The Chillicothe Mudcats college-level wood-bat baseball team will begin play in the National Baseball Congress' Central USA Regional tournament at Clarinda at about 8 p.m. Saturday against the Diamond Spirit team from Omaha, Neb.
     Diamond Spirit, champion of Omaha's Strike Zone Academy's six-team Upper Deck League, edged the Fellowship of Christian Athletes Grays from Kansas City 7-6 in 10 innings Friday, according to Merl Eberly, tournament director.  Like Chillicothe, FCA is a member of the MINK League.
     Chillicothe and Diamond Spirit did not meet during the regular season. The Mudcats had split six games with FCA.
     Mudcats head coach "Jud" Kindle stated a couple of days ago that Southern Illinois University righthander Andrew Dunn (6-1, 2.00 ERA), co-winningest pitcher on his team, would be Saturday's starting pitcher.
     The weather forecast for Clarinda was calling for partly cloudy skies through the day with a high temperature in the upper 80s. The evening forecast was for a 30 percent chance of precipitation in the form of isolated thundershowers.
     Should the Mudcats defeat Diamond Spirit, they'll face the host Clarinda A's in the double-elimination tournament's winners' bracket final at 1 p.m. Sunday.
     During the regular season, Chillicothe won four of its six MINK League contests against Clarinda. The A's are the last team to have beaten the Mudcats before the tournament, edging them 9-7 with a four-run rally in the bottom of the ninth inning in the first game of a July 16 doubleheader at Clarinda's Municipal Stadium. A victory in the nightcap of that twinbill began the Mudcats on a regular-season-ending eight-game winning streak.
     Clarinda earned its spot in the winners' final by bouncing D.J.'s Dugout of Omaha's Upper Deck League 10-5 Friday.
     Should Chillicothe lose Saturday night, it next would play at approximately 4 p.m. Sunday against the winner of Saturday's first-round losers' bracket contest between FCA and D.J.'s Dugout.
     If it plays that 4 p.m. game and wins, Chillicothe would play again immediately against the loser of Sunday's 1 p.m. tilt between Clarinda and Diamond Spirit.
     Stories on all of the Mudcats' weekend games will appear in Monday's print edition of the C-T.
Efforts will be made during the weekend to place updates of the results of their games here on our web page.