OPCSSL - Softball League Information

The following is an outline of some of the stuff you'll need to know in order to enter a team in the OPCSSL. We can't guarantee that this is everything you need to know, but it covers a lot of things that have come to mind as we've counselled new entries over the past few seasons.

Personnel

We play a version of three-pitch softball in which each team pitches to itself. This can lead to a lot of hits, so the defending team is allowed to put up to 12 players out on the field to play defence. A team can field any number of players in its batting order, but must field a minimum of 7 players. Practically speaking, this means you'll need to recruit at least 12 to 15 players for your roster. You'll need to be able to count on at least 9 or 12 core players who'll be out most weeks for your team.

We also play in a co-ed league and our rules specify that 25% of the players on the field and in your batting order must be female. This means that you'll need to recruit at least 4 or 5 female players in order to have a viable team.

You'll also need to think about recruiting someone who can take your place as team captain when vacations, family responsibilities or Deputy Minister's briefings keep you from attending any given week's game. This person would take responsibility for League liaison in your absence - posting scores, checking schedules, dealing with any appeals of rules or plays, assigning umpires as needed etc.

Logistics

The league runs two divisions, on Wednesday and Thursday nights respectively. Our permits from the City run from 5:00PM to 6:30PM. Game time is 5:20 PM, and teams that are late in fielding a legal team (i.e. at least 7 players, with 25% female players) place themselves in danger of losing the game (no matter what the score) if a full seven inning game cannot be completed.

Our diamonds are located around the edge of downtown - at McCleary and Riverdale West Parks on Wednesdays and at Trinity-Bellwoods and McCleary Parks on Thursdays. This generally means that your players should be thinking of leaving offices in the Queens Park area around 4:30 PM or 4:45 PM at the latest in order to get to the diamonds on time. Players arriving late can be added to the line-up (as long as the ratio of female players is preserved), but there is no chance that our permits can be "put back a half-an-hour" to accommodate teams where most of the players work until 5:00 PM ... we've consistently asked the City about that and they've consistently said NO!

We play an eighteen-week regular season - a couple of "exhibition" games, followed by a double round-robin, followed by a double-knockout elimination play-off round. Every team makes the play-offs - the round-robin is used to rank the playoff teams - and gets at least two games in the elimination round. The season runs from mid-May to early September, with the final round of the playoffs usually taking place on the second or third Saturday of September.

Resources

As well as having a good selection of players, you'll need to do a little fundraising. League fees are in the $600 range per team, and the City has been raising the price of the field permits (the principal cost driver) considerably over inflation every year.

We ask all teams to have their fees paid at or before the season inaugural Captains' meeting in late April /early May, but we particularly expect new teams to have their fees in promptly. The City asks for payment of permits before we take to the field, which means that some or a lot of this not-inconsiderable expense ends up on someone's (i.e. the Commissioner's) personal LoC.

We'd also suggest that your team do a little bit of additional fundraising to pay for equipment if you don't have any already. All teams are expected to have a full set of bases and to supply their own bats and balls. Because worn or non-spec. (League spec. is Worth Grey Dot, COR40) balls can be challenged at any time, you should buy a few balls at the start of the season. From experience, softballs don't get discounted much as the season progresses. If you're thinking of buying high-tech bats, though, you can usually get a discount later in the season, which can bring the price of some of these down from absurd to just plain laughable. The League uses the USSSA list of approved bats, so check the list before you buy something expensive!

Rules

We emphasize that this is a recreational League - we'd like to think that any disputes on the field can be settled by common sense and goodwill, but it doesn't always work out that way. As a prospective captain, it's in your and your team's best interests for you to have a general familiarity with the standard rules of softball, and to have a working knowledge of the League's specific rules, which you can find on our web-site at /~mikep/OPCSSL/rules.html.

If you have any questions, please contact the Commissioner at any time.

This page created and maintained by Mike Peterson, mikep9x@gmail.com from material originally written by Peter Lloyd (past League Commissioner).
Created April 15, 2008. Last updated August 25, 2023.