Today’s schedule

1 p.m. - South Columbus vs. West Bladen

4 p.m. - East Columbus vs. North Stanly

7 p.m. - West Columbus vs. Harrells

Whiteville has opening round bye

By DAN BISER

Easter holiday baseball will get underway today at Legion Stadium in the first round of the Jiggs Powers Memorial Baseball Tournament.

The seven-team tournament will open at 1 p.m., with South Columbus taking on West Bladen. At 4, East Columbus will square off with North Stanly, and the nightcap at 7 will have West Columbus taking on Harrells Christian Academy.

Host Whiteville High has an opening-round bye and will step into action Tuesday night at 7 against the West Columbus-Harrells winner. Tuesday’s other second-round games will be at 1 and 4. Wednesday’s final round will have the fifth place game at 1, the third place game at 4 and championship game at 7.

Daily admission will be $5.

West Columbus, now boasting a 14-1 record and two wins each over South Columbus, East Columbus and Whiteville, is the pre-tournament favorite.

The tournament was originally set for eight teams, but Mitchell County has since dropped out and a replacement was not found.

The annual holiday tournament, which was inaugurated in 1985 at Williams Township, is named for Vernon “Jiggs” Powers, a longtime Columbus County sports publicist, who served as sports editor for The News Reporter for 35 years. He died in 1997 at the age of 81 after writing and reporting on area sports for more than a half-century.

The tournament was not held last year as local teams competed in tournaments outside the county, but it has been reinstated this year.

Past tournament champions follow:

1985 – Tabor City
1986 – West Stanly
1987 – Acme-Delco
1988 – Hallsboro
1989 – Hallsboro
1990 - West Columbus
1991 - West Stanly
1992 - Whiteville
1993 - Whiteville
1994 - Whiteville
1995 - Whiteville
1996 - Whiteville
1997 - South Columbus
1998 - East Columbus
1999 - South Columbus
2000 - South Columbus
2001 - Whiteville
2002 - South Columbus
2003 - High Point Wesleyan
2004 - High Point Wesleyan