It wasn’t exactly the way the Chilton County Softball Tournament was drawn up, but it was still a lot of fun.

And some positives will surely be taken away from the event.

The tournament was postponed from its originally scheduled dates last month because of the threat of severe weather. So, the tournament was played the last week of the regular season—and only a couple of days before the beginning of area tournaments.

In fact, one county team, Jemison, declined to play in the tournament because its area tournament begins Wednesday. Panther pitchers would have had no time to rest before playing in games that really matter.

Not that the county tournament didn’t mean a lot to the girls playing in it. That was made obvious by the level of play, which was higher than I’d seen all season. There seemed to be a brilliant defensive play every half inning, and the pitchers and batters were completely focused on the task at hand.

Some of the hard slides and tumbling catches surely made some coaches nervous, but playing in a pressure-packed environment this late in the season should do nothing but benefit the teams that participated, especially the two teams that made the championship round—Chilton County and Maplesville.

The Red Devils should be a more confident squad now than when they started the tournament because they saw what they were capable of, and that is defeating a good Class 5A team.

CCHS, meanwhile, will go into its area tournament with a boatload of momentum.

The tournament wasn’t perfect, but more than a few people are glad it was played.