WHEELING — When the annual Edgar Martin Beast of the East Baseball Tournament takes its swings this summer, the 12-and-under bracket will come back into play.

“It’s been about five years since we’ve had the 12-year-olds involved,” Tournament Director Bo McConnaughy said. “We’ve had a lot of people show an interest, so I thought ‘what the heck,’ we’ll try it again.”‘

This year’s event is scheduled for July 3-5. The entry fee is $700 per team and entry must be paid in full by May 15.

“If a team enters in March and April, they will get a $100 discount,” McConnaughy said.

He said most of the games would be played at Patterson Field in Elm Grove, with others being played at Ben’s Field and Lisa’s Field at the I-470 Complex in Elm Grove. He also said there’s a possibility of using the Wheeling Park High School girls’ softball field, as well.

Of those aforementioned fields, only the Wheeling Park softball field has turf.

“That’s what teams look for anymore. How many turf fields are available?” McConnaughy stressed. “Turf fields draw teams from out of the area. Unfortunately, we only have the ones at Wheeling Park High School.”

McConnaughy said the Beast will still hold 14U, 16U and 19U tournaments this summer.

“We’ve already got about 10-12 teams that have signed up,” he added.

In its hey-day, the Beast had more than 120 teams entered and used just about every field that was available in the Ohio Valley from Weirton to New Martinsville and Wheeling to Barnesville.

“We’ll never get back to those numbers,” McConnaughy said. “We’ve had to scale things back the last few years due to the increasing number of tournaments.”

McConnaughey said long-time friend Ken Campanizzi will be in charge of the 12U bracket.

All teams will be guaranteed between 4-6 games (weather permitting). Teams will be formed into a ‘Round-Robin’ format the first two days, with a doubleheader on Friday and a single game on Saturday. On Sunday, all of the teams will be placed in a pool and will play in a single-elimination tournament.

For more information or to enter a team, please contact Campanizzi at (304) 231-4570 or McConnaughy at (304) 280-2981.