SIKESTON -- The 2002 14-Year-Old Midwest Plains Regional Tournament begins on Friday, with a banquet at the Sikeston Junior High School. The event was originally scheduled to take place at the Field House, but was moved due to renovations.
"We knew going in it was possible that the Field House wouldn't be done," said tournament director Charlie Miller. "We had the junior high as a backup all the way. We would rather have the Field House to feature that, but it just didn't happen."
Special guest speakers for the event are former St. Louis Cardinals players Ray Burris and Bob Forsch. The event will start at 7 p.m.
Seven states will be represented in the actual tournament, which starts on Saturday. Out of Colorado comes Stratton, a town located 16 miles west of Burlington.
The North Dakota representative is Grand Forks, home of the University of North Dakota. From Nebraska comes Ogallala. Iowa's team is Albia. The Missouri representative is Mineral Area.
Kansas and Minnesota representatives were not known at press time. Sikeston is the host team.
"They're all state winners," said Miller. "Seven of the eight teams have already won on the district and state levels. There won't be any bad teams I'm sure."
In the first round on Saturday, North Dakota will play Nebraska at 11 a.m. Colorado will face Missouri at 1:30 p.m., followed by Minnesota versus Sikeston at 4 p.m., then Kansas versus Iowa at 7:30 p.m.