Rivals Matched in 25th District Senior Opener
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[ Pinckneyville (4-10) is seeded eighth in the nine-team event and battles #9 Du Quoin (1-12) at Riverside Park Stadium's Chep Kessel Field.
The winner of that game will play top-seeded Marion (25-2)at 10 a.m. Saturday.
Second-seeded Murphysboro (31-3) opens up against No. 7 Carbondale at 1 p.m. Saturday.
Pulaski County—the 10th team in the district and originally slated to be Du Quoin's first tournament opponent—dropped out of the event, forcing officials to redraw the bracket.
On Friday, fifth-seed Steeleville is scheduled to play #6 Sparta at 5 p.m. while third-rated Campbell Hill is scheduled to fight four-seed Orient, the defending champion, at 8 p.m.
The top two finishers advance to the Fifth Division Tournament, which also draws the top two squads from the 22nd, 23rd and 24th Districts. That event will be held in Marion starting July 28.
The 25th tournament is slated to run through next Thursday.
JUNIOR TOURNAMENT
Despite a 14-3 loss against Clay County (Flora) Wednesday, Pinckneyville (Post #2504) is just one victory away from advancing into the Fifth Division Junior Tournament.
At 6 p.m. Thursday, Pinckneyville (10-2) and Sparta battle in the finals of the losers bracket at Steeleville. The winner, along with Clay County, advances to play Saturday night at 7:30 in Trenton.
Clay County—a 24-mile roundtrip from its home base in Flora to Steeleville—has indicated its plans to forfeit the championship game.
So, the Pinckneyville-Sparta winner will be declared 25th division winner.