The word is given, play ball.

Despite a forecast of up to 50 percent chance of rain today and Saturday and 30 percent on Sunday, the Governor’s Cup youth baseball tournament will go on as scheduled, tournament director Jeff Collins said this morning.

“We’re a go as of now,” he said. “As of now, we’re playing. The city crews are working on the fields right now. We’re going to try our best to make it work.”

The tournament for which 89 teams have registered is scheduled to begin at 6 tonight at Halls Ferry Park and continue Saturday and Sunday. Thirteen teams have registered for this weekend’s 8-and-under games, and 14 in the 9-and-under division. Next weekend, 10 teams have signed up in the 10-and-under bracket and 14 in the 12-and-under division.

Last year’s scramble to reschedule after thunderstorms hit marked the first time since the tournament moved to Vicksburg in 1995 that all games set for one day were lost, but they were made up the next day.

Tournament games are scheduled at 90 minutes per contest.

“Right now, we’re thinking of shortening the time limit, depending on whether we get any heavy rain between now and game time,” Collins said. “If we lose any games tonight, we’ll just shorten games. We’ve got a Plan B, a secondary bracket, if we have to adjust anything due to the weather.”

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Contact Steve Wilson at swilson@vicksburgpost.com