The Newton Knights, a Covington-based travel baseball team, is holding open tryouts for the 2008 fall squad from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at the Shiloh Methodist Church field.

In their first year, the Knights competed as an 11 and under team with much success. Before reclassified to the AAA division, they were ranked among the top 10 in Georgia in all three USSSA rankings.

In addition, the Knights were ranked in the top 20 in the nation for the AA class. With the AAA classification, they were one of seven teams who recently qualified for the USSSA state tournament.

Overall, Newton competed in 53 games, including 13 tournaments. The tournaments began in late January and ended at the Grand Slam World Series in Panama City, Fla., during the second week of July.

The regular season tournaments were played in Monroe, Conyers, McDonough and Hampton, while the state tournament was held in Cumming.

Team players included Hunter Clark, Casey Palmer, Jon Wells, A.J. Howard, Garrett Witcher, Ross Kirkpatrick, Ben Moses, Jalen Martin, Yorel James, J.L. Banks and Evan House.

Led by coaches Mark Clark and Terry Ballard, the Knights plan on having only nine or 10 players on this year's 12 and under roster.

The 2008 fall tournament schedule runs from August until October and will include approximately five tournaments played in Monroe or Conyers.

For additional information, send e-mail to newtonknights@yahoo.com or call Gay Clark at (404) 550-9582.