DEMOPOLIS

&8212; The only known local casualty of the storm system that moved through Demopolis Friday afternoon was the first day of the Demopolis Middle School Softball Invitational at the Sports-Plex.

With the threat of severe weather looming, DMS coach Jesse Bell began working the phones Friday afternoon, calling each of the six coaches who were scheduled to bring their middle school squads to the event. The impending rain forced the postponement of the tournament&8217;s opening games only hours before the projected 4:30 p.m. start time.

The rescheduling of Friday&8217;s action forced a significant alteration to today&8217;s plans, which now include seven teams competing in 18 games over an approximate 14-hour span.

The round robin style event will see Demopolis, Berry, Carbon Hill and Maddox each play six games while Birmingham area schools Mountain Brook, Berry and Thompson will play four games apiece.

For DMS, the interest in the event is completely different. The tournament serves as a kind of mile marker for the team as it enters into a long stretch of games across a short span of time, effectively serving as the second half of its season.

The girls, 5-5 entering play today, have made notable progress according to Bell and will look to build upon that success over the next few weeks.

Following their six games today, the Tigers will play a double-header at Maddox Friday before participating in a round robin tournament at Benjamin Russell next Saturday.

Today&8217;s action will begin at 8 a.m. and will see simultaneous games on two fields. Demopolis will be joined at the Sports-Plex by Thompson, Berry, Mountain Brook, Baker, Carbon Hill and Maddox.