MARYSVILLE — The sport of kickball knows no age limits, umpires don’t roam the diamond and you can’t strikeout. It’s the same game you grew up with, except there’s no recess bell.

“You basically have a bunch of adults playing what is known as a kids’ game,” Marysville Rotary coach Chris Nation said. “But it is so much fun.”

The Marysville Parks and Recreation’s summer kickball league started its fifth season in early June and goes until the end of July. Teams can carry as many as 20 players on their rosters, eight of whom play the field. Unlike most sports there are few permanent positions.

“You need a first baseman and maybe a third baseman with a good arm,” Marysville Parks and Recreation Athletic Coordinator Dave Hall said. “It’s kind of like baseball, but there are no set positions. You have players who set up wherever they think the ball is going to go.”

Kickball rules are simple — no bunting and no throwing the ball at your competitors’ head. Three outs ends an inning and two foul kicks constitutes an out. As for pitching, players can either slowly roll the ball or slightly bounce it toward home plate. The ball, however, can’t bounce higher than knee level.

“This game is much harder than it looks,” Nation said. “We are still trying to figure out the best way to score. I guess kicking the ball really hard toward third base or rolling it there is the best. If you kick a low shot to third it’s a long throw to first base. A hard kick will usually bounce off the defender.”

Marysville Rotary has yet to master Nation’s game plan. The team lost 5-0 to the Green Team in a double-header played Tuesday, June 28. It lost the night-cap 9-0 to Shake N’ Bake, the league’s best team.

Rotary dropped its record to 0-3 while The Green Team improved to 1-2. Shake N’ Bake, coached by Jake Wetzel, improved to 3-0. In the first game of its double-header, Shake N’ Bake defeated Swagmatics.

The Max Dragich-led Swagmatics fell to 2-1.

“There are a lot of good teams out there,” Nation said. “We are a little bit older, but we should be able to compete better this season. Last year we lost eight players to injury. That’s hard to come back from.”

The injury bug got so bad for the Rotary that Nation implemented a “gimp” award. This season the team has lost just one player to injury.

Games take place on Wednesdays, beginning at 6 p.m., at Marysville-Pilchuck High School softball fields. The single-elimination league championship tournament will be held on July 26, at M-PHS. Games begin at 6 p.m. and 7 p.m., and the title game starts at 8 p.m.