CRITERIA TO QUALIFY AS AN ONTARIO REPRESENTATIVE FOR THE CANADIAN CHAMPIONSHIPS

:  Super Series Points Leader (of non qualified teams)

If a team wins multiple Events, they would be awarded the highest seeded position, and the other berth would be awarded to the top team from the Super Series Points. 

Teams that may qualify through Points will be awarded the lowest seed, and teams that have won an Event will move up, if applicable. 

Successful teams are eligible for the Canadian Championships in the year following their qualification. 

Qualified teams must compete in four (4) of the five (5) Events, including Eliminations and the Provincial Championships, in the current year of qualification. In the year of the Canadian Championships, qualified teams must compete in three (3) of the four (4) Super Series Events, including Eliminations.

Ontario has the opportunity to send up to four (4) teams to the Canadian Championships, Defending Champions not included. Teams must be aware that there is no guarantee the 3rd and 4th berths will be available every year, and cannot be confirmed until after the May 1st commitment date.

Teams must use their Qualifying Rosters, plus three (3) eligible pick-ups, to a maximum of seventeen (17) players (Men's), and to a maximum of twenty (20) players (Women's), as per Softball Canada Special Operating Rules.

To be eligible for participation, all teams and players must be members in good standing of Slo-Pitch Ontario Association, and be approved by the SPO Board of Directors. Slo-Pitch Ontario reserves the right to revise this Criteria at any time.

  Since teams qualify the year prior to the Championships, each year one or more Qualified Teams asked to be allowed to pick up additional players. It appears these difficulties have occurred because players leave a Qualified Team to play for another team the following year, with the understanding they will be playing at the Canadian Championships with their new team as a pick-up. The outcome is, the original team, even with the three (3) pick-ups, ends up struggling to get sufficient players for their Canadian Championship Roster.

  Teams have said they definitely want to qualify the previous year. The Softball Canada Special Operating Rules (SOR) state that teams must use only players on their Qualifying Roster, and a team may add a maximum of three (3) pick-ups.

  As a result of the request of the teams to be allowed additional pick-ups when players left their team, the Slo-Pitch Ontario Board of Directors met and examined the situation. They agreed that something was needed to stop players from moving to other teams that will be participating in the Canadian Championships. 

First, the Board reaffirmed that they could not allow additional pick-ups, but must follow the Softball Canada SOR's and only allow three (3) pick-ups.  The Board then unanimously adopted the following policy, to be in effect at the beginning of the 2008 season:​ 

Players on the Qualifying Roster of a team accepting a Canadian Championship berth, may only play for that team at the Canadian Championships. If they leave a Qualified Team to play for a different team during the season of the Championship, they may not play for this team at the Championships. The only team (this includes other P/T teams) they may play for at the Canadian Championship is their original team.

(The intent of these restrictions is to prevent teams from using the Canadian Championships as a recruiting tool, and hopefully prevent some of the poaching of players.)

CRITERIA TO QUALIFY 

The Softball Canada Men's and Women's Canadian Slo-Pitch Championships is the most prestigious tournament in Canada, where the top Men's and Women's slo-pitch teams from every Province and Territory battle for GOLD - the pinnacle award to be earned in slo-pitch in this country!

The 2026 Championships will be held August 9-15, 2026, in Niagara Falls, ON!