Junior Dixie Boys World Series Notebook

Who’s in blue
Twelve umpires are officiating in the Junior Dixie Boys World Series, but to be selected, umpires go through an extensive process, tournament umpire-in-charge (UIC) Bruce Mathews said.
“First they have to be certified and have had experience in (both) district and state tournaments,” he said.
Umpires that meet those qualifications file applications with their districts, and district UICs must approve them before they face the state UIC. Upon approval from the state, they can be assigned to any World Series for which they are qualified.
The national UIC must approve any out-of-state umpires. Three from Florida are in the tournament.

Hiatus ends for DLS
After holding all five Dixie Softball world series in 2005 and the Dixie “O” Zone World Series in 2006, Dothan Leisure Services returns to hosting Dixie’s crowning event with this year’s Junior Dixie Boys World Series.
It is the second straight year the 13-year-olds have ended their seasons in South Alabama. Last year’s World Series was in Enterprise.

You going to eat all of that?
Dothan Miracle League is running the concession stands for the World Series, and Mark Kelly said he ordered “as much food as we would sell in our entire league” to prepare for demand.
“You order as much as you can fit in your freezer and hope you have a good supplier, which we do,” he said.
James McCord said the league purchased six bushels of peanuts to boil for the tournament.
One item that did run short was ice as temperatures again approached 100 degrees.
“We had started 25 minutes before we were having to send people out to get more ice,” Kelly said on Saturday. “Thank goodness we have a lot of ice machines in Westgate Park.”

Beat the heat
As the dog days of summer baked (or fried) spectators, players and officials, one favorite location was the misting tent, where water from misters gave sweet relief to overheated attendees.

Left-hander at shortstop
You never see left-handed players at second base, third base or shortstop at the professional and college levels, but Tennessee’s Austin Sharpton pulled off the feat and did well.
Sharpton played shortstop until coming on to pitch in the sixth inning in Tennessee’s first game.

Death Valley East
A large Louisiana contingent showed up in purple and yellow Sunday to root the “Tigers” to a 4-3, nine-inning win over North Carolina.
The raucous crowd played audio clips from LSU’s band while cheering during the game.
After the win, there were unconfirmed reports of tailgating at the team’s hotel.

By the numbers
11: consecutive World Series appearances made by Arkansas head coach Devin Warner as a coach
72: pitches Georgia pitcher Jonathan Foster threw in a complete game win over Tennessee
244: Italian Ice cones sold during the tournament’s first day Saturday
866: The paid attendance for Saturday’s first day of action

— Notes compiled by Jeremy Wise and Drew Champlin