The Durham Softball League starts playing games during the first week of April each year. Easter is on April 12 this season, so the 2020 season will start on Sunday, March 29. 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 2020, there are 25 eligible weeks during the year where Durham Softball League games may be played:
| Date | Week of Games |
| Sunday, March 29, 2020 | 1 |
| Sunday, April 5, 2020 | 2 |
| Sunday, April 12, 2020 | NO GAMES – EASTER |
| Sunday, April 19, 2020 | 3 |
| Sunday, April 26, 2020 | 4 |
| Sunday, May 3, 2020 | 5 |
| Sunday, May 10, 2020 | NO GAMES – MOTHER’S DAY |
| Sunday, May 17, 2020 | 6 |
| Sunday, May 24, 2020 | NO GAMES – MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND |
| Sunday, May 31, 2020 | 7 |
| Sunday, June 7, 2020 | 8 |
| Sunday, June 14, 2020 | 9 |
| Sunday, June 21, 2020 | NO GAMES – FATHER’S DAY |
| Sunday, June 28, 2020 | 10 |
| Sunday, July 5, 2020 | NO GAMES – JULY 4TH WEEKEND |
| Sunday, July 12, 2020 | 11 |
| Sunday, July 19, 2020 | 12 |
| Sunday, July 26, 2020 | 13 |
| Sunday, August 2, 2020 | 14 |
| Sunday, August 9, 2020 | 15 |
| Sunday, August 16, 2020 | 16 |
| Sunday, August 23, 2020 | 17 |
| Sunday, August 30, 2020 | 18 |
| Sunday, September 6, 2020 | NO GAMES – LABOR DAY WEEKEND |
| Sunday, September 13, 2020 | 19 |
| Sunday, September 20, 2020 | 20 |
| Sunday, September 27, 2020 | 21 |
| Sunday, October 4, 2020 | 22 |
| Sunday, October 11, 2020 | 23 |
| Sunday, October 18, 2020 | 24 |
| Sunday, October 25, 2020 | 25 |
| Sunday, November 1, 2020 | 26 |
| Sunday, November 8, 2020 | 27 |
| Sunday, November 15, 2020 | 28 |
| Sunday, November 22, 2020 | 29 |
| Sunday, November 29, 2020 | NO GAMES – THANKSGIVING |
| Sunday, December 6, 2020 | 30 |
| TOTAL | 30 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 9 Regular Season Weeks and 2 Playoff Weeks, the two seasons will require a total of 22 Sundays each year. With 30 Eligible Sundays between April 8 and December 6, 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 29, 2020; ends after 11 eligible weeks.
The Spring league has the potential to finish on July 12th, 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 19 or July 26. 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 11 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 19, 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 26 or August 2.
With good weather, it is possible to end both seasons as early as October 4th, 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 10:00am and 5:35pm.
- Each team will play a single game each day.
- The regular season will consist of 9 games.
- The 10th and 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 cancelled 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 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.