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With some of the top high school softball teams in the state filling out the field, it would have been hard to make the 2008 Bryan-College Station Softball Tournament any better.
So they made it bigger.
The field expands to 40 teams with the addition of play-in games this year for the three-day tournament.
Defending state 5A champion Garland, who beat Bryan in a dramatic 1-0, 13-inning game for the Region II championship, highlights the typically strong field.
Play-in games on Thursday have swelled the number of teams able to compete from the usual 32 to 40.
The tournament change is based on the format used in Arizona's Tournament of Champions, where Bryan played last season.
"We always have teams asking to be in the tournament, and I have to tell them no," Bryan coach Enrique Luna said. "This was a way we could work more teams in."
Only eight of the teams in competition failed to reach postseason in 2007.
Along with top-ranked Garland, there are other teams playing in the B-CS Tournament who are in the initial rankings by the Texas Girls Coaches Association. Class 5A state semifinalist Austin Bowie is ranked fourth and regional quarterfinalist Round Rock Westwood is 10th. Returning state semifinalist McKinney North is the highest-ranked of the 4A teams in the tournament at No. 5.
A&M Consolidated and Bryan co-host the tournament and will begin on their home fields. The Lady Tigers will play either Round Rock McNeil or Conroe Oak Ridge at 7 p.m. Thursday.
Bryan will play San Antonio Reagan at 7 p.m. Thursday.
Thursday games, which start at 3 p.m., are set for Lady Viking Field, Lady Tiger Field, four fields at Veterans Park and four at the Bryan Regional Athletic Complex.
Teams begin play on Friday and Saturday at 9 a.m. The consolation final is set for 3 p.m. Saturday at Lady Viking Field followed by the championship game at 5 p.m.
