Dixie Youth Majors tournament heading to Greenville

Published 6:12 pm Tuesday, June 1, 2010

The 2010 Dixie Youth Majors tournament is scheduled to be held in Greenville July 23 through July 29.

Council member Ed Sims expects the 12-team tournament to bring more than just solid baseball.

“We have already blocked of 30 hotel rooms for each team,” Sims said. “They will have to eat somewhere and pay sales tax. Its a big deal for Greenville.”

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The Greenville YMCA will benefit from the tournament due to a $1 occupancy tax that as passed last March, Sims said. Every hotel room booked helps the city of Greenville pay of the loan for the YMCA building.

Greenville was one of many cities that put out a bid for the tournament, but in the end, its bid of $7,205 helped secure the Camellia City as the event locale.

“In the past, this has been very competitive,” Sims said. “The last three state tournaments have been in north Alabama, and I think they wanted to get one back down this way.”

Some eleven teams will be participating in the tournament, 12 including Greenville. Over all over a 165 players and coaches will be taking part in the tournament.

“This will be like a vacation for some of them,” Sims said. “Hopefully, the mommas and the females will go downtown shopping.”

Friday night, players and coaches will gather at Lurleen B. Wallace Community College for a free hot meal. After a Saturday morning breakfast for coaches and umpires, Sims said they are on their own.

All eleven teams will play Saturday, Sims said, and they will continue to get whittled down until the tournament ends July 29.

The winner of this tournament will go on to represent Alabama in the Little League World Series at the Little League International Complex in Williamsport, PA. Aug. 20 through Aug. 29.