Watauga hosts

weekend tourney
By Steve Behr
 
Now that the vacations are more or less over, at least for this upcoming weekend, Watauga baseball coach Pete Hardee is looking forward to his team playing some games at full strength.

Watauga hosts a round-robin tournament of games which begin Saturday and continue through Sunday. Five teams, Watauga, Murphy, T.C. Roberson and Tuscola and Asheville Showcase will play four games each this weekend at Watauga’s field.

“All the teams are very good,” Hardee said. “These are mountain teams that are very good and I just hope to see some procession and to get some guys back in the lineup.”

Watauga lost to Murphy and Pisgah during a tournament last weekend, but were missing several players because of vacations. It forced Watauga to play several players out of position and also hurt them offensively.
Since Watauga lost both of its games last Saturday, the Pioneers did not advance into the next round, which was last Sunday. This weekend, all the teams will play round-robin games both days.

“It was good to get others a chance to play,” Hardee said of the tournament last week. “It didn’t work out for us to play the second day.”

Watauga opens its tournament this weekend against Murphy Saturday at 9 a.m. The Pioneers follow with a game against Tuscola at 2 p.m.

On Sunday, they play T.C. Roberson at 10:30 a.m., and finish against Asheville Showcase at 3:30 p.m. All game times are subject to change because of weather or other circumstances.

“There’s not going to be any kind of championship,” Hardee said. “We’re just going to play some games.”