Red Bay baseball, Tharptown softball get first-round byes in county tournaments this weekend

By Staff
Scot Beard
PHIL CAMPBELL – This weekend will be a key part of the season for the high school baseball and softball teams in Franklin County as they play for the county title at Phil Campbell.
In baseball, Belgreen, Phil Campbell and Red Bay have been eliminated from playoff contention and will be looking to end their seasons on a positive note. Tharptown, which will still have a chance at the playoffs if the Wildcats defeated Phillips Tuesday, might join that group.
Vina, which has clinched a playoff berth, will try to gain some momentum before its first-round game.
The Red Devils will play Belgreen at 4:30 p.m. Friday to start the tournament. Tharptown and Phil Campbell will play after the conclusion of that game.
The winner of the Phil Campbell-Tharptown game will play at 11 a.m. Saturday. The winner of that game will play the winner of the Belgreen-Vina game for the county title.
All of the teams in the softball tournament will be playing for bragging rights and momentum heading into the area tournaments later this month.
The softball tournament, which will be double-elimination format, begins Friday at 4 p.m. when Belgreen plays Red Bay. Following that game Vina will play Phil Campbell.
The final game Friday will feature Tharptown playing the winner of the Belgreen-Red Bay game.
The loser's bracket portion of the tournament will begin Saturday morning.