This is when baseball gets exciting.

When every pitch matters and a sacrifice fly could be the difference in how many more innings a team will get to play.

It doesn't matter if the participants are tee-ballers or major leaguers, there is something that kicks in when the season is on the line and the prospect of becoming a champion enters the mind.

Those are the types of attitudes that will be on display this weekend in Greenville as the Dixie Minor sub-district tournament rolls into town at Day Park. The first game of the tournament will feature Troy and Brantley at 4 p.m. and Greenville will tangle with Luverne at 8 p.m.

The Dixie Minor teams consist of boys ages nine and ten and they can play ball. Certainly, a routine grounder may roll between some legs or a fly ball may sail over an outfielder's head, but most of the teams have come a long way since early in the regular season. Besides, these are the All-Star groups, meaning they are the best that each city has to offer at that age level.

There will be three games played on Saturday evening and it should be very entertaining for everyone, not just parents.

The Greenville Parks and Recreations Department has been working all week in preparing Day Park for the onslaught of visitors who will be in the area. The rest of us should show our support for the GPRD, the City of Greenville and to every member of the Greenville All-Star squad by coming out to the games and rooting them on.

It is a double-elimination tournament, so if one misses Greenville on Saturday night, they can still catch them on Sunday afternoon.

If the Greenville All-Stars' game is not convenient then perhaps one of the other games could work. Teams from Troy, Brantley, Highland Home, Georgiana and Luverne will participate in the tournament and they should all field entertaining teams.

Whether your kid plays, your neighbor's kid plays

or nobody you know plays, coming out to the game will be a night of entertainment unlike anything else and at a very low cost.

But, the most important thing is to show our support for all the kids who come to Greenville looking for victory and a trip to the next tournament.