Men's Fastpitch Softball: Local tourney honors the late Terry Deering
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[2009's Amateur Softball Association (ASA) Class C National third place finisher Elkville (Fastpitch) returns to defend its championship at the 12th annual Terry Deering Memorial Tournament.
The 10-team event starts with three games Thursday on Greg Hale Field at the Perry County Fairgrounds in Pinckneyville and continues until the finals late Sunday afternoon.
Elkville Fastpitch won last year's TDM title, defeating host Pinckneyville KC/Lee's Sports Falcons in the championship after also winning the event in 2007.
Joining Elkville and KC/Lee's Sports in the field for three-game guarantee tournament are local entries Southern Illinois Bulls (Elkville), KnightHawk Coal DirtBags from Scheller and the Pinckneyville Relics.
Belleville Stallions and Pete's Blues of Swansea represent the metro-east with out-of-state entries Hermann, Mo. (Black-Gold Fastpitch) and Kelso, Mo. also taking part along with Hurricanes Fastpitch of Villa Grove, Il.
Play begins at 6:30 Thursday with KC/Lee's Sports against S.I. Bulls.
Elkville vs. Relics follows around 7:45 p.m. with the nine o'clock affair featuring KnightHawk vs. Pete's Blues.
Three more games are slated to start at 7 p.m. Friday with a full schedule (10 games) commencing bright and early Saturday morning (8 a.m.).
The final session begins at 9 a.m. Sunday and features six games with the title battle set for 4 o'clock.
The tournament is named in memory of late State Representative Terry Deering of DuBois. A former player and life-long supporter of fastpitch softball, Deering was killed in a late July auto accident in 1997.
The tournament spent is first decade at Radom Village Park before moving to Pinckneyville two years ago.