I’m not sure everyone appreciates what we have on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. We have 19 leagues playing softball. It’s comprised of over 150 teams and 2200 players. The leadership of all these groups are all committed to making the best experience possible for the enjoyment, safety and welfare of these young women. I’d like to thank all those league leaders who dedicate so much of their time, money and energy to build a program for our girls. These people don’t get the recognition they deserve. Phone calls, text messages and emails at all hours of the day and night. All work with not much help… They volunteer their time so all our girls get to play this great game. Thank you for all you do…
It’s been a long season but a really great year. This is our 12th weekend of tournament play. Championship Play is here and only 3 more weekends left to go this summer. We have 47 teams competing this weekend in the Gulf Coast Championships… So many 8U that I had to build a 14 team bracket. The tournament will be played at the A.J. Holloway Sportsplex. The address is 765 Wells Drive, Biloxi, MS 39532. Tee Ball and Coach Pitch will be on the Softball side. All Fast Pitch will be on the Baseball side. The tournament entry fee for TB/CP is $250 and FP is $325.
Playing in Biloxi does have some challenges. The City of Biloxi has a curfew ordinance.. no inning can start after 10:30PM. Our South Mississippi weather complicates scheduling.. what if we get an afternoon thunderstorm.. it could easily set us back a couple of hours. The other issue is having enough umpires to work. It’s quite an effort. Everyone wants to complete the tournament on Saturday if at all possible.
One final word… I’d also like to thank Ben Gammons. Y’all just don’t know the effort he puts in to make sure we have quality umpires. He has been registering and training umpires for months. There is a ton of effort to making sure they know the game and our rules. That whole group has a lot of pride in what they do and care to get the call right. I ask each of you to be patient with the umpires. Ben and I will be there all weekend to answer questions and support them.
With that, there are several items we need to cover:
Rosters:
– I’m attaching the Championship Roster so teams can start filling it out. You don’t need it this weekend, but you’ll need it for South State. Bear in mind this is All-Stars. Only age-eligible players from your league can be on the roster. They must be on the roster your league submitted earlier this year.
– Teams should have birth certificates and a recent picture of each player this weekend. Coaches will need to show it upon request should an age eligibility protest be filed. And not we’re going to run home and get it.. It needs to be on-hand and available.
– ACE Training: Teams playing in South State must have at least one coach that is ACE Trained. It’s done at registerusasoftball.com. Don’t wait to the last minute. Background checks can take 3-4 days normally.
Seeding:
– Brackets were seeded according to the All-Star Points Tracker. It’s something people have been asking about that time has come. In case of ties, I did take into account the first game time. That really only happened in some of the lower seedings. Sometimes that was best for first game time.
– Link: https://usasoftballsouthms.com/?page_id=5683
Venue Rules:
– All field are turf… no steel cleats whatsoever. Either turf shoes or tennis shoes.
– Turf mats protect the fields from pitcher’s dragging their feet. Please don’t move them.
– No sunflower seeds, no chewing gum, no snowballs, no skateboarding
– No generators within the gates.. no long extension cords either (Someone tripped on a cord last weekend.)
Thank you for Playing USA Softball!