The Minden Recreation Center hosts two Diamond Youth Baseball state tournaments beginning Friday, and five Minden All-Star softball teams begin their quests for state titles and World Series berths Friday and Saturday in Alexandria.
The 9U and 11U baseball tournaments are Friday through Sunday at the Rec Center.
The state tournaments for PonyTails X-Play, Angels X-Play and Darlings all begin Friday at the Johnny Downs Sports Complex, but only two Minden teams play on the first day. The SweeTees X-Play and Angels tournaments starts Saturday.
At the Rec Center, the Minden 9U team faces Ponchatoula at 7 p.m. in its Pool A opener. Minden completes pool play Saturday with 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. games.
The Minden 11U team opens Pool A play with a 9 a.m. game Friday. Minden completes pool play with 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. games Saturday.
Bracket play begins Sunday morning.
At Alexandria, Minden plays Madisonville in the in the first round of the nine-team Ponytails X-Play tournament at 4 p.m. Friday. Minden faces Sabine at 6 in the 9-team Angels X-Play tournament.
All other Minden squads play their first games Saturday.
Minden faces the Caldwell-Oakdale winner at 9 a.m. in the 11-team Darlings tournament.
Minden takes on Grant at 3 in the three-team Angels tournament.
Minden has two games scheduled for Saturday in the three-team SweeTees X-Play tournament against Ruston at 9 and West Monroe at noon.
Minden baseball teams are also competing in other state tournaments.
The 10U All-Stars begin play in the AAA North Regional Friday in Alexandria. Minden is also competing in the 6U T-Ball tournament which began Friday in Tioga.
The 12U O-Zone All-Stars begin play in their state tournament July 11 in Buckeye.