By By Austin Bishop/EMG regional sports director
Feb. 22, 2002
High school basketball isn't the only sports highlight in the area this weekend.
While prep hoops teams from Noxubee County, to Lauderdale County to Wayne County are still living their dreams of a state championship, Meridian Community College will be playing host to a pair of tournaments of a different sort.
The MCC baseball team will be hosting the Rush Classic, a four-team, three-day, round-robin event that features all four of the area's community colleges.
While that event will be taking place at Scaggs Field on the campus of MCC today, Saturday and Sunday, the Lady Eagles of Meridian Community College will be hosting an eight-team fast-pitch softball team today and Saturday at the Northeast Softball Complex.
Each team has six pre-scheduled games and do not play their "natural" rival in the event.
For example, MCC does not play Central Alabama, and Blinn (Texas) College doesn't take on San Jacinto (Texas) Community College.
There are no playoffs, with overall tournament records determining the champions.
The action starts at 8:35 a.m. today, with the last games of the day schedule for 5 p.m. Saturday's games are set for 8:30 a.m., 10:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m.
Today MCC plays San Jacinto at 11 a.m., Blinn at 3 p.m. and Young Harris (Ga.) at 5 p.m. Other teams in the tournament are Chipola (Fla.) Junior College, Motlow (Tenn.) State Community College and Okaloosa Walton (Fla.) Community College.
The Rush Classic baseball tournament features East Central Community College, East Mississippi Community College, Jones Junior College and MCC.
Today's action has East Central and Jones facing off at noon, with EMCC and Meridian hooking up at 3 p.m. On Saturday EMCC and East Central play at noon, followed by Jones and Meridian, while Sunday's final day has East Mississippi and JCJC playing at noon, followed by the Meridian-East Central contest.
While the back-to-back format helps to prepare the schools for the grueling four-day schedule of the Region 23 Tournament, it also has other plusses.
MCC goes into the tournament with a 3-6 record, while EMCC is 2-3 and East Central is 0-3.