THE LATEST LINE: WOOD TO COME OUT AT CAPAHA

Area sports fans who long for amateur baseball the way it used to be should free up their calendar for this coming weekend.

That's when the annual National Baseball Congress Regional Tournament hosted by the Craftsman Union Capahas will be played at Capaha Field in Cape Girardeau.

And the teams participating will be using wood bats, which the national NBC organization mandates and purists appreciate.

People who have been watching amateur squads use aluminum bats for all these years might have a hard time recognizing the sport with wood.

Well, maybe the change isn't quite that drastic. But it does make baseball a different game. No longer do balls routinely leave the park as if shot out of a cannon. No longer do balls hit off the fists or off the end of the bat land safely on the outfield grass.

Simply put, wood bats change the offensive scope of the game. More emphasis is placed on pitching and defense, and manufacturing runs becomes extremely important.

To get ready for the tournament, the winner of which receives an automatic berth in next month's prestigious NBC World Series in Wichita, Kan., the Capahas have been using wood for much of the regular season -- even though their opponents haven't.

While matching wood against aluminum might hurt the Capahas a bit record-wise during the campaign, longtime manager Jess Bolen figures the handicap is well worth it because waiting to switch to wood for the NBC Regional would make for quite a bumpy transition.

And besides, the Capahas seem to be more of a wood-bat kind of team this year anyway. While lacking the offensive pop of recent Bolen squads, they have a deep and solid pitching staff that has been impressive much of the season.

That could bode well for the home team as it attempts to reclaim the NBC Regional title it last won two years ago.

* The entire NBC Regional field has not yet been finalized, but it will once again include two Cape Girardeau squads as the upstart Riverdogs join the Capahas in the tournament.

While obviously not having nearly the history of the tradition-rich Capahas, the Riverdogs -- who are in their third year of existence -- have provided another competitive avenue for baseball players who have used up their American Legion eligibility.

* Cape Girardeau's Ford & Sons Senior American Legion baseball team got off to something of a slow start this year, but the squad has picked things up in recent weeks and could be a factor when the District 14 Tournament is held later this month.

* The Junior American Legion District 14 Tournament, scheduled to begin Tuesday in Charleston, figures to be mighty interesting.

Cape Girardeau Best Mortgage is having a sensational season with well over 30 wins, but so is Sikeston, which has earned the top seed for the tourney.

Cape and Sikeston are both exceptional teams but only one will advance out of the district and on to zone play.

* As you read this column, I'm lounging in sunny Southern California during my annual visit to relatives on the West Coast.

But don't be too jealous. A lack of unlimited vacation time at work not to mention a lack of funds will force my return to Cape by mid-week.

~Marty Mishow is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian