NATCHEZ &045; As if last year’s run to the state championship wasn’t enough, the Natchez 13-year-old Dixie Boys All-Stars have plenty more experience under their belts.

Most return from that Wallace League team that lost to Hattiesburg in the finals of the Major League state championship last summer, and several players suited up for the junior high squad at Adams Christian that began playing in January.

Now this bunch will hope to keep playing into next month as it opens the district tournament today in Brookhaven. Natchez will play Summit at 6:30 p.m. today in the three-team tournament with Brookhaven.

&uot;We’re excited about it this year,&uot; said Natchez head coach William Barnes, who coached the Wallace League team last summer. &uot;We had a good team last year, but I think this year from top to bottom we’ve got a better athletic group. Our defense is stronger, and we’ve got a little bit better pitching. It’s going to be tough giving everybody playing time that deserves it. We have 13 solid ball players.&uot;

Many were on that ACCS junior high squad that went 22-3, a team Barnes also coaches. This year’s team has the three top pitchers from last year in Dustin Carroll, Luke Brumfield and Matt Barnes and can also go to Ryan Ratcliff, Jesse Morrison and Joseph McDonough.

The Dixie Boys league ended about a month ago, and the team has spent the time playing eight practice games in Louisiana and Mississippi. The three core pitchers are now accompanied by other arms that can go at any time &045; a department that carried the Wallace League to the title game last summer.

&uot;They’re only 13, and even in high school you can get boys that struggle,&uot; Barnes said. &uot;But we’ve got a real good class of pitchers. If one struggles, we won’t hesitate to put another one in and he’ll do fine. If he doesn’t, we’ll go with somebody else. Last year we were pretty fortunate. It seemed like every time we went out there the starter had a good game. So far this year the starters have done decent in the practice games.&uot;

Natchez 14-year-old All-Stars

The 14-year-old Natchez Dixie Boys All-Stars open their district tournament today in Summit today. Danny Weeks is head coach of a team that advanced to the finals of the district tournament last year in the 13-year-old division.

The Natchez team will open the tournament at 6 p.m. today against Copiah, while Brookhaven and Summit will meet in the second game.