The Webster Progress-Times

State Dizzy Dean tournaments starting today in Eupora should have a sizable impact on the local economy.

The city is hosting Mississippi Dizzy Dean state tournaments for 8-and-under girls softball and 14-year-old boys baseball at Gary Park, which opened this spring.

Park Director Mike Narmour said 25 teams will be here for at least three days, Thursday-Saturday, and some longer. The girls tournament will conclude Sunday while the boys tournament will stretch into Tuesday, when the last two teams standing will play for the state championship.

He predicted that the tournaments will bring around a thousand people here, including players, coaches and family members. This should mean good business for restaurants, convenience stores and grocery stores.

Narmour said this is the first time that Eupora will have hosted a Dizzy Dean boys state championship in the 12 years he has been living here.

Eupora will have a team in both tournaments. Among the other towns that will be represented are Mathiston, Southaven, Horn Lake, Fulton, Winona, Clinton, Tupelo, Philadelphia, Houston, West Point, Ackerman, Louisville, Saltillo, Aberdeen, Oxford and Olive Branch.

Narmour expressed thanks to Eupora's Billy Powell for "helping me every possible way I could to get ready for this tournament." Powell, a senior national board member and a state director for Dizzy Dean, is over the girls tournament.

Also, Narmour said he knew that at least one family here for the tournament will be staying at the city's newly opened RV park at Whites Creek Lake.