Some big changes are in store for Dixie Youth Baseball AllnStars this season.

Fortunately for Greenville's Dixie Minor, Dixie Youth, Junior Dixie Boys and Dixie Boys it means not as many longndistant road trips.

Dixie Minor boys, ages 9n10, and Dixie Youth boys, ages 11n12, will no longer compete in District 6, which has been divided into two districts, which will prevent so much travel. Dixie Youth Baseball officials recently redrew the lines, which eliminated teams in Barbour, Dale, Henry and Houston counties. Greenville will now compete in District 9.

"The travel aspect is good too because we're cutting four counties off that were on the far end of our district," Greenville Parks and Recreation Athletic Director and Dixie Youth Baseball's District 9 Assistant Director Gregg Fuller said. "It made it very difficult at times for parents to leave work and make it to their children's games. Two years we went to Columbia, which is four miles form the Georgia state line and we were there for six days. Some of the parents didn't make it to several games and we spent a lot of time on phone relaying what was going on for those who were left behind in Greenville that didn't make the trip. This will make it a lot more convenient for the parents."

Junior Dixie Boys, which is comprised of 13nyear olds, and Dixie Boys, which consists of 14nyear olds, will continue to compete in District 6, which has been divided into north and south divisions. Fuller believes this change will also be beneficial to players, coaches and especially parents.

"It's going to cut down on the travel as well breaking it down into a north and south divisions," he said. "You're pretty much getting the same results from breaking them down into division play as you do with the nine through 12 year olds changing districts."

Teams that will remain in Greenville's Dixie Minors and Dixie Youth district include, Georgiana, Highland Home, Luverne, Brantley, two teams from Troy, Brundidge, Elba, Coffee County, two teams from Enterprise, Sampson, Geneva, Hartford and Slocomb. The Junior Dixie Boys and Dixie Boys team alignments have not yet been announced.

"The changes are also going to help from the standpoint that it's going to send an extra team from southeast Alabama to state each year," Fuller said. "There were three occasions over the last six years that we would have sent teams to the state tournament."

Tournament Dates

The Greenville Parks and Recreation Department issued a list of tentative Dixie Youth Baseball AllnStar tournament dates earlier this week.

Greenville will host the Dixie Minor SubnDistrict 3 Tournament on June 25 and also the Dixie Boys District 6 North Division Tournament on July 2.

"We were delighted to accept the tournament for the first year of this format," Greenville Parks and Recreation Director Jerome Harris said. "We're looking forward to it and Gregg and I both feel like it's a good reflection on the community involvement that officials with Dixie Boys have seen from this are in the past."

Last year was the first year in several Greenville didn't host a tournament.

Other tournaments include, the Dixie Youth SubnDistrict 3 Tournament in Georgiana on July 2 and the Junior Dixie Boys District 6 Tournament in Geneva on July 1st or 2nd.

Subndistrict tournaments for Junior Dixie Boys and Dixie Boys leagues will be held on June 18 with sites to be determined.

"We just wanted to get the tournament dates out so parents could go ahead and plan their vacations around the schedules," Fuller said.

Baseball tryouts throughout Greenville will begin Monday.

For more information, call the Greenville Parks and Recreation Department at 382n3031.