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Nine men’s and five women’s teams will battle for top honors in the first Yard Busters Pacificwide open softball tournament this weekend at Kadena Air Base’s FourDiamonds complex on Okinawa, organizers said.

Meanwhile, a post-level tournament scheduled for this weekend at Camp Casey in South Korea was postponed due to lack of teams, officials there said.

Organizer Greg Ware had hoped for up to 24 teams for the Yard Busters tournament, sponsored by the Okinawa Athletic Officials Association. He even had traveled in May to the Pacificwide Open tournament at Yongsan Garrision in South Korea and said he’d gotten verbal commitments from several teams there.

But the Area I men’s and women’s teams from South Korea and Misawa Air Base’s men’s and women’s squads from Japan were the only off-island teams to commit, Ware said. Others, saying they were limited to one out-of-area trip per season, opted to wait until the Kadena Klassic, scheduled for October.

The Yard Busters tournament is slated to run for two days, round-robin play on Saturday and double-elimination games on Sunday, with Monday available in case of rain.

Meanwhile, Camp Casey sports officials announced Monday that too few teams had signed up for the camp’s July Fourth tournament, held annually as an alternative for Korea-based post-level teams that can’t travel to Okinawa.

Kunsan Air Base’s men’s and women’s teams will play a weekend series of four makeup games at Osan Air Base, Keys said. All other Korea Traveling League teams have the weekend off.

Okinawa Yard Buster Pacificwide Open

Dates: July 1-2 (July 3 available in case of rain).

Site: FourDiamonds Complex, Kadena Air Base, Okinawa.

Format: Single round-robin, one pool each of nine men’s and five women’s teams, first day. Eight men’s teams and all women’s teams qualify for double-elimination playoffs, second day.

Rules: Tournament governed by modified Amateur Softball Association rules. Fifty-minute time limit for all games except championship games, which will have a 75-minute limit. Mercy rule in effect, 15-run lead after 3 innings, 10-run lead after 5 innings, for all games except championship games, which will have no run rule in effect. Twelve home run limit per team per game. Seventeen-player roster limit; playing coach counts against the limit. Players may play for only one team. Teams found to be using illegal players will forfeit from the tournament. Two-man umpiring mechanics for round-robin games, three-man mechanics for playoff games.

Schedule: First round-robin games at 8 a.m., last round-robin games for women at 10 p.m. and men at 1 a.m. Sunday. First playoff games at 8 a.m. Sunday, continuing until conclusion. Men’s championship at 4 p.m. Sunday, women’s championship at 4 p.m. Sunday. Skills competition 2:45 p.m. Saturday.

Participating teams: Men: Misawa Air Base, Japan; Area I (Camp Casey/Camp Red Cloud), South Korea; Kadena Falcons, Shogun, 18th Operational Support Squadron, Torii Knights, American Legion, Club Red, Mystery Machine, Okinawa. Women: Misawa, Area I, Yard Busters, Kadena, Torii Typhoon.

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