The games must go on.

That's the decision Troy Parks and Recreation Department Director Dan Smith, along with the rest of the TPRD staff, were forced to make this week in canceling games slated for today and Saturday to allow fans to travel to Tuscaloosa to see the Troy University baseball team take part in the Tuscaloosa regional of the NCAA Baseball Championship.

&#8220It was really a timing issue,” Smith said. &#8220In some cases we are in the last week or last two weeks of the regular season, which immediately presented some problems for us. We're already playing on every available open date and we have some teams that are playing three times a week as it is, so there was really just no way for us to work out our scheduling to allow us to postpone this weekend's games.”

According to Smith, the TPRD is required by the Dixie Baseball and Dixie Softball organizations to conclude their season within a given timeframe that varies from league to league.

&#8220Each league has its own date, but there are certain dates that we have to have finished our regular season by in order to submit tournament team rosters,” Smith said. &#8220Basically, we have to have played a certain number of games by these dates to be eligible for tournament play. This was just one of those deals where the schedule was not in our favor.”

The decision to carry on with the schedule as slated was not an easy one for Smith and his staff.

&#8220It wasn't easy to say no,” Smith said. &#8220We're so proud of Troy and what coach Bobby Pierce has done. I know a lot of the kids go regularly and watch the team and really look up to the players, so it would have been fantastic if we could have called the games off, but that's not the way things panned out.”