The peanuts and Crackerjacks will be in abundance this weekend as Easter marks tournament time for area baseball teams.
Northside will be hosting its annual Easter tournament and this year’s field includes Southside, Columbia, Mattamuskeet, South Creek, Hertford, Plymouth and Bertie.
The tournament will be held at both Northside and South Creek on Saturday. On Monday, the action will resume at South Creek High School.
On Saturday, the Northside bracket will include the Panthers, Columbia, Mattamuskeet and Southside, while Hertford, Plymouth and Bertie will be in the Sout h Creek bracket.
The games will begin at 1 p.m. with Northside taking on Columbia and will be followed by Southside-Mattamuskeet. The losers from those two games will square off at 6 p.m.
At South Creek, the Cougars will take on Hertford at 1 p.m. and will be followed by Plymouth-Bertie and a losers’ bracket game.
On Monday, the two winners from the Northside bracket will face each other at 11 a.m. and the two winners from the South Creek bracket will clash at 1:30 p.m. The winners of those contests will battle for the tourney title at 6:30 p.m.
The tournament games do not count towards team’s conference records and Northside coach Keith Boyd said that the tourney offers players a chance to catch their coach’s eye.
“We have a chance to play two or three games. Maybe we can find someone who can gives us a few innings somewhere or find some people who can step into the batter’s box and do some things,” Boyd said. “Playing against some nonconference opponents takes some of the pressure off and gives us a bit of a chance to relax.”
Washington coach Ryan Whitney, whose Pam Pack will be playing in the three-day Pitt County Classic tournament, also felt this weekend’s games offer a chance to lookover his lineup.
“I’m sure there will probably be a move or two made,” Whitney said. “It may not be much but the two main things for us will be giving some guys a chance on the mound and also we might try to take some JV guys up with us and give them a chance.”
Washington will begin the Pitt County Classic Saturday at noon when it faces Kinston.