THE DEMOPOLIS TIMES

DEMOPOLIS &8212; The fates of the Demopolis Dixie Youth Softball League&8217;s draft and all-star selection systems are still in the air as the organization&8217;s board tabled motions on the items until all members could be present for a vote.

The two issues are the most complicated items League president Rusty Byars has put to the board for review prior to the beginning of its 2008 season. He has asked the board to consider overhauling the league&8217;s current policies on both issues to find a less fallible system.

Board members seemed reluctant to accept Byars&8217; suggestion, citing coaches tendencies to move up in age groups with their children, uneven numbers of players entering and leaving an age group each year and conflicts between players and coaches as reasons such a system won&8217;t work. Board members were also reluctant to approve Byars&8217; suggestion that the all-star selection process be moved from a points ballot to a more open discussion among league coaches without Byars presenting a detailed plan of his proposal.

In other items, the board was less reluctant to act.

While no action was taken, Byars and the board agreed that the T-ball level needs to be more instructive to players. All members present agreed that both fielding skills and base running need further development at the age level.

Byars and the board also agreed to provide pitchers masks for every age group in which players were responsible for pitching the ball. While the group didn&8217;t go so far as to make the masks mandatory, everyone agreed they could prevent injuries.

In their first meeting of the year, the board expressed interest in adding pitching in some form to the 7-8-year-old age group. When asked to vote on the issue at Tuesday nights meeting, however, members decided to leave the current coach pitch system in place, noting players learn how to hit well in this age group and adding pitching might hurt the group during all-star play.

The Board decided to keep the same sign-up fee from last year: $47 per child for 7-15-year-olds and $42 for the second child and $42 for T-ball players. Sign ups begin Friday and run through each age group&8217;s draft dates in March. Sheets will be at Omni Sports in Demopolis.