CAPE LEGION ANNOUNCES TOURNAMENT FIELD OF FIVE

Cape Girardeau's Ford & Sons American Legion baseball team will welcome four other Legion squads to town this week for the Zone Tournament that will determine a berth in the American Legion State Tournament.

Play at Capaha Field will begin Thursday and run through at least Saturday.

Ford & Sons did not fare well in last week's District 14 Tournament that it also hosted, winning one and losing two to finish fifth out of seven teams.

But Cape will have a chance to make amends for that showing because it received an automatic berth in the zone by virtue of its host status.

"I think all our guys are looking forward to the tournament," said Cape manager Ron Michel. "We had a very poor showing in the district and we'd like to make up for that.

"There are going to be some very good teams here, but if we play like we're capable, I feel like we have as good a chance as anyone."

Four district tournament champions will join Cape in the field, with the winner advancing to next week's state tourney in Columbia.

Ballwin (District 10), Anheuser-Busch (District 11-12), De Soto (District 13) and Dunklin County (District 14) won their respective district tourney titles to advance to Cape Girardeau.

Zone action will kick off Thursday with two games: Dunklin County vs. Anheuser-Busch at 5:30 p.m. and Cape vs. De Soto at 8:30 p.m.

There will be four games Friday, beginning with an elimination contest at 10 a.m.

District 10 champion Ballwin will play its first tournament game at 1 p.m. Friday against the winner of Thursday's Cape vs. De Soto contest.

Another elimination contest will be played at 5:30 p.m., followed by the 8:30 p.m. winner's bracket final.

The loser's bracket final is set for 1 p.m. Saturday, with the championship to follow at 7 p.m.

If no team finishes Saturday's play undefeated, then a final title contest would be played at 1 p.m. Sunday.

"I don't know if you can say there's a real favorite (to win the tournament," Michel said. "I think it's pretty wide open."