Friday evening’s play at Bennett’s Creek Little League in Driver was a beginning and an ending. It was about competition and simply having fun at the ballpark.

Bennett’s Creek celebrated the close of its league season and awarded the top two teams in each age group for baseball and softball. The all-star teams in each division were announced as the first district tournaments get going on Saturday. Unfortunately, thunderstorms cut the finale, a league-wide Home Run Derby, short.

“Tonight was a chance for the kids to be out here and have fun just swinging and not worrying about scores or who wins,” said league volunteer and the evening’s public address announcer Jeff Gamble.

“Plus, it’s graduation weekend around Suffolk so it worked out with grandparents and families in town, this hopefully was a chance for them to see their grandkids play in some sort of fashion,” Gamble said.

For the BC players going on with all-star teams and tournaments, Friday’s play signaled another shift. Throughout the regular season, they were opponents. For the next few weeks, and potentially longer, former rivals will now be one Bennett’s Creek team.

The Minor (ages 9-10) and Major (ages 11-12) softball District 6 All-Star tournaments will be hosted by Western Branch. The Minor and Major tourneys, in baseball and softball, will get going next weekend and go until around July 7.

The 9-10 BC softball team is Alysha Daubon, Janey Hall, Laura McCann, Niya Velez, Taylor Rhoads, Brianna Riveria, Riana Robinson, Hannah Beitman, Kristin Cunningham and Taylor Wampler.

The 11-12 BC softball team is Danielle Arzillo, Angelene Corder, Hannah Foran, Caylan Harrison, Kelsey Harrison, Taylor Lynch, Madison Rogers, Jessica Spears, Susan Mounie, Madison Rhoads, Sylar Townsend and Brieanna Wheeler.

Portsmouth leagues are hosting the district baseball events with the Minor and Major tournaments at Charles Peete Little League and the Juniors (ages 13-14) at Wilson High School.

The Minors baseball all-star team is Nicholas Arnold, Jacolby Boyd, Myles Bernard, Jack Cooney, Dominick Downs, Cade Edwards, Ashden Hess, Dezmon Howard, Landon Rogers, Carter Stone, Hayden Waters, Shamon Watkins and Leif Whalen.

BC’s 11-12 baseball team is Johnny Ambrosino, Vinny Ambrosino, Jose Conception, Logan Corbett, Hunter Foster, Isaac Hasan, Byron Lawrence, Mitchell Miller, Jonathan Monahan, Daniel Peacher and Kevin Tohak.

The Juniors team is Dakota Parker, Samy Melchoine, Zach Dearborn, Alex Williams, Sampson Edmunds, Jimmy Miller, Jathan Foster, David Ward, Josh Tomovick, Quadaris Boyd and Truman Boyd.