The South Columbus Dixie Darling (ages 6-8) All-Stars will carry the North Carolina championship banner into the 2007 Dixie Darlings Softball World Series that opens this weekend at Albemarle.

The North Carolina squad will take on the Florida champ Saturday at 1 p.m. in the opening round of play.

The 12-team, double-elimination tournament will run through Wednesday.
South Columbus will be the first team from Columbus County to ever compete in the Dixie Darlings World Series.

Opening ceremonies will be held Friday night at 7 with teams from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia getting recognized along with the host West Stanly team.

The South Columbus team actually finished runnerup in the recent state tournament at Shallotte as it bowed to North Stanly in the finals. However, North Stanly opted to participate in another World Series event in South Carolina, allowing South Columbus to claim the Dixie Darling World Series berth.

South Columbus had qualified for state tournament play by winning the District 9 tournament at Leland.

South Columbus head coach Steven Suggs said his team is “extremely excited” about representing its state in the World Series.

“We’re especially happy that the World Series is in our home state,” Suggs said. “If it was off in another state like Texas or Louisiana, we’d have a long two-day trip facing us. The drive to Stanly County isn’t bad at all.”

Suggs is assisted by Wendy Suggs, Natalie Grainger and Chad Turbeville.

Team members are Autumn Anderson, Kierra Brown, Courtnee Faulk, Kourtney Grainger, Sadrine Jacobs, Lindsey Jones, Morgan Nye, Katlyn Pridgen, Holly Sarvis, Madison Spencer, Alexis Suggs, Taylor Turbeville and Brianna Wright.

Other opening round games will have Arkansas taking on Tennessee, Texas going against South Carolina, Virginia meeting Mississippi and Georgia squaring off with Alabama. The host West Stanly team will play Louisiana.