On Thursday, the Christiansburg Dixie Youth O-Zone baseball team left the Montgomery County seat for what they hope will result in every ballplayer's goal- A WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP!

The team began the twelve hour trek to Pascagoula, Mississippi, hosts for the 2008 World Series. The double elimination tournament features state champions from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisianna, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia. By serving as the host site, Mississippi receives two entrants into the tournament to round out the twelve team field.

The Christiansburg squad qualified by dominating the Virginia qualification tournament. They rode on the strength of their prolific offensive attack. They won thier first game with a convincing 14-2 victory over Vinton National. The second round produced a 19-9 win over Rustburg. The team advanced to the chamionship round by narrowly defeating Bedford Metro by a 15-14 tally. The successful weekend was finalized with a 8-5 victory over Rustburg and advanced to the team to the World Series opportunity.

As is the case in any national tournament, the tournament format breaks into a winners and losers bracket. The Christiansburg baseball team begins play on Saturday with a 3pm start against Texarcana West, the Arkansas representative. If the local team wins the first outing, they will advance to the winners bracket with a second round game on Sunday at 8pm. If they drop their initial encouner, they will play on Sunday at 5:30pm.

WWW.NRVSPORTS.COM will be updating the events throughout the tournament with daily re-caps and local diaries from the site. According to Bill Glenn, Director of Marketing and Public Relations for the tournament, there will be a live video streaming available. The games can be viewed live on www.youthsportslive.com. It can also be linked from www.dixie.org.  Glenn will be providing updates on www.goulabaseball.com once the tournament begins.