Legion launches district tourney

There won't be the normal pressure on the Cape Girardeau Ford & Sons Post 63 American Legion baseball team when it hosts the District 14 tournament beginning today.

That's because, as the host squad for next week's Zone 4 tournament, Cape doesn't need to win a district title in order to qualify. Post 63 already is assured of a zone berth.

But Cape coach Todd Pennington doesn't want his club to back into the zone tournament. Post 63 is intent on capturing its second straight district title.

"We're playing to win, and I think we have a real good shot," Pennington said. "No way do we want to go into the zone just because we host it. We want to show we're the best team."

The five-team, double-elimination District 14 tournament will be played at Notre Dame Regional High School.

A matchup between the bottom two seeds, No. 4 Poplar Bluff (15-14) and No. 5 Sikeston (5-18), gets the event started at 7 p.m. today.

No. 2 Jackson Post 158 (21-19) and No. 3 Cape (33-10) square off at 5 p.m. Friday, with No. 1 Dunklin County (35-6) playing the winner of Poplar Bluff-Sikeston at 8 p.m.

The winners bracket final and elimination games are Saturday. The championship game is scheduled for 5 p.m. Sunday, and an if-necessary title contest would be played at 7 p.m. Monday.

"We look forward to hosting. It's a big thing for us," Pennington said. "I look for a really competitive tournament. There are a lot of good teams, and most of them have a chance to win it."

Perennial power Dunklin County, which claimed district crowns in 2007 and 2008, went 7-1 in regular-season district play.

Cape and Jackson were both 4-4 in the district, with Poplar Bluff 3-5 and Sikeston 2-6. Poplar Bluff handed Dunklin County its lone district loss.

Cape and Jackson, which meet in the first round, split four regular-season meetings, including the two district matchups.

"We've battled it out with Jackson. It's anybody's game right there. I look forward to those kinds of games," Pennington said.

Tradition-rich Post 63, after several recent rough seasons, has bounced back with consecutive campaigns of at least 30 wins. Last year's district championship was Cape's first since 2003.

"That was our goal when I started," said Pennington, who took over the program last summer after previously coaching Cape's junior Legion. "We really wanted to get a lot of young kids back into Legion ball, and I think we've accomplished that."

While all five squads will be chasing a district title, there also could be a reward for the second-place finisher under the right circumstances.

Since Cape is locked into the host slot for the five-team zone tournament that will be held at Capaha Field, if Post 63 captures the district crown then the runner-up also will qualify for zone play.