When are the BCLL baseball and softball seasons?

BCLL has a spring season and a shorter, instructional, fall season. 

When is registration for the spring season?

The spring season for ages 4-12 opens in January and continues into February. Late registration usually follows in the middle of February.

When is registration for the fall season?

The fall season for ages 4-12 usually opens in early August. 

Is my child eligible to play at BCLL?

BCLL's league boundary extends north of the Durham Freeway (NC 147), east into Wake County in the area north of I-40 and west and north of I-540. It also includes some territory west into Hillsborough and northeast into Granville County. We encourage you to use the District Finder in the links section below to see if you are eligible for BCLL. In order to be eligible for the BCLL All Star teams, either the players' home or school address must be located within Bull City's zone. 

Does BCLL have a division for kids between 13-16?

BCLL has offered a seniors division for 13-16 in previous seasons. As long as interest and number of registrants stay the same, we will continue to have a division for kids age 13-16 in baseball and/or softball. Children who have aged out of BCLL are encouraged to participate in our Ambassador Program. 

What are the general dates for the spring season?

The dates for the spring season usually follow similar patterns:

* Registration is in January. 
* Skills Evaluations is in mid-February. 
* The draft for team assignments is in late February. 
* Teams start practicing in late February or early March. 
* Games start in March or early April 
* The season ends in early June with a tournament. 

What are the dates for the fall season?

For all ages: 
* The fall season registers in late July and early August. 
* Skills Evaluations is in mid-August. 
* The draft for team assignments is in mid-to-late August. 
* Teams start practicing in September and games start mid September. 
* The season ends the first week of November with a tournament. 

How much of a time commitment is Little League baseball and softball?

In the preseason, teams generally practice twice a week for two hours. One practice is generally during the week in the evening and one is on the weekend. The weekend practice may be Saturday morning, afternoon, or early evening, or Sunday afternoon or early evening.  Once games start, teams will average two games per week and will have a practice slot on the weekend. Due to variations in the schedule, teams may have one game or three games in a given week. The spring generally has roughly 12 plus a playoff. 

When are games played?

Games are played in the evening during the week. Monday-Friday evening games start at 6:30 pm. For Majors, there may be double headers on Fridays with games at 6 PM and 8 PM. Rookie divisions through AA, will have Saturday morning or early afternoon games. Division AAA, may have Saturday morning or early afternoon games. Majors will generally not have Saturday games. Games will not be scheduled on Sunday, but makeup games may be played on Sunday afternoons or in the early evening. 

Where are games played?

BCLL games are played at the BCLL complex located at 918 Junction Rd. in Durham. 

What equipment does a player need?

The league provides each player with a jersey and hat. Players are responsible for providing their own socks, belt and baseball pants in colors the manager chooses. 

Male Little League players who may play catcher are required to wear an athletic supporter (cup). 

All players need to have their own fielding glove. Most players wear baseball cleats. The cleats must be plastic through Majors. Most players wear sliding shorts under their baseball pants. 

Most players have their own batting helmet, bat, and bat bag, but these are not required. All bats for baseball divisions must have a USA Bat sticker.

If you are new to Little League baseball, you should come to the first practice with your fielding glove.

We would suggest NOT purchasing other equipment until discussing what is needed and what sizes are appropriate with the manager at the first practice. 

How are players assigned to a team?

BCLL uses skills evaluations to determine the experience and ability of each player.  The skills are evaluated on an absolute scale, not an age based scale. Players are drafted to teams by the team managers from the top down based mostly on ability. This means that for a given age group, there will be players of that age playing at multiple levels. 

What divisions of baseball does BCLL offer?

For ages 4-12, BCLL has historically offered five or six divisions for baseball. Note that the age groups overlap because players will be drafted to teams based on their experience and ability and players of a given age may be playing at several different levels. However, the general range is as follows:

* Rookie: modified coach pitch for ages 4-7 
* LOW A: Introductory machine pitch for ages 5-9 (Note: The splitting of the machine pitch divisions depends on sufficient participants)
* HIGH A - International: Advanced machine pitch for ages 6-9 (Note: The splitting of the machine pitch divisions depends on enough participants)
* AA: beginning player pitch for ages 8-11 
* AAA: more advanced player pitch for ages 8-11 
* Majors: top level player pitch for ages 10-12 

For further information on BCLL's divisions, please consult the BCLL Division Primer.

What divisions of softball does BCLL offer?

Softball has had two divisions in recent years: player pitch and machine pitch. BCLL hopes to add a second division of player pitch in the near future if there is enough interest.

My child is X years old and has never played baseball before. Do you have a division appropriate for him?

BCLL does not have a beginner's league for older age groups. Instead, BCLL has older but less experienced players play in a division with younger but more experienced players. This allows the younger players to contribute to the team based on their experience while the older players can contribute based on their mental and physical maturity. 

What is league age?

Little League assigns each player a league age which may be different than the current age. The league age is determined by the player's age as of September 1st. For spring registration, this means that if a player's birthday is in January-August, they add one to their actual age to calculate the league age. If a player's birthday is in September through December, then their league age is their actual age. The Little League age calculator can be accessed in the Links section below.

How much is registration?

The registration fee changes season to season. Please check the registration page for current details.

Does BCLL offer refunds?

No, the league has a strict no-refund policy.

My son wants to play with his friend / My son can't practice on Thursdays / etc 

BCLL assigns players to teams by means of a player draft. We inform managers of specific requests and conflicts while they are deciding which players to draft for their team, but we are not able to honor requests to be on a specific team, play with another player, or avoid practices and games on a given day.

I have two siblings who want to play. Can they play on the same team?

BCLL will put siblings who evaluate to the same division on the same team. 

How long are games?

For divisions A and above, BCLL plays 6 inning games with a 1:50, no-new-inning time limit. A new inning may not be started after 1:50 but an inning started before the no-new-inning limit will be finished. For the Rookie division, the games are 4 innings with a 1:30, no-new-inning limit. 

Is playing time guaranteed?

BCLL does not have an equal playing time requirement. For the Rookie division, all players play in the field and all players bat in order during the game. For other divisions, the teams bat all players in order but field a fixed number of positions on defense. Based on team sizes, there are usually two or three players on the bench during each defensive half inning. The league expectation is that players will sit no more than two times while the team is in the field.

Where can I find the rules for Little League baseball?

Little League baseball has its own rule set based on OBR, Official Baseball Rules, the rule set used by Major League Baseball. The Little League rule set is updated each year before the spring season. A current version can be found in the links section on the bottom of this web page. In addition to the Little League rules, BCLL uses supplementary local rules which cannot contradict the official Little League Rules. The BCLL local rules are updated yearly before the spring season and are available on the BCLL website.

What bats are allowed?

Little League USA adopted a new standard for bats for the 2018 season, details of which can be found in the link section below. Briefly, all bats for machine pitch and kids pitch divisions in baseball must have a USA Bat sticker on them to be legal. Rookie level can continue to use 1.15 BPF bats.

How does All Stars work?

Each spring, all BCLL coaches and board identify the strongest players in the league to compete in All Star tournaments across the state. The District 6 tournament usually occurs at the end of June or early July, often in either Wilson (baseball) or Wilmington (softball). If BCLL is successful in that event, the team may advance to the NC state tournament, which is usually held in mid or late July. Depending on the age division, there may be a regional tournament to follow. Historically, BCLL has field teams at five levels for baseball:

12U (12 and 11 year olds)
11U (11 and 10 year olds)
10U (10 and 9 year olds)
9U (9 and 8 year olds)
8U (8 and under)

For softball, BCLL usually fields teams for 10-12 year-olds and for 8-10 year-olds.

The coaches for All Stars are selected by the BCLL board. Teams most often have 12 or 13 players, although that number may fluctuate. All Star selections are announced at the closing ceremonies for the league in early June. They may also be posted on this website earlier in the month. The time commitment for All Star participation is extensive, with practice occurring most nights in the period between the end of the BCLL season and the start of the All Star tournaments (usually 2-3 weeks, stretching from the middle of June to the end of the month). 

Bull City Little League will pay for the equipment and registration fees for the District Tournament (and any further play). BCLL will also provide a practice hat and jersey. Each family will be responsible for a $125.00 uniform fee. The uniform fee provides a game jersey, pants, and hat. Parents will be responsible for a red belt. If wearing knickers, then red socks will also be necessary. If a BCLL All-Star team plays in a District and/or State tournament where overnight stay is required, each family will be responsible for their own accommodation, meal, and transportation costs. For example, expenses for a State Tournament with a five-night stay could be as follows:

Hotel 5 nights x $120/night = $600
Meals 6 days x 3 meals/day x $25/meal = $450
Gas 5 tanks x 20 gallons/tank x $3/gallon = $300
Total Estimated Expenses $1,350

The example above is presented only for information purposes. Parents are encouraged to consider the financial implications of travel costs associated with District and State Tournaments prior to making their commitment. 

What is the Challenger division?

BCLL sponsors a Challenger Division that allows people with physical and mental challenges the opportunity to enjoy the game of baseball. The age range is 4 to 21 years old. Games are played Saturdays during the middle of the day on the Challenger field, which was built several years ago thanks to a generous donation from the Sunshine Lady Foundation and the hard work of many BCLL family members. The games are fairly informal, and players can participate when their schedule allows. BCLL player and adult volunteers are welcome to come out and help the Challenger players play baseball. Interested parties can email [email protected] for more information.