Lexington ready to host Dixie Youth World Series

James Thompson can’t think of a better way for Dixie Youth Baseball to celebrate its 60^th anniversary.

Thompson is the president of Lexington Dixie Youth Baseball and he is expecting to welcome 8,000 to 10,000 visitors to Ball Park Road for the 2015 Dixie Youth World Series. There will be 36 teams vying for championships in Minors (ages 9-10), Majors (11-12) and “O” Zone (11-12)

This is the fourth time the World Series has been held in Lexington (1995, 2010 and 2014) and Thompson said the formula has been the same each time.

“We know how to provide good quality baseball on excellent fields,” Thompson said. “All the behind the scenes stuff is what makes a tournament run smoothly. We have to cover parking, restrooms, food, drinks and have enough staff on hand to handle any situation. It’s just a number of things people don’t always see on the front end.”

Lexington is hosting the World Series for the second consecutive year and the third time in the last six, so the volunteers for the tournament must be doing something right.

“We haven’t made many changes over the years,” Thompson said. “We tweak a few minor things here and there, but overall we try to put the same experience together every year. It’s a lot of hard work and dedication from a lot of people.”

The World Series will begin Friday night with opening ceremonies being held across the street from the Ball Park Road facility in the new Lexington County Baseball Stadium, home of theBlowfish. Games begin on Saturday with the championships being held on August 13.

South Carolina will have two teams in each of the three divisions. Lexington will be the host team and the winner of the South Carolina tournaments will be the state’s other representatives.

Preparations for the World Series began last September soon after the 2014 tournament concluded. Committee members first met once a month, then twice a month until the last two months when they met twice a week.

The one thing, however, that Thompson can’t control is weather.

“We’re keeping our fingers crossed because we’ve had about two weeks of sunshine and no rain, but we know it’s coming,” he said. “We hope we can work around any scheduling postponements we might have. We’re prepared to cover the fields.”

Thompson said the tournament provides an economic boost for the Lexington community. Hotels, restaurants, stores and gas stations will be full for the majority of the week. With teams from as far away as Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas, many families turn the tournament into their summer vacation.

“They come and stay two weeks – one here and then they will head to the beach. It’s great for the statewide economy,” Thompson said.

This story was originally published August 6, 2015 at 11:17 PM.