By Myra Bean

South Panola head baseball coach Patrick Robey said 45 former players have already registered to play in tomorrow’s annual Alumni Benefit game.

This is the third consecutive year for this game, even though some others had been played in the past. This year proceeds from the game will go to benefit the Civitan Internation Research Hospital on the University of Alabama-Birmingham (UAB) campus.

The hospital is an interdisciplinary center dedicated to improving lives through brain research and treatment of developmental disabilities, according to the Web site, www.circ.uab.edu.

Robey said he saw a video about the research they do in working with spinal, brain and children’s injuries.

This year the baseball team is partnering with the Jr. Civitan Club to make the day, along with the game, a success.

There will also be a silent auction with two big items of interest for sale. The first is a football autographed by the entire Pittsburgh Steeler team, compliments of cornerback Deshea Townsend of Batesville. The other item is a signed 8”x10” photo by Atlanta Braves third baseman Chipper Jones, national league batting champion.

Admission is $6 and includes a barbecue plate which may be picked up between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.

Some of the players who return each year to play include Scott Harrison and Billy Smith. Robey said he wishes Smith, vocational director at South Panola, still had some eligibility left because he has a strong swing from the left.

Robey expects more former players to show up and play the games, which begin at 1 p.m. at the South Panola field.

Benefitting from the past two games were four students involved in a car accident two years ago, Tyler Benson, Monroe Harrison, Brandon Taylor and Jonathan Ware and last year, the late Bob Norris. In 2006 the benefit raised over $8,000 and last year nearly $10,000.