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Last month, Southside High School and Keith Middle and High School broke ground on new ballfields for their softball programs.

Local officials are seeing that investment pay off as both teams are now in the regional tournament.

Southside is traveling down to Gulf Shores on Monday to compete in the Class 3A South Regional Tournament.

Keith is traveling over to Montgomery on Wednesday to play the Class 1A Central Regional Tournament at Lagoon Park.

Congratulations to both of these programs.

I also must mention that Morgan Academy is also finishing up a successful season in the Class AA AISA softball tournament this weekend.

But it shows you what investing in programs like this can mean for programs. It helps boost morale in the program, and it will eventually pay dividends with greater success.

When you have good facilities, it can make students perform better. For Keith and Southside, they are having to play on 300-foot fields during the regular season for home games, but the playoffs is all played on 200-foot fields.

It makes a difference in how you play defense, and if you hit a deep ball on a 300-foot field, it is likely still in play. On the shorter field, that’s a home run.

Dallas County and Morgan Academy already know this because they have their own softball fields at home.

And it means even more when you get to host a postseason tournament like the area tournament in your backyard on a regulation field. You also know how the sun hits the field every time you take the field.

When you play on the road, you have to adjust how you play based on the conditions. The sun might beat down on the visitors side, while you enjoy the shade in your own dugout.

So I think it’s great to see these investments pay off in the long run. We hope to see more home games and tournaments happen here in Dallas County.

Brent Maze is the publisher of The Selma Times-Journal. He can be reached at brent.maze@selmatimesjournal.com.