The Durham Softball League starts playing games during the first week of April each year. Easter is on April 1 this season, so the 2018 season will start on Sunday, April 8. The year will be split into two separate seasons, with the second season beginning one week after the first season’s Championship game.
Season Schedule
During 2018, there are 26 eligible weeks during the year where Durham Softball League games may be played:
| Date | Week |
| Sunday, April 1, 2018 | Easter Sunday Today – OFF |
| Sunday, April 8, 2018 | 1 |
| Sunday, April 15, 2018 | 2 |
| Sunday, April 22, 2018 | 3 |
| Sunday, April 29, 2018 | 4 |
| Sunday, May 6, 2018 | 5 |
| Sunday, May 13, 2018 | Mother’s Day Today – OFF |
| Sunday, May 20, 2018 | 6 |
| Sunday, May 27, 2018 | Memorial Day on Monday – OFF |
| Sunday, June 3, 2018 | 7 |
| Sunday, June 10, 2018 | 8 |
| Sunday, June 17, 2018 | Father’s Day Today – OFF |
| Sunday, June 24, 2018 | 9 |
| Sunday, July 1, 2018 | 10 |
| Sunday, July 8, 2018 | 11 |
| Sunday, July 15, 2018 | 12 |
| Sunday, July 22, 2018 | 13 |
| Sunday, July 29, 2018 | 14 |
| Sunday, August 5, 2018 | 15 |
| Sunday, August 12, 2018 | 16 |
| Sunday, August 19, 2018 | 17 |
| Sunday, August 26, 2018 | 18 |
| Sunday, September 2, 2018 | Labor Day on Monday – OFF |
| Sunday, September 9, 2018 | 19 |
| Sunday, September 16, 2018 | 20 |
| Sunday, September 23, 2018 | 21 |
| Sunday, September 30, 2018 | 22 |
| Sunday, October 7, 2018 | 23 |
| Sunday, October 14, 2018 | 24 |
| Sunday, October 21, 2018 | 25 |
| Sunday, October 28, 2018 | 26 |
| TOTAL | 26 Weeks to Play 18 Weeks |
| 8 “Built-In” Rainout Dates |
The league does not play games on Sunday when national holidays fall on a Sunday or Monday during the year.
With 8 Regular Season Weeks and 1 Playoff Week, the two seasons will require a total of 18 Sundays each year. With 26 Eligible Sundays between April 8 and November 1, we have 8 “built-in” weeks to accommodate rain-out reschedules and still get both seasons in before the end of the year.
Spring Season: Starts Sunday, April 8, 2018; ends after 9 eligible weeks.
The Spring league has the potential to finish on June 24th, which is the 9th eligible week of the season. With at least a couple rain-outs likely, a more realistic date for the 9th week’s Championship game might be July 1 or July 8, the 11th and 12th eligible weeks of the year. Whenever the Championship game from the Spring season is played, the Summer season will begin exactly one week later.
Summer Season: Starts 2 weeks after Spring Season; ends after 9 eligible weeks.
If the Summer season’s “one week later” start date lands on a holiday, the season will start two weeks later. This means the earliest that the Summer season might begin is June 24, because it is one week after the earliest date that the Spring season could end. Because it is unlikely for the Spring season to be completed with out any rain-outs, a more realistic date for the Summer season’s Opening Day is July 8 or July 15.
With good weather, it is possible to end both seasons as early as September 9th, the 19th eligible week of the season (one “Bye” week allowed between seasons). For each rain-out during the year, the seasons would get one week longer.
Weekly Schedule
Games are played on Sundays and start between 11am and 5pm, for a total of 7 games per week.
- 6 of the 8 teams will play a double header, with one game immediately after the other.
- The other two teams will play a single game at either 11am or 5pm.
- Over the 8-week regular season, each team will have 6 double headers and 2 weeks with only a single game.
- If you only play 1 game, it will be at either 11am or 5pm.
- All teams will play each other twice, home and away.
- The 9th week of each season will feature two single-elimination tournaments. The Consolation Tournament will be played between the Bottom 4 teams competing for 5th Place; the Championship Tournament will be played by the Top 4 teams competing for 1st Place.
Each week, scheduled games will follow the following format:
| Game | Team #1 | Team #2 |
| 11:00am | 1 | 8 |
| 12:00pm | 1 | 2 |
| 1:00pm | 3 | 2 |
| 2:00pm | 3 | 4 |
| 3:00pm | 5 | 4 |
| 4:00pm | 5 | 6 |
| 5:00pm | 7 | 6 |
One “Featured Organization” Each Week
With an 8-week regular season and 8 teams, all teams will have a single week where their non-profit is featured to highlight and promote their non-profit to the other members of the league. The featured organization plays the 11am/12pm double header during the first two games to start the week. The captain of the team, or a representative of the non-profit, is invited and encouraged to stay for the remaining games to talk with the other teams before their game, let them know more about your organization, and collect any donated items that teams may bring to the fields.
Rain-Outs / Rescheduling Games
When a week gets rained out, all games are rescheduled for the last week of the regular season. This makes sure that most games on the schedule are played as originally scheduled at the start of the season so players can better plan their weekends ahead of time.
If some games are played, but other games need to be rescheduled, those games would always be made up during the last week of the season, even if other games get rained out after them. In an emergency, alternate arrangements to play games earlier/later in the day may be considered if both teams agree to the accommodations.