Drake Ball - Support and FAQ's

Features

Build your roster once. Add each player with their jersey number, defensive skill rating (1–10), pitching eligibility, and the positions they can play. The roster is the foundation — every lineup DrakeBall generates respects what you set here.

Auto-generated lineups in seconds. Tap a game and DrakeBall produces a full inning-by-inning fielding plan that follows youth-league fair-play rules: minimum innings per player, position variety, pitcher rest days, and pitch-count caps. No more spreadsheets the night before a game.

Pitcher management built in. Mark which players can pitch, and DrakeBall handles the rest — tracking pitches per day, enforcing rest-day rules between appearances, and surfacing warnings before they become problems.

Seven-day pitch availability at a glance. Every pitcher gets a sparkline showing their workload over the last seven days, plus a status chip — Fresh, Available, or Limited — so you know who has headroom before you write them into the lineup. The same view tells you when each pitcher is next eligible.

Edit pitch history when you need to. Forgot to log Wednesday's outing? Wrong count entered? Open the player record, fix the entry, and DrakeBall recalculates rest eligibility and future-game availability automatically.

Plan validation with clear warnings. Every generated plan tells you whether it's legal and why. Tap any warning to see exactly what triggered it and what to adjust — written in plain language, not cryptic codes — so you're never blindsided by a rules issue at the field.

Live pitch tracking during the game. A simple +/- counter for the active pitcher, with running totals against the daily max. When the game ends, confirm the counts with one tap and they're saved to every pitcher's record — feeding straight back into the next game's eligibility.

Shareable PDF lineup cards, ready for the umpire. One tap exports a clean, printable lineup card with the DrakeBall brand header, every player's position by inning, and the seven-day pitching status for each pitcher you're using that day. Hand it to the umpire and the rest situation is verified before the first pitch. Text it to assistant coaches, post it in the dugout, save it to Files.

Configurable league rules. Cal Ripken 12U comes preconfigured. Set your own daily pitch maximum and max pitching innings to match any league — Little League, Babe Ruth, travel ball, or a custom rec setup. Toggle pitch count tracking off entirely if your age group doesn't require it.

Multiple games, one roster. Schedule your full season and DrakeBall tracks pitch counts and rest days across every game — so the lineup you build for Saturday already accounts for who pitched Wednesday. No mental math, no "wait, did he throw 40 or 50 on Tuesday?"

Works without internet, mostly. Roster, scheduling, lineup generation, pitch tracking, validation, and the PDF itself all work fully offline — useful at fields with poor reception. Sharing the PDF (text, email, AirDrop) needs a connection, but you can also save it to Files and send it later when you're back in range. No account required, no data uploaded anywhere.

iPhone and iPad. Plan on the couch with your iPad, share from your phone at the field. Your data syncs across both.

How It Works

1. Add your players. Open the Roster tab and tap the + button. For each player, enter their name and jersey number, set their defensive skill on a 1–10 scale (5 is average, 10 is elite), toggle "Can pitch" if they're cleared to take the mound, and tap to mark which positions they're eligible to play. Save and repeat. Most coaches build a 12–15 player roster in about ten minutes.

2. Set your league rules. Open Settings and either pick a built-in preset like Cal Ripken 12U or set your own daily pitch maximum and max pitching innings. Toggle pitch count tracking off entirely if your age group doesn't require it. DrakeBall uses these rules from this point on — every plan and every warning respects what you set here.

3. Schedule your games. Switch to the Games tab and tap + to add an upcoming game. Enter the opponent, date, time, length in innings, and game-time limit. DrakeBall uses these to plan around real-world game flow, including the free-substitution innings at the end of a regulation game.

4. Check pitcher availability. Before generating, tap into the Availability view to see who's eligible to pitch today. Each pitcher shows a seven-day workload sparkline, a Fresh / Available / Limited status chip, and the reason for any restriction — for example, "Cannot pitch · threw 46 pitches 1 day ago; 2 days rest required." No mental math, no flipping through old scorecards.

5. Generate the plan. Tap Generate Plan and DrakeBall builds a full lineup, inning by inning, position by position. Every player gets their minimum required innings. Pitchers get appropriate rest. Defensive skill gets weighted into key positions. Headroom chips on the plan view show how much each pitcher has left before hitting the daily max. The whole plan appears in seconds.

6. Review the warnings. A summary banner at the top tells you whether the plan is legal and how many advisory warnings exist. Tap to see each one — usually small things like a player getting more bench time than ideal, or a position where you might consider a different choice. Plans are always playable; warnings are guidance, not blockers, and they're written in plain language so you know exactly what to fix.

7. Edit anything you want. Tap any cell in the inning grid to swap a player or change a position. Or tap Regenerate Plan to produce a different valid lineup if you want to see another option. Every edit re-checks the rules in real time.

8. Share the lineup. Tap Share PDF and DrakeBall produces a clean lineup card with the brand header, the full inning-by-inning grid, and the seven-day pitching status for every pitcher you're using that day. Text it to assistant coaches, AirDrop it to the scorekeeper, hand it to the umpire, post it in the dugout — the rest situation is verified before the first pitch is thrown.

9. Track during the game. Pull up the active pitcher's record and use the +/- counter as the game unfolds. When the inning ends or a pitcher is pulled, DrakeBall shows a confirmation summary — pitches thrown, days of rest required, when each pitcher is next eligible. Tap Confirm and Save to write it to every player's record.

10. Forgot something? Fix it. Open the player record after the game, tap Edit Pitch History, and correct the count for any date. Eligibility math — rest days, daily maximums, future-game availability — recalculates automatically. The next lineup you generate will already account for the correction.

Frequently Asked Questions

What ages and leagues is DrakeBall designed for? Youth baseball roughly from 8U through 14U — Little League, Cal Ripken, Babe Ruth, travel ball, and rec leagues. The fair-play rules DrakeBall enforces (minimum innings per player, daily pitch maximums, rest days, inning caps) are based on conventions used across these organizations. Cal Ripken 12U comes preconfigured; you can also set your own daily pitch maximum and max pitching innings to match any league setup. If your league has unusual rules, you can still use DrakeBall by treating the warnings as advisory.

Can I use DrakeBall for softball? Yes. The defensive position layout is identical (P, C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, LF, CF, RF) and the fair-play conventions are essentially the same. Pitch-count rules differ slightly between baseball and softball — DrakeBall's defaults are conservative enough to work for both, and you can adjust the limits in Settings.

Does DrakeBall replace my judgment as a coach? No, and it's not designed to. DrakeBall handles the mechanical work — making sure every player gets their innings, no pitcher is overworked, and the lineup is mathematically legal — so you can focus on the coaching decisions only you can make. You can override anything in any plan.

How does DrakeBall track pitch counts across games? When you schedule multiple games, DrakeBall remembers who pitched and how many pitches they threw. When generating a lineup for a later game, it factors in mandatory rest days from earlier outings — you don't have to track this anywhere yourself. The seven-day pitch availability sparkline at the bottom of the Availability and Plan views shows each pitcher's recent workload at a glance, so you know who's fresh, who's coming off a heavy outing, and who's not eligible today.

What are the headroom chips on the plan view? Each pitcher gets a Fresh / Available / Limited chip showing how many pitches they have left before hitting the daily maximum. It's designed to help you make a confident call when you have to swap pitchers mid-game without doing math in your head between innings.

Can I edit pitch counts after a game? Yes. The Edit Player Pitch History feature lets you correct a missed entry or fix a count after the fact. Eligibility math — rest days, daily maximums, future-game availability — recalculates from the corrected history automatically. The next lineup you generate will already account for the correction.

What are the "free innings" marked with an asterisk? In most youth leagues, the final innings of a game (typically the 6th and 7th in a 7-inning game) allow free substitution — players can re-enter and the rules around minimum innings are relaxed. DrakeBall marks these innings with an asterisk so you know which slots have flexibility.

What if my roster changes mid-season? Add, edit, or remove players from the Roster tab anytime. New players are immediately eligible for any future game; removed players are dropped from any unplayed games on the schedule.

What does the printed lineup card look like? A single-page PDF showing the DrakeBall brand header, opponent and game details, the full lineup grid with player names down the side and innings across the top, free-innings indicators, the seven-day pitching status for each pitcher you're using that day, and the league-rule legend at the bottom. Hand it to the umpire and the rest situation is verified before the first pitch.

Can I turn off pitch count tracking? Yes. In Settings, toggle Pitch Count Tracking off if your league doesn't require pitch enforcement — some lower age groups, certain rec leagues. The rest of the app — lineup planning, fair-play rules, PDF export — continues to work normally.

Does DrakeBall work without an internet connection? Mostly. Roster, scheduling, lineup generation, pitch tracking, validation, and the PDF itself all work fully offline — useful at fields with poor reception. Sharing the PDF (text, email, AirDrop) needs a connection, but you can also save it to Files and send it later when you're back in range.

Where is my data stored? On your device. DrakeBall does not require an account, does not upload your roster or game data to any server, and does not share information with third parties. Your data is included in your standard iCloud device backup, so if you get a new phone, restore from backup and your DrakeBall data comes with it.

How do I get help or report a bug? Email prestonspahr@yahoo.com and you'll get a response from the developer — that's me, not a support queue. Feedback from coaches actively shapes each update; many of the v2.1 features came directly from coaches using the app last season.

Is there a cost? No, Drake Ball is FREE around the world. FREEEEEEDOMMMMMM!