By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
MARION -- More than 40 teams are scheduled to compete in the three-day East Arkansas Spring Premiere NIT youth baseball tournament, beginning tonight, weather permitting and continuing through Sunday.
The tournament, for ages seven through 14, will be played at two locations -- Colonial Park, located across from Marion High School and the Marion Sports Complex.
Twenty of those teams will be representing Arkansas.
Forrest City is sending two teams -- Lucas Trucking, competing in the 11-year-old division and the Forrest City Travelers, competing in the 13-year-old age division.
Four teams from Wynne are included in the tournament mix while Marion has two teams entered.
Other Arkansas teams will represent Jonesboro, Paragould, Vilonia, Newport, Trumann, West Memphis, McCrory, Cabot, Searcy, Blytheville and Luxora.
The tournament begins tonight with games scheduled in all age divisions except the 10-year-olds, which will open Saturday.
The 10-team, 11-year-old bracket is divided into three pools with Lucas Trucking playing from Pool B which also houses the Arkansas Steelers and the Memphis A's.
The Forrest City Travelers are in the 13-year-old division with the Memphis A's, the Arkansas Lasers and the Millington Trojans.
Wynne has teams in the 7, 9, 11 and 14-year-old brackets.
The championship games will be played Sunday afternoon.
The East Arkansas Fellowship of Christian Athletes will sponsor an "Evening of Challenge" banquet on Tuesday, April 8, at the Forrest City Civic Center.
The banquet will kick off a nine-county campaign to establish an FCA office in this area
The keynote speaker for the evening will be NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Bart Starr, who played 16 seasons with the Green Bay Packers and is the winningest quarterback in NFL history.
Former Arkansas football coach and current Rice University Coach Ken Hatfield is sending a videotape presentation which will set the stage for Starr.
The "Evening of Challenge" will begin at 6:30 p.m. with a silent auction. Dinner will be served at 7 p.m.
Tickets are $10 per person and are now on sale at several businesses in Forrest City, including Dr. Don Perkins office, Machen Ford, Freeman's, Taylor-Casbeer, Dr. Frank Schwartz and at Forrest City High School or from Dr. Dale Morris.
The nine counties, comprising the East Arkansas FCA, are St. Francis, Arkansas, Crittenden, Cross, Lee, Monroe, Phillips, Prairie and Woodruff.