By DAN BISER

Heading off to state Dixie Youth Baseball tournament play is “old-hat” for all-star teams from the Columbus County League.

On Saturday, the Columbus County team will be stepping into the state tournament for the eighth time in nine years when it goes against East Duplin at 4 p.m. at Red Springs.

The 2006 North Carolina Dixie Youth Tournament, which consists of two eight-team double-elimination brackets and a best-of-three playoff round for the bracket winners, will run through Aug. 5.

The Columbus County All-Stars will be making their 26th state tournament appearance since 1971. They have won 14 state championships with the latest coming in 2000. Columbus County is also the lone North Carolina holder of a Dixie Youth World Series championship, having achieved that in 1993 at W. Monroe, La.
The 2006 Columbus County squad, coached by Kevin Wayne, Jesse Register and Jody Sykes, came away with the District 2 Tournament championship last week at Old Dock, having another classic battle with longtime district rival Whiteville Optimist in the championship round.
Whiteville, the 2005 district champ, took a 7-0 victory over Columbus to force a final game, but Columbus prevailed in 9-5 in the deciding match-up.

Members of the Columbus County DY All-Star team are Derrick Bracey, Ryan Sykes, Forrest Wayne, Alex Batten, Chase Nye, Justin Ward, Hyland Tyler, Dillon Faulk, Taylor Stevens, Cody Wiggins, Allen Mitchell, Aaron Graves and Josh Tedder.

The state tournament winner will receive a berth in the 2006 Dixie Youth World Series that will open on Aug. 13 at Goodlettsville, Tenn.

District 2 teams have advanced to the state tournament finals in each of the last three seasons. Last year. Whiteville was edged by Louisburg in the championship round at Leland, and in 2004 West Robeson slipped past Columbus County at Tabor City. In 2003, Hope Mills turned back Columbus County at Fayetteville.