It’s tourney time around the spectrum of sports. This weekend is conference tournament time for all major college basketball teams. You also have the World Baseball Classic going on, and here at home, we have the Chilton County Baseball Tournament.

This year’s championship is going to be one of the most interesting in recent memory for several reasons. First of all, we have a new site. Jemison High School is hosting the tournament. The school has made some major improvements to their stadium.

They have put up new fencing, added lights (albeit a year ago) and added a pitching mound on the right field side.

Secondly, it is single-elimination. I’ve only covered this tournament when it was a double elimination, and it lasted all week. This year, it’s only two days, and it’s win or go home. This format does equalize the teams in the tournament because you could conceivably win the tournament with only two pitchers. This could spell good news for the smaller teams in the tournament. Rules don’t allow pitchers to throw more than 14 innings in a week.

Third, we have a bunch of good baseball teams. Thorsby is ranked in the top 3 in Class 2A. CCHS has been a consistent team though they have played a brutal schedule. Jemison has also been playing well. Maplesville, Isabella and Verbena are still fighting hard even though they’re going through rebuilding years.

And lastly, the weather. Rain is predicted all weekend. There’s no guarantee that we’ll get one game in today, which means the tournament would have to be postponed. If that happens, there’s no way to know if they’ll even have a county tournament.

It should be interesting to see what happens. I can’t say who will win, but I think Mother Nature might be the favorite right now. I just hope the rain will hold off enough to get it in.