VIDALIA — If the Concordia Parish 9-year-old Dixie Youth All-Star team is going to win the state tournament, they will do so on the strength of their pitching staff.

With the team having the potential to play five games in three days, coach Jamie Lancaster said the number of pitchers on the roster is key to his team’s success.

“Our strength is our depth at pitching,” Lancaster said. “We’ve got a lot of good, consistent pitchers.”

The staff, which consists of Lee Lancaster, Drew McCartney, Trey Buckles, Reed Richard and J.R. Davis will be tested in the tournament’s pool play format.

There are 16 teams in the state tournament in Gonzales, La., with four pools of four teams each.

The winner of each pool advances to Sunday’s semifinals.

The semifinal games take place Sunday afternoon, and the championship game takes place Sunday evening.

“It’s good to have that many pitchers because you’re limited to 11 innings per pitcher for the tournament,” Lancaster said. “Also, if a pitcher pitch more than two innings in a game, the pitcher has to sit out a game, and if he pitches four or more innings, he has to wait 36 hours before he can pitch again. There’s a lot of planning that goes into pitching in this tournament.”

Concordia plays Ville Platte at 5 p.m. today to open the tournament.

The team will then play two games Saturday, taking on Alexandria at 11 a.m. before playing Ponchatoula at 4 p.m.

Concordia finished third in the district tournament, behind West Moroe and Monroe.

They defeated Winnsboro 21-0, Caldwell 12-1 and Morehouse 13-5 to secure third place.

However, Lancaster said not to be fooled by Concordia’s bronze medal showing.

“We were in a very tough district,” Lancaster said. “You could just see the improvement of the boys just by playing that good competition.”

And Lancaster said the team has a good a shot as any to win the state tournament.

“They have improved since district,” Lancaster said. “They’re confidence level is high and they’re looking good. We’ve got a real good shot at winning this thing.”