Published: June 24, 2009 08:45 am      

Kosy set to host AA event

The old baseball saying "you can never get enough pitching" is certainly the case for the five teams taking part in the Dixie Youth Region IV AA All-Star Tournament set to begin at Kosciusko's Hugh Ellard Park this week.

The round-robin tournament is set to begin on Friday and conclude with a pair of games on Tuesday. Each team will play four games total, with four of the teams playing two games on Saturday. The top two teams advance to the North Region Tournament set for July 17 in Amory.

Pitching rules allow players to pitch up to nine innings in the 9-10-year-old tournament, but no more than six in one game. If a pitcher goes into the fourth inning in a game, then he has to have a 48-hour rest period before he can pitch again.

"There is a lot of strategy involved," said Kosciusko head coach Jeffrey Dean. "When you get to the fourth inning you have a decision to make."

Dean says he feels his pitching staff is at least five deep, and could go a little deeper than that.

"The strong points of our team are pitching and defense," he said. "We are pretty young, but we have a solid team."

Ten of the 12 members of the team are 9-year-olds.

The Kosciusko All-Stars took part in an all-star tourney in Mathiston last weekend and finished second.

The Kosy all-stars kick things off in the district tournament at 6 p.m. when the host team takes on Sebastopol. The 8 p.m. game has Carthage facing Philadelphia.

Kosciusko and Canton play at 11 a.m. on Saturday, followed by a 1 p.m. game between Sebastopol and Carthage. Saturday night's action has Philadelphia and Canton meeting at 6 and Kosciusko and Carthage at 8.

Kosy doesn't play on Monday, but Canton faces Carthage at 6 and Sebastopol and Philly face off at 8.

Tuesday's games have Canton and Sebastopol playing at 6 p.m. and Kosciusko and Philadelphia matching up at 8 p.m.

The 7-8-year-old coach-pitch all-star team from Kosciusko will travel to Canton for its district tournament which begins on Friday as well.