2023 Big Ten Softball Tournament Tiebreaker Procedures

A. The championship team shall be the team with the best winning percentage of its regularly scheduled Conference games.

B. Tie games shall be counted in the Conference standings as one-half win and one-half loss.

C. If a team is on NCAA suspension, it shall not be eligible to participate in the Conference tournament. If a team is not eligible for the tournament, then all eligible teams shall move up one place for the purpose of determining participant teams in the Conference standings.

D. In case of a tie between TWO teams for any seed in the Conference tournament, the tiebreaker procedure is as follows:

The winner of the game or series of games between the two teams shall receive the higher seeding spot.
In the event these two teams divide a series between themselves or did not play, the team with the best winning percentage against all teams ending the season (tied or not) in positions 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12 for the tournament will receive the higher seeding spot.
If the winning percentage of the two teams is still tied, seeding will be determined by the winner of the game or series of games between the team or teams in the number one seed first. If still tied, the number two seed. If still tied, the number three seed. This procedure will continue to be followed until such time as the tie is broken.
If still tied, seeding shall be determined by a flip of a coin to be conducted by the Commissioner (or his/her designee). Both teams shall be notified of the date and time of the coin flip.

E. In case of a tie between THREE OR MORE teams for any seed in the Conference tournament, the tiebreaker procedure is as follows:

If three or more teams are tied and they all have played each other an equal number of times during the Conference season, the best winning percentage in these head-to-head games determines the seeding for the softball tournament.
If three or more teams are still tied, seeding will be determined by the best winning percentage against all teams ending the season (tied or not) in positions 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12 for the tournament including the first-place team.
If three or more teams are still tied, seeding will be determined by the winner of the game or series of games between the team or teams in the number one seed first. If still tied, the number two seed. If still tied, the number three seed. This procedure will continue to be followed until such time as the tie is broken.
If three or more teams are still tied, one team shall be eliminated from the three-way tie by a random draw to be conducted by the Commissioner (or his/her designee). All teams shall be notified of the date and time of the random draw.

F. When determining seeding with three or more teams tied, when one team is eliminated from the group by the steps outlined in item E above, then for the remaining two teams still tied, the order of seeding will be determined using the tiebreaker procedure for two teams as outlined in item D above. In the event teams are separated by the steps outlined in item E above, but there is still a tie(s) (i.e. two teams break away from two other teams in the case of a four-team tie), the initial tie is considered broken and the tiebreaker(s) shall begin again from the top (either with a two team tie or a repeat of a three or more team tie).