Reading the 20-point match split
Updated October 31, 2026
Ball points decide who won. Match points decide how the win is written on a team sheet. Every match in this scorer splits 20 match points between the two players. A shutout is 20–0. A loss in which the loser was one ball short of their own number can be 12–8. The winner’s margin on the ball-points race is not what you look up. You look up the loser.
Find the row for the loser’s skill level. Move across until you find the range that contains the loser’s ball points. The column heading is the split, winner first. The app does this when someone reaches their points required to win. You can check it on paper with the same grid. The grid is also on the Rules tab.
| Loser’s SL | 20-0 | 19-1 | 18-2 | 17-3 | 16-4 | 15-5 | 14-6 | 13-7 | 12-8 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | <3 | 3 | 4 | 5-6 | 7 | 8 | 9-10 | 11 | 12-13 |
| 2 | <4 | 4-5 | 6-7 | 8 | 9-10 | 11-12 | 13-14 | 15-16 | 17-18 |
| 3 | <5 | 5-6 | 7-9 | 10-11 | 12-14 | 15-16 | 17-19 | 20-21 | 22-24 |
| 4 | <6 | 6-8 | 9-11 | 12-14 | 15-18 | 19-21 | 22-24 | 25-27 | 28-30 |
| 5 | <7 | 7-10 | 11-14 | 15-18 | 19-22 | 23-26 | 27-29 | 30-33 | 34-37 |
| 6 | <9 | 9-12 | 13-17 | 18-22 | 23-27 | 28-31 | 32-36 | 37-40 | 41-45 |
| 7 | <11 | 11-15 | 16-21 | 22-26 | 27-32 | 33-37 | 38-43 | 44-49 | 50-54 |
| 8 | <14 | 14-19 | 20-26 | 27-32 | 33-39 | 40-45 | 46-52 | 53-58 | 59-64 |
| 9 | <18 | 18-24 | 25-31 | 32-38 | 39-46 | 47-53 | 54-60 | 61-67 | 68-74 |
A mid-pack loss
Casey is skill level 4 and needs 31 ball points. Riley is skill level 7 and needs 55. Casey reaches 31. Riley has 22.
Riley lost, so use row 7. The cell that contains 22 is the column headed 17–3 (that column on row 7 is 22–26). Casey gets 17 match points. Riley gets 3. The two numbers add to 20.
Casey’s 31 ball points never enter the chart. Only the loser’s skill level and the loser’s ball points do.
A closer one
A skill level 5 player loses with 20 ball points. Their race was 38, so they were not especially close to winning the match, but 20 is not a shutout.
Row 5, find 20. It sits in 19–22, under the heading 16–4. The winner gets 16 match points and the loser gets 4.
A shutout
A skill level 8 player loses with 10 ball points. Row 8 starts with “less than 14” under 20–0. Ten is under 14, so the split is 20–0. The loser’s balls still belong in the ball-point columns of the scoresheet and in this app’s history. They just do not earn a match point.
What the app stores
When the winner’s score reaches their required total, the app stops the match, writes the split on the screen, and saves the match. History shows both ball-point totals and the match-point pair. Career stats add the match points, the ball points, defenses, snaps, break-and-runs, and innings.
If you undo back past the winning ball, the match is live again and the split is recalculated when someone wins. Clearing history removes the saved matches from the phone, and from a linked Google account or shared scorebook if one is connected. That is covered on the Privacy Policy.
The ball-point race those totals come from is explained in How the points race works.
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