STARKVILLE — Starkville’s Cornerstone Park is set to host the Dizzy Dean Mississippi State tournament for the 8U and 10U age groups in baseball and softball. The tournament takes place June 13-16 and features All-Star teams from across the state competing for a place in the Dizzy Dean World Series.
Tournament Director Drew Campbell credited the city and the parks department for the efforts to bring Cornerstone Park to life and make Starkville an ideal host city for tournaments such as these.
“In terms of the mandates we have as a Parks and Rec department, it’s to bring the city together in terms of social and cultural outlets as a community, as well as to enable the community to be more active and to make an economic impact by bringing in visitors to enjoy our parks, restaurants, and retail opportunities,” Campbell said. “As Cornerstone is now fully operational, the Dizzy Dean tournament is an opportunity to hit on all three of those mandates.”
The home team Starkville All-Star squad comes in with high hopes after last year’s team won the tournament to advance to the World Series. Starkville regularly sees its youth teams compete at a high level. Baseball and softball are popular sports in the community from the university down to the little league level, and the new facilities along with the community have boosted the city’s ability to foster young talent.
“Eric Orsini has done a terrific job of organizing and structuring our league, providing the support for our kids to get better and enjoy the game,” Campbell said of Starkville’s youth baseball program. “The parents, coaches, and umpires are invaluable in that as well, and we’ve been able to create a structure and frequency for play that has brought out the best in the kids’ talents.”
The tournament will have a Golden Triangle flair, with local All-Star teams from Caledonia, Columbus, Lowndes, Starkville, and West Point in a field of 15 teams total in baseball and 10 teams in softball. It’s a knockout-style tournament, but not a single-elimination format. Teams will have a chance at redemption if they lose by falling into a sudden-death bracket.
Champions from this weekend will move on to play at the Dizzy Dean World Series in Southaven later this month.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 46 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
