Newton County’s decision pushes event to Monday
Youth baseball all-star teams are not forced to play three times in one day in Dizzy Dean State tournaments.
On Saturday afternoon at the 12-year-old South State Tournament at McKee Park, Newton County exercised its option not to have a third game.
Because Newton County had already played twice, losing to Starkville 8-3 and defeating Houston 8-6, it was faced with having to play against in a loser's bracket game against Choctaw County.
Newton County informed Dizzy Dean tournament director Randy Carlisle that it did not want to play again on Saturday.
Because that decision was made, the 12-year-old tournament will now be pushed to Monday.
The event lost an entire day to the weather on Friday as a powerful thunderstorm dumped a large amount of rain upon the McKee Park surface. The fields were in no condition for any games on Friday.
Six games were played on Saturday, but Carlisle could not convince Newton County to get in a seventh so there could be an eighth. Starkville and Caledonia were going to play a winner's bracket game also on Saturday if Newton County had agreed to go ahead to take on Choctaw County.
As much as Carlisle would have liked to had Newton County play and get back on schedule, his hands were tied. He could not force Newton County to play.
So a championship will not be decided today for the 12-year-olds. Caledonia and
Starkville will start at 1:30 p.m., then Newton County and Choctaw County square
off at 3:30 p.m. The winner of the Starkville-Caledonia game will advance to the championship game on Monday, while the loser will have to play again on
Sunday.
Trying to figure out brackets for the Dizzy Dean State tournaments can be confusing at times, especially when the weather impacts
things, but it was pretty cut and dry in this case.
Newton County had every right to do what it did. For local baseball fans who wanted to see 12-yearold
action in Starkville on Monday, you got your wish.
A thank you letter can be sent to Newton County.
Danny P. Smith is sports
editor and columnist for the Starkville Daily News. The opinions in this column are his AND Do not NECESSARILY REFLECT the views of the Daily News or its staff.