NATCHEZ — They say practice makes perfect. This summer the area baseball coaches took the expression to heart.

Saturday Cathedral hosted the Cathedral Green Wave Classic comprised of Adams County Christian School, Cathedral School and the Miss-Lou Vipers — whose roster is mostly Vidalia High students.

“Coming into the tournament the biggest thing we wanted to do was get a lot of kids experience, move kids around and see what we’ve got in getting ready for next year,” ACCS baseball coach Hunter McKeivier said. “During the summer you want to try to play as many kids as you can. You want to give them a chance to show what they can do.”

Craig Beesley, the Cathedral baseball coach, echoed McKeivier’s sentiments.

“The main thing I’m looking for during the summer is to get some of these younger kids playing experience.”

Vidalia assistant coach Gary Paul Parnham said that it’s an obvious objective at these tournaments to get as many kids as much playing experience as possible.

“That’s a big deal for us. Probably gives them 35-40 games in high school plus we can play another 40 games. Anytime you can play 80 games in a year, that’s just a big plus,” Parnham said.

“The more games you can play the better you get. That’s just a no-brainer right there.

Parnham added that a big plus to the tournament was its proximity to all the teams.

“It was a great tournament,” Parnham said. “Anytime we can play locally and play at home is a plus for us. We usually play all over the state of Mississippi and Louisiana, so anytime we can play at home is good for us.”

With the steadily escalating gas prices, Parnham said that puts an even greater emphasis on where his team plays.

“Most times we have to go out of town. Gas, hotel rooms — it’s expensive.”