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By Sonny Jones

Today should be an exciting day for Dixie Youth Baseball players either playing for the first time or moving up to an older age bracket.

It’s player evaluation day in Clarkton and Elizabethtown. Perhaps elsewhere in Bladen County as well.

Player evaluation day is scheduled for the Clarkton and Elizabethtown programs. Clarkton is at its Dixie Youth Baseball Complex. Elizabethtown at Leinwand Park. Times are 11 a.m. for coach pitch (ages 7-8), 1 p.m. for minors (ages 9-10) and 3 p.m. for majors (ages 11-12).

In Clarkton, along with evaluations, there will be a BBQ chicken plate sale from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. Plates are $10. Proceeds benefit Clarkton DYB program.

It makes for a long day for the coaches, who all volunteer their time.

• Back in the day, we called this day tryouts. That’s because not every player who attended was assured of being on a team. We didn’t have the facilities in Elizabethtown at the time to accommodate every kid that wanted to play. Seems one year there were around 40 kids not selected and that was before coach pitch was a thing. Sad, but true. Hopefully, every player being evaluated today is given an opportunity to be on a team.

• When I arrived in Elizabethtown in 1978 we played at what is now Leinwand Park, but was Elizabethtown Middle School baseball, softball and football fields at the time. We put up a rope for an outfield fence on the baseball and softball fields and, if the ball rolled under the rope, which happened quite often in the majors, it was a ground rule double. There were no bathrooms nor lighted fields. It was decided that games would begin at 6:15 p.m. because 6 p.m. was too early for some people to get there after work and 6:30 p.m. was too late because it might get dark before the game ended. Thankfully, things are much better now at fields throughout the county.

• Best wishes to all Dixie Youth Baseball players and coaches in Bladen County this season. Coaches, make it a memorable experience for your players. Parents and grandparents, enjoy the games and realize your player isn’t going to play for the Atlanta Braves one day. Sorry to break it to you.

TODAY IN SPORTS HISTORY

• 1990 — Hank Gathers, one of two Division I players to lead the nation in scoring and rebounding in the same season, dies after collapsing during Loyola Marymount’s West Coast Conference tournament game against Portland. He was 23.

POTATO PICKS TO WATCH TODAY

• PREMIER: Newcastle United at Manchester City, 7:30 a.m., USA

• PREMIER: Leeds United at Chelsea, 10 a.m., USA

• ACC WOMEN’S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT: Louisville vs. Notre Dame, noon, ACCN

• PGA: Arnold Palmer Invitational, 12:30 p.m., GOLF and 2:30 p.m., NBC

• PREMIER: Leicester City at Southampton, 12:30 p.m., NBC

• NHL: N.Y. Rangers at Boston, 12:55 p.m., ABC

• MLB: N.Y. Mets vs. Miami, 1 p.m., MLBN

• NFL: Scouting Combine – Quarterbacks, wide receivers, tight ends, 1 p.m., NFLN

• ACC WOMEN’S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT: Duke vs. Virginia Tech, 2:30 p.m., ACCN

• PGA: Puerto Rico Open, 2:30 p.m., GOLF

• NHL: Colorado at Dallas, 3:30 p.m., ABC