By T. Scott Boatright
The Ruston Sports Complex is on deck waiting for the opening pitch for 56 youth baseball teams from across the Southern U.S. that will converge on Lincoln Parish for Dixie World Series play over the next two weeks.
It all begins on Thursday morning with teams from Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi. A host team from Louisiana is slated to compete in the AAA bracket.
“We are hosting the DYB Division II AAA, “O” Zone, and Majors, which are 10s and 12s,” said Matt Cotton, director of Business Development for the Ruston Sports Complex. “This week of World Series tournaments will have 28 teams.”
This week’s World Series action is seen as a special gift by Ruston Mayor Ronny Walker.
“The first tournament we hosted (in 2019) was a Dixie World Series,” Walker said. “Now it was a bigger one because it had all age groups and this won’t have as many of those groups. But what makes this one special is the fact that we didn’t bid on it. They ran into an issue and called us and asked if we could host it.
“So the fact we’re known for this, the fact that they’re calling us to help in that kind of circumstance – that’s what we want. That’s exciting for us.”
That excitement will be of much benefit for both Ruston and Lincoln Parish as a whole.
“There’s a lot of teams coming in and lots of them are staying in hotels here. They’re going to eat a lot of food here. They’re going to bring in a lot of sales tax dollars because of those tournaments.”
Cotton said the Ruston Sports Complex found out it would be hosting this weekend’s action in late January and early February.
“Representatives from DYB originally reached out at the end of January about the possibility of moving the World Series to Ruston and the decision to bring it to Ruston was made the first week of February,” Cotton said. “I think it says a lot about both the Ruston Sports Complex and the Ruston community.
“So the early part of the year was when the DYB realized that they needed to move their World Series from their original location, so they reached out wanting to bring it back to Ruston.”
Cotton said the first games and opening ceremonies for this weekend’s World Series play will come on Thursday.
“Games start Thursday the 27th at 10 a.m. and the opening ceremonies start that evening at 7:30 p.m. at JC Love Field,” Cotton said. “The opening ceremonies will have a flyover, a keynote speaker and fireworks.
“Championship games will be played on Monday the 31st. There are not any closing ceremonies.”
The Ruston Sports Complex will get even busier next week.
“We are hosting the DYB Division AAA, Ozone, and Majors World Series starting Friday Aug. 4 and that will be ending Wednesday Aug. 9,” Cotton said. “Those tournaments will have 34 teams.”
