The Gulf Coast Championships will be held this weekend at the Helena Softball Complex. The tournament will be held during Jun 16-18th, 2017. I would plan to play on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It just depends on how many teams want to play. I won’t know for sure until I do the brackets. This tournament, as with all of tournaments, will help raise money to support the softball programs of the tournament host. The beneficiary this weekend will be girls of the Helena Girls Softball League. So we hope everyone will come play this weekend.
Here’ a link to a map to the ball field.
Helena Map
Helena Softball Complex
Ballfield Road
Moss Point, MS 39562
The Gulf Coast Championships reflects a more regional significance. It’s a title which signifies the importance of the Gulf Coast to USA Softball of Mississippi and the strength of fast pitch softball in the region. We do limit the participation to a teams based in South Mississippi or having played in one of our invitational tournaments. Our district this year includes a wider area as our district has expanded.
We will host all age groups: Tee Ball, Coach Pitch, 10u All-Star, 10u Open, 12u All-Star, 12u Open, 14u & 16u. This being a special weekend, we will try to keep the All-Star and Open brackets separate for this tournament. The All-Star brackets have been very popular over recent years. It’s imperative we have leagues putting together All-Star teams so we can keep them going. We had so many coach pitch teams in Long Beach that we played a drop down bracket. That worked really well and a definite possibility this weekend. We’ve had a real lack of teams in 12u this year. This is a direct reflection of the lack to 12u league teams. We really need to get those 12u girls out playing.
I’ve had a lot of people ask if they “have” to play in the Gulf Coast Championships to play in the State Tournament. Well the short answer is no. But we’re trying to create a really special tournament. This is where we crown the Gulf Coast Champion. We are doing rings this weekend. I’m not big on rings because I think it promotes trophy hunting. But this is a special tournament and they are really popular with the girls. So we’re doing them.
Communications will be via email. Registration will close Thursday at noon. Please register early. We have a lot of planning and activities to get ready. The brackets will be posted before Thursday at 5:00pm. I’ll email them out to first. Then I’ll post the brackets on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/GulfCoastASA and at https://usasoftballsouthms.com/.
Please do not call, email or text looking for brackets. It will just distract me from actually getting them done. If you don’t see them, I haven’t finished them yet. Please tell you parents not to call also. There are a lot more of them than there are of me. I just can’t possibly return all the phone and text messages that I’ll get.
Please REGISTER ONLINE & EARLY.
Online registration is available using the link below:
Gulf Coast Championships Entry Form
Here’s a link to the Teams Registered page:
Gulf Coast Championships Teams Registered
ROSTERS ARE REQUIRED FOR THIS WEEKEND:
You will be required to submit a roster. Please complete the roster using the link below and turn it in at the GCC check-in:
https://usasoftballofmississippi.com/files/ASAOfficialROSTERandWAIVER.pdf
I’ll send out information on the State Tournaments this week. For the first time ever, State Tournament Registration is now available online. So I’ll put everything you need to do in one email.
Good Luck! Get out there and play!
Thanks for Playing USA Softball!