DIXIE YOUTH: Sub-district tournaments start tonight

The boys and girls of summer are back and in full swing this weekend as All-Star Dixie baseball and softball tournaments begin.

Starting today, 10 different All-Star tournaments kick off around East Alabama.

In baseball, there are three Dixie Youth AAA (9-10) sub-district tournaments, three Dixie Youth Major (11-12) sub-district tournaments, a Junior Dixie Boys sub-district (13) and a Dixie Boys (14) event beginning tonight.

In softball, the Dixie Ponytails (11-12) sub-district event started Thursday, as did the Dixie Angles (9-10) District 10 tournament.

The AAA Sub-District 1 tournament begins at 6 tonight in Tuskegee with four teams — Auburn Orange opens with Tuskegee, while Reeltown and Beauregard follow in Game 2.

All sub-district events are double elimination.

The Sub-District 2 AAA tournament is in Union Springs and will see Tallassee take on the home team Union Springs in Game 1 and Russell County vs. Opelika American in Game 2 at 7:30 p.m.

The AAA Sub-District 3 tournament has six teams, and will be played in Valley. Smiths Station plays Beulah in Game 1 at 6 p.m., the same time as the Opelika National vs. Dadeville game. Auburn Blue will take on Ladonia at 7:30.

The Dixie Youth Major tournaments start with Sub-District 1 in Opelika. Beauregard and Russell County play first at 6 p.m. followed by Opelika National vs. LaFayette at 7:30.

Sub-District 2 will take place in Tallassee, where the host team will play Union Springs and Dadeville will square off against Tuskegee.

The Dixie Youth Major three-team Sub-District 3 event will also be held in Opelika, where Beulah, Valley and Ladonia will play a round-robin format.

The Auburn 11-12-year-old teams are not in the traditional Dixie Youth All-Stars this season. They instead are playing in the O-Zone sect of Dixie baseball, where the bases are 70 feet instead of 60 and the pitcher’s mound is moved back to 50 feet instead of 46 feet. Baserunners can also lead off in the O-Zone tournaments, where in regular Dixie Youth baseball they cannot.

Representing Auburn in the O-Zone state tournament is the Blue team, who beat Auburn Orange 3-2 in the best-of-five game series.

The District 5 Junior Dixie Boys sub-districts will be held in Auburn beginning at 5:30 tonight with Smiths Station playing Auburn. Opelika and Phenix City will follow that game at 7:30 in the round-robin tournament at Duck Samford Park.

The Dixie Boys five-team, round-robin event will take place at Auburn University-Montgomery. AUM will play Smiths Station at 5:30 p.m. Phenix City will play at 7:45 tonight, while Auburn won’t take the field until 7:45 p.m. tomorrow against AUM.

The Ponytails softball sub-district stared Thursday with Valley and Beulah facing off and Smiths Station playing Beauregard. Auburn, the host team, received a first-round bye and will play at 6 p.m. today.

The Angels District tournament, also held in Auburn, saw Horseshoe Bend play Auburn on Thursday night, while East Montgomery took on AUM. Valley, who received the first-round bye, will play at 6 p.m. tonight.

Championship games for most of the baseball and softball tournaments are scheduled for Tuesday night.

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