team and individual player)
• League Records
• Team Home Page (rosters, previous 5 games, next 5 games)
• Team Schedule
• Sortable Team Stats
• Game Box Scores
• Game Play-By-Play
• Individual Player Pages (season and career stats, monthly breakdowns, statistical splits, game logs)
• Tournament Home Page
• Tournament Game Results
• Tournament Standings
• Tournament Backets

ChicagoBall.com is free to use for everyone. Simply email register@chicagoball.com with your name league and/or team information to have an account set up.

For now there are three ways the information is entered into the site.

• The park district (or organization running the league) will enter the schedule at the beginning of the year, then enter the scores after each night of games. The park district will also have people at the games to keep the scorebook and will enter the information from the scorecards after each night of games.
• The park district (or organization running the league) will enter the schedule at the beginning of the year, then enter the scores after each night of games. Each team will keep their own scorebook and will enter the information on the scorecard after each game.
• One of the players from one of the teams (or a few different players) will enter the schedule at the beginning of the year, then enter the scores after each night of games. Each team will keep their own scorebook and will enter the information on the scorecard after each game.

The first method above is the most complete method. It ensures that every game will have a complete box score and play-by-play and allows ChicagoBall.com to display complete sortable team and player stats. It also ensures that the at-bats for each game will be scored the same way (i.e. - deciding between an hit or an error, .etc).

Unfortunately, not every park district or organization running each league will have the resources available to record and enter the information. For that reason the 2nd and 3rd methods above have been used.

The rankings are determined by running all of the stats through a weighted formula which awards a certain amount of points to each statistical category and sums up the totals.

On the left side of the page select the name of the teams in the league from the list. If they do not exist you will need to click the link to add the new team to the website.

Once all of the teams have been entered, on the right side of the page use the form to enter the information for each game on the schedule.

After each night of games, log back in and click the link next to each game on the right to enter the score.

On the left side of the page enter the name of the players on your team. If the player is already in the website the name will be added to the roster. If not you will be prompted to enter some optional information about the player.

Once all of the games have been entered to the schedule they will show up on the right side of the page. Then after the scores are entered a link will appear which you can click to enter the information from the scorecard.

With your scorebook in hand, click the link to enter the stats for the game. You will first be asked to enter the lineup (this is so we can automate the process of switching between the players when you enter the scorecard)

Then after entering the lineup, you will be taken to a page with a form to enter the information for each at-bat on the scorecard. For each at-bat starting with the first batter in the first inning, enter the result (i.e. - 1B, 6-3, F9, HR), enter if the player went on to score a run and if the player had any RBIs, enter the amount. After clicking submit for the at-bat notice how some of the information on the page automatically changes (i.e. - the next batter is selected, the number of players on base is updated, the number of outs in the inning is updated, after 3 outs the inning number is updated, .etc). This is done for you to make the process of entering the information quicker but you are allowed to change any of these at any time if they are not correct. Repeat the process for each at-bat going from the first at-bat of the game in the scorecard to the last. Also notice how all of the information is displayed on the right side of the page. You can click the links on the right side of the page to edit or delete any of the information that you have entered at any time. Note that each at-bat is saved to the database once you click the enter button so after you are done entering the last at-bat simply click the link on the top right to go back to your team admin page or browse around to other pages as desired.