Welcome to the 2026 USA Softball of Mississippi’s South State Championships. We have a really big tournament with 56 teams entered for this weekend. We’ll be running 8 fields. So a lot of great games will be going on. Our goal is get the tournament finished late Saturday night. We’ll have Sunday if we need it.. but I’m hoping for a hot, dry weekend… This year has been terrible for weather… I’d like a nice quiet, stress free weekend.
The tournament will be played at the Woolmarket Sports Complex. The address is 16520 Switzer Park Rd, Biloxi, MS 39532. Be sure to put “SWITZER PARK” into your address. Otherwise you’ll end up someplace else….
We split the 8U and 10U into Gold and Silver Brackets for the Gulf Coast Championships. It was extremely well received with lots of positive feedback. Those divisions will have a Gold Champion and a Silver Champion. Classification was primarily done using the Power Rating. The Power Rating calculates the points/event. Seeding in all age divisions used the Points Ranking. So the teams that played more tournaments are rewarded with seeding.
Here’s a few details:
1. Entry Fee: The entry fee for Tee Ball and Coach Pitch is $250 and Fast Pitch is $350. The gate fees are $10 for Adults, $5 for kids ages 7-12, and kids 6 & under are free. Three coaches and players are admitted free of charge.
2. Check-In: Someone from each team will need to check-in with me before they play. Entry Fee needs to be paid and the Roster Form turned in. It can be paid with check, cash, CashApp ($tstanley2128) or Venmo (@tstanley2128). Please allow time to check-in. I will be at the main concession stand starting at 4:00PM on Friday. Look for a black Cargo Trailer. I’ll be nearby.
3. Rosters: Attached is a Roster Form. For this weekend, It must be signed and turned in. I’ll have the ones submitted at the GCC if you need to retrieve it.
4. Birth Certificates & Pictures: You’ll need to have a birth certificate and recent picture for each player. I recommend put each player in a sheet protector where it can be easily retrieved.
5. Playing Rules: Rules for All-Stars are attached. Please familiarize your age division. It will cut down on a lot of arguments. Fast Pitch games will be no new inning after 65 mins. With so many teams and an extremely full schedule, it’s going to be important to keep the games moving. Otherwise, it will be an early morning Sunday finish. Each team needs to leave the dugout as soon as possible. Teams meetings must occur off the field. The next team needs to be ready immediately following the prior game. That means lineups ready when you hit the dugout. There is no warmup on the field either. You never know when a blow out or a forfeit may happen and we get ahead of schedule.
6. ACE Training: The national website for the ACE training crashed earlier this year. The plan is to add it to the new RegisterPlay platform. That hasn’t been complete yet. So for the State Tournament in two weeks.. just enter the head coach’s name. We will have to forego it this season.
7. Live Bracket: We will have a paper bracket posted. But I also started doing a Live Bracket online.. I’ll get the schedule populated in the next day or so. Here’s the link: South State Live Bracket
One final note…. We pride ourselves on getting the rules right. No one is perfect and no one knows that whole rule book. But we really try. Some of you might have noticed…. I don’t answer phone calls from coaches on game day. Only an umpire can call me to a field. Should you have a rules question… either the rule itself or the interpretation of the rule.. please ask the Home Plate umpire to call the Tournament UIC or Tournament Director. This weekend, that’s Ben Gammons and myself. We’ll come over and provide a quick opinion. It won’t cost you a $100 or anything. If you do not believe that’s correct, you’ll still be able to lodge a formal protest. We’ll convene a protest committee and render an official opinion. Also understand if you keep playing, the protest won’t be considered timely and will be invalidated. There is nothing we can do if you continue the game. Judgement calls and the playing field are not protectable.. Our umpires have developed a trust with Ben and I. They know we’re not out to get them. We field multiple calls from umpires during the day to ensure they are enforcing the rules correctly. I’m very proud of the umpires that call our games.
Best of luck to everyone,,,
Thanks for Playing USA Softball!