Marianna ready for tourney

The Marianna Dixie Boys baseball team will begin their quest for a state championship on Saturday night at Optimist Park.

The Bulldogs will take on West Seminole at 6 p.m. on Field 2 in the nightcap for the tournament’s first day.

Marianna got an automatic invite as the host team.

With a win Saturday, the Bulldogs will move into the winners’ bracket Sunday to face the winner of Saturday’s Holmes County/Hiland Park game.

A loss, and the Bulldogs would fall into the losers’ bracket to play the loser of that game on Sunday at 12 p.m.

Marianna coach Rick Harrell said he’s not familiar with his team’s first round opponent, but he and his squad are ready to get things going.

“I don’t know much about (West Seminole), but from what I understand, they were pretty good last year,” he said. “But we’re pretty optimistic.”

A year ago, this Marianna group competed in the Dixie Junior

Boys tournament as 13-year-olds, and were eliminated in two games.

However, each loss was by only one run, and both were to eventual finalists in the tournament.

“That was pretty heartbreaking,” Harrell said of the losses.

“We led both games until right there at the end. We feel like we were as good as any team out there. We just come out on the short end.”

Of the 12 players on that team, 10 are returned for this year.

Perhaps because of that, the Bulldogs enter into this year’s tournament as confident as ever.

“I feel like we’re as good as any team we’re going to face out there, as good as any that we’ve faced in the past,” Harrell said. “The key for us is that we’ve just got to be more consistent.”

Harrell said that last year’s disappointment has been a common theme in pre-tournament talk with the team.

“I think the guys are pretty eager to play,” the coach said.

“They were disappointed last year, and that has been a motivating factor this year. We talk about every aspect of that. We were real close last year. We’ve just got to do better.”

When asked to single out a particular strength about this year’s Marianna team, Harrell said he couldn’t pinpoint just one aspect of the game.

“Our strength I think is that we’re very well-rounded,” he said.

“With pitching, hitting, and defense, I think we’re just pretty solid overall.”

Harrell said he hasn’t made a decision on who will start the opening game on the mound, though he will choose from Madison Harrell, Tyler Colson, Reid Long, and Walker Roberts.

“Whoever we feel will be on at game time,” he said, “that’s who we’re going to pitch.”