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The Durant Lady Lions softball team will get nearly a month’s head start on football, as the fast-pitch season is set for an Aug. 7 start.

By comparison, football does not start until Aug. 31. Apples and oranges, perhaps: The softball team must squeeze more than 30 games into a short window of warm weather before the cold fronts arrive.

The bottom line is that fast-pitch season is just around the corner. The Lady Lions have some intriguing match-ups and a non-district schedule loaded with tournaments. The home Durant Tournament is set for Sept. 13-15.

Road tourneys will take the Lady Lions to Lawton, Shawnee, Plainview and Bixby before the playoffs arrive in October. The Sept. 28-29 Bixby Festival will be critical to Durant’s playoff hopes, as they will likely face some Tulsa area district rivals just one week before the playoffs start.

Date, time, opponent (home games in ALL CAPS)

Aug. 7 – 4:30 p.m. – DICKSON

Aug. 11 – 1 p.m. – COLLINSVILLE

Aug. 13 – 5 p.m. – at Valliant

Aug. 14 – 4:30 p.m. – McALESTER

Aug. 18 – at Lawton MacArthur Festival

Aug. 21 – 5 p.m. – COWETA

Aug. 23-25 – at Shawnee Tournament

Aug. 28 – 4 p.m. – at Colbert

Aug. 30 – 4:30 p.m. – at Dickson

Aug. 31 – 4:30 p.m. – at McAlester

Sept. 1 – 11 a.m. – KINGSTON

Sept. 4 – 5 p.m. – at Coweta

Sept. 7-8 – at Plainview Tournament

Sept. 13-15 – DURANT TOURNAMENT

Sept. 18 – 4 p.m. – TULSA HALE

Sept. 21 – 3:30 p.m. – at Tulsa BT Washington

Sept. 22 – 11 a.m. – at Tulsa Bishop Kelley

Sept. 25 – 5 p.m. – BYNG

Sept. 28-29 – at Bixby Festival

Oct. 3-6 – Regional playoffs

Oct. 10-13 – State playoffs