As we begin celebrating our nation’s birthday, there should be aweekend full of fireworks on tap. Look for plenty of explosiveall-star action on the baseball diamond, too.

For openers, the Dixie Youth Baseball Major League NorthSubdistrict Six Tournament starts Saturday night at Keystone Park,with the Brookhaven National League playing the Copiah CountyAll-Stars at 6:30.

To the South, the Dixie Boys Baseball 14s District Tournamentstarts Saturday night at the Windsor Gay Youth Sports Complex inSummit. Brookhaven plays Summit at 8. Back in Brookhaven, the DixieBoys 13s kicks off Saturday at Exchange Club Park with Natchezplaying Summit at 6:30. Brookhaven has a bye until Monday night,awaiting the winner.

The Dixie Youth AAA District Six Tournament is tentatively setto begin Saturday at Summit but the recent rash of rainy weather isplaying havoc with the subdistricts. The Natchez Rebels won theWest Subdistrict Tuesday night, beating the Natchez Confederates atDuncan Park. McComb is favored to win the South while the Northremains a question mark.

According to Dixie Youth Baseball District Six DirectorWindsor Gay, the AAA tourney could be pushed backto Monday.

Looking ahead, the DYB Major League District Six Tournament isset to begin next Friday, July 11, at Keystone Park. Brookhaven’sAmerican League All-Stars are the hosts.

Next weekend, July 11-12, the Hansel King Sportsplex will host apair of ASA girls Class A state slowpitch softball tournaments,12-under and 14-under. Around 30 all-star teams, all of them fromout of town, are expected to participate. Area motels andrestaurants should enjoy a banner weekend of business.

Meanwhile the Cotton State League season is winding down for theBrookhaven Bandits. They have a pair of weekend doubleheaders setfor Brookhaven Academy’s diamond, meeting Clinton Saturday andHattiesburg Sunday. Both twinbills start at 1:30 p.m.

It’s been a strange season for the Bandits. The 4-year-oldleague has been strangled by a record rainfall in June, causing amajor scheduling problem. Travel has been a challenge for theplayers who work until late in the afternoon and have to rush toout-of-town road games.

Last Tuesday, the Bandits hosted the Poplarville Rivercats. Onecarload of Poplarville players was ticketed twice while speeding tomake the early twinbill, once near Angie, La., and again inMississippi. Another truckload of players was ticketed in theMagnolia State. That’s known as an expensive road trip.

The standard of play in the CSL has improved each year as moreskilled, college level players join the wooden bat league. Most ofthe time, the defense is excellent.

Players wrestle with the wooden bat because they have beenspoiled by aluminum during their youth, high school and collegeseasons. Welcome to the Majors.

Brookhaven has the league’s top home run hitter in outfielderMichael Clements of Summit. The former North Pikeand Southwest Mississippi Community College star leads the CSL withfive home runs. Clements has signed with Troy State (Al.)University. He has two more promising years of collegebaseball.

Wesson has hired two new coaches. Russ Kessler,an Ole Miss graduate, has been named varsity boys basketball coach;and Hugh Knight, a longtime athletic director andcoach at Copiah Academy, has been selected varsity baseball coach.Knight replaces Phillip Knight who coached Wessonfor one season before stepping down. Kessler replaces BillyO. Britt who held the basketball job for two years plusserving as principal.

Britt recently underwent surgery in Jackson to remove a bloodclot. He’s doing well and is expected to be back at work nextweek.

The District Seven baseball team, representing the southwestarea in the State Games of Mississippi, made an early exit, losingto District 5 (Meridian-Laurel area) 3-0 and District Eight(Hattiesburg-Gulf Coast) 5-1. District Seven coach RandySpring of Brookhaven said his team made a solid showingbut was up against districts with much larger population and talentpools. “It was a good experience. Our kids saw they could play withthe best.”

The search for a new head football coach at West Lincolncontinues. Willie Brumfield shocked the communitywith his resignation last week after just one year at the helm.Brumfield is moving to Oak Grove Middle School to coach and teach.He plans to continue working toward a master’s degree in schooladministration at the University of Southern Mississippi.

The Brookhaven Country Club will host a Fourth of JulyExtravaganza, featuring golf, tennis, swimming and an all-daybarbecue. Golf will be a blind draw quota tournament, starting at 1p.m. BCC general manager Ronny Ross said entrydeadline is 11 a.m.

Entry fee is $30 for member and $40 for non members. It includescarts and prizes.

A Family Tennis Tournament is scheduled from 7 p.m. until. Afireworks display will begin shortly after dark.