The Troy Sportsplex will come to life tonight with the onset of the Dixie Minor sub-district tournament.

The teams begin their battle at 4 p.m. with a match up between Geneva and Elba. Enterprise Nationals take on Coffee County at 6 p.m. in the second game of the night, and the hometown Troy Americans will play the Enterprise Americans in today's final game.

With seven total teams coming into town (Samson earned a bye until Saturday), the director of the Troy Parks and Recreation Department is excited about the event.

"The 9-and-10-year-old tournament is always my favorite," Dan Smith said. "Even though the players develop their skills the older they get, this age is the first one where they play actual baseball. Before this age, they play with a pitching machine."

Smith said the tournament is always well received by those who participate in it. The parents and coaches and players of the teams always have good things to say about the tournament, how it's handled and the Sportsplex, Smith said.

"We try to do a great job for all the tournaments we handle," Smith said. "People are always happy with what we do here."

This tournament is the first of three to which Troy will be the home. The Alabama Recreation and Parks Association will hold a fastpitch state tournament July 12-14, and the Dixie Belles and Dixie Angels will play the district tournament July 18-24.

Smith was hard at work planning the future tournaments Thursday, but he and his staff were also working on this weekend's fun.

"We added a few wrinkles for this tournament," Smith said.

The Dixie Minor tournament will continue through Wednesday. The teams will take a break Sunday but will resume Monday. The semifinals are scheduled for Tuesday, and the championship game is Wednesday. If the loser's bracket winner wins Wednesday's game, the extra finals game will be Thursday at 7 p.m.

Results from today's games will be available at The Messenger's Web site after 11 p.m. Team photos of all teams playing in Troy this weekend will be in Sunday's edition of The Messenger.