district tourney

By

ADAM DAIGLE

NATCHEZ &045; There are positives to be found in dwindling numbers.

When lower participation forced the Natchez Dixie Youth Minor League into one league instead of its customary Confederate and Rebel League All-Stars, folks got to thinking. The numbers were still high enough to field two All-Star rosters &045; one of just 10-year-olds and another of just 9-year-olds.

The Natchez 9s will join a budding presence in the Dixie Youth in the 9-year-old district and state tournaments as others in the state have caught on to the idea. The same thing goes in the Majors with leagues fielding a team of 11-year-olds and another of 12-year-olds.

The Natchez 9s got their first taste of action Monday night in an 18-14 win over Franklin County’s 9- and 10-year-old All-Stars.

&uot;We have thought about playing a 9-year-old All-Star team (in the past), but the people in the district said we would have to pick a 9-year-old team from both leagues,&uot; Minor League commissioner Porky Smith said. &uot;You just don’t have that many All-Stars. They year (the Rebel League) went to Magee, one had five 9-year-olds and the other had four.

&uot;We decided we’ve got just six teams, so we’d have one All-Star team of 10-year-olds and one of 9-year-olds. I think it’s going to be good.&uot;

Now that the Minor League had just one league, it fell into the same situation with everyone in District 6 but Brookhaven with enough players to have just one league. Brookhaven will be the only league in the district’s North tournament with two teams, while Franklin County does not have the numbers in its league to form two All-Star teams.

Copiah, Wesson, McComb and Pine Hills will field a 9-year-old All-Star team and a 10-year-old All-Star team this summer.

&uot;They’re still playing together, and next year they’ll be 10-year-olds,&uot; Natchez coach Bruce Ross said. &uot;It gives them a lot more playing time. Some of them wouldn’t be there if they had the 9- and 10-year-olds together. It’s going to get them always together. It gets them a little more experience and playing time.&uot;

The biggest benefit may be that the move includes more players to the All-Star experience &045; 13 players make up a roster &045; while those who may not have been quite good enough in the old system may have been a casualty.

And Natchez is getting in on it at the right time. There was a time when only a few leagues in the state were fielding 9-year-old rosters, but now more are involved. The district starts in McComb Thursday, and the state tournament begins July 16 in Carthage.

&uot;This is going to generate a lot of interest,&uot; Smith said. &uot;In the past, the only place they could play in was district. That’s as far as it went. There are probably a few 9-year-olds good enough to be playing with the 10-year-olds, but the coaches wanted to keep them together for tournament experience.

&uot;This benefits the 10-year-olds more. You’ve got 10-year-olds that wouldn’t have made the All-Star team if the 9-year-olds would have been able to make the team.&uot;

The Natchez 9s may be in the same boat as others with 9-year-olds since it’s their first year out of the coach-pitch league. Teams during the regular season had the luxury of relying on 10-year-olds to handle the bulk of the pitching duties, but not any more.

Ross and his club struggled with that a bit Monday night. The 9s used six pitchers in the six-inning contest, but all six combined for 18 Franklin County batters.

&uot;I like it, though,&uot; Ross said. &uot;They’ve got to learn to pitch and catch and play catcher. In coach pitch, the machine pitches. If it gets by the catcher, you can’t steal. It’s a lot different for a lot of the kids.&uot;

Franklin County struggled a bit with its pitchers Monday night, and the Natchez 9s got a couple of key hits to stay on top on the scoreboard. They had a 12-11 lead heading into their half of the fifth when they scored six runs to take a comfortable lead with Franklin County have its last at-bat.

Turner Lessley scored on a wild pitch, Zach Young singled in Conner Pressgrove, Dillon Galbreath singled in Chris Guedon and Young and Caleb Cross’ groundout to first scored Galbreath.

Franklin County tacked on three in the sixth before Pressgrove got a strikeout to end the game.

&uot;When you’re 9, I guess it’s a big deal to play against a bunch of 10-year-olds,&uot; Ross said. &uot;Maybe they were (nervous). We were just trying to look at some pitchers in a game situation and see which ones could throw.&uot;

Franklin County’s Jay Davis homered in the second inning. Trey Bailey had a two-run single in the third to score Rustin Combs and Hoby Mullins.