NATCHEZ — When the Natchez Dixie Youth 12-year-old All-Star team takes the field tonight to begin its sub-district tournament, it will be doing so against some unfamiliar opponents.

After years of competing in the north sub-district against teams from Brookhaven, Wesson and Copiah, Natchez has moved to the south sub-district and will take on Magnolia, Pine Hills, Summit and Franklin County in the tournament, which will take place at Carroll-Jones Field in Duncan Park.

“This is new territory with the teams we’re facing,” Natchez coach Terry Moffett said. “We’ve never lined up against them in a sub-district tournament.”

And that is true of Natchez’s first opponent, Magnolia. The two teams will face off at 8 p.m. today.

“We really don’t know that much about Magnolia,” Moffett said. “It’s just one of those deals where we’ve got to take care of the things we do, and if we do those well, it ought to fall in place for us.”

Pine Hills will play Summit in the 6 p.m. game today and Franklin County has a bye and will play the winner of the Pine Hills, Summit game at 6 p.m. Tuesday.

The winner of the double-elimination south sub-district tournament will play the winner of the north sub-district tournament in a best two-out-of-three series, with the winner of that advancing to the regional tournament.

The Natchez 12-year-old team has been practicing for two weeks since the team was selected, and Moffett said they have been working hard to improve during that time.

“We’ve gotten a lot covered in the two weeks we’ve had, but we’re still a work in progress,” Moffett said. “Our mental approach has gotten a whole lot better.”

And when it comes down to being successful in the sub-district tournament.

“We still want to go with the things that have worked for us in the past,” Moffett said. “We need good pitching, to play good defense and get timely hits. If we can do that, we’ll be OK.”