The Durham Softball League starts playing games during the first week of April each year. Easter is on April 21 this season, so the 2019 season will start on Sunday, March 31. The year will be split into two separate seasons (Spring and Summer), with the second season beginning one week after the first season’s Championship game.
Season Schedule
During 2019, there are 25 eligible weeks during the year where Durham Softball League games may be played:
| Date | Week of Games |
| Sunday, March 31, 2019 | 1 |
| Sunday, April 7, 2019 | 2 |
| Sunday, April 14, 2019 | 3 |
| Sunday, April 21, 2019 | NO GAMES – EASTER |
| Sunday, April 28, 2019 | 4 |
| Sunday, May 5, 2019 | 5 |
| Sunday, May 12, 2019 | NO GAMES – MOTHER’S DAY |
| Sunday, May 19, 2019 | 6 |
| Sunday, May 26, 2019 | NO GAMES – MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND |
| Sunday, June 2, 2019 | 7 |
| Sunday, June 9, 2019 | 8 |
| Sunday, June 16, 2019 | NO GAMES – FATHER’S DAY |
| Sunday, June 23, 2019 | 9 |
| Sunday, June 30, 2019 | 10 |
| Sunday, July 7, 2019 | NO GAMES – JULY 4TH WEEKEND |
| Sunday, July 14, 2019 | 11 |
| Sunday, July 21, 2019 | 12 |
| Sunday, July 28, 2019 | 13 |
| Sunday, August 4, 2019 | 14 |
| Sunday, August 11, 2019 | 15 |
| Sunday, August 18, 2019 | 16 |
| Sunday, August 25, 2019 | 17 |
| Sunday, September 1, 2019 | NO GAMES – LABOR DAY WEEKEND |
| Sunday, September 8, 2019 | 18 |
| Sunday, September 15, 2019 | 19 |
| Sunday, September 22, 2019 | 20 |
| Sunday, September 29, 2019 | 21 |
| Sunday, October 6, 2019 | 22 |
| Sunday, October 13, 2019 | 23 |
| Sunday, October 20, 2019 | 24 |
| Sunday, October 27, 2019 | 25 |
| Sunday, November 3, 2019 | 26 |
| Sunday, November 10, 2019 | NO GAMES – VETERAN’S DAY WEEKEND |
| Sunday, November 17, 2019 | 27 |
| Sunday, November 24, 2019 | 28 |
| Sunday, December 1, 2019 | 29 |
| Sunday, December 8, 2019 | 30 |
| Sunday, December 15, 2019 | 31 |
| TOTAL | 31 Weeks to Play 22 Weeks |
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, March 31, 2019; ends after 10 eligible weeks.
The Spring league has the potential to finish on July 14th, which is the 11th eligible week of the season. With at least a couple rain-outs likely, a more realistic date for the Championship game might be July 21 or July 28. Whenever the Championship game from the Spring season is played, the Summer season will begin exactly one week later.
Summer Season: Starts 1 weeks after Spring Season ends; ends after 10 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 July 21, 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 28 or August 4.
With good weather, it is possible to end both seasons as early as October 6th, the 22nd eligible week of the season. For each rain-out during the year, the seasons would get one week longer.
Weekly Schedule
Games are played on Sundays and start between 10am and 5pm.
- Each team will play a single game each day.
- The regular season will consist of 10 games.
- The 11th 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.
“Featured Organization” Each Week
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 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.
Due to time restrictions, the Spring season must end no later than the end of July, with the Summer season ending no later than the end of October. If we get rained out more than 4 times, games that cannot meet these time frames may be forced to cancel entirely.