I would like to congratulate the Dallas County High School softball on a great season.

State championships are hard to win, and there’s no shame in coming in up short.

The Hornets gave it their best shot, and nothing more can be asked of them.

But, apparently, more can be asked of the Times-Journal sports staff.

So, I would like to apologize to those of you who called my desk and left your snide comments on our Web site about our perceived lack of coverage.

Throughout this softball season, I covered more games involving Dallas County than any other softball team for one simple reason: They deserved it.

No other team had their success, and no other team was as reliable at calling in results as the Hornets.

I thought that for having a one-page section we gave them more than their fair share. That includes a story and photos that took up essentially the entire page this Wednesday. Another story and photo followed in Thursday’s paper.

Friday’s paper did not have anything on the Hornets because there were other things happening that deserved coverage as well.

That’s where the calls come in.

I got a cryptic message from a prominent Selma businessman sometime Friday morning asking for a return call. No reason was given.

I called back and once I talked to him, I was told, “I need you to publicize the Dallas County High School softball team…”

I kind of thought I had done that.

He went on to explain to me that the team was playing in Montgomery in the state tournament. A simple visit to selmatimesjournal.com would have calmed any fears that I somehow did not know about the tournament. Because we already had the result of the first game posted and a note explaining that more coverage would be on the way.

I find it funny that I was being given all the information about the tournament as if I was uninformed when I actually had more information than my caller did because I told him the result of the first game.

I’m going to spare you the argument of being a small paper with a small staff. I’m sure you’ve heard it before, and you write it off as a standard response we give in these situations.

But the comments on the Web site, posted under a shroud of anonymity, that we would have somehow covered Selma High School or Morgan Academy in a more flattering light can’t be ignored.

Comments like, “I’m so sick of DCHS getting a back burner to every write-up in this paper” make me wonder if people even look at the paper before they complain about it.

Especially when a comment accuses me of not caring enough to include certain information when it is clearly in the first sentence of the story.

I don’t know what kind of prejudices exist toward previous sports staffs at the Times-Journal, but those people are no longer here.

If you have a beef with the coverage I give an event, that’s one thing. But to take your aggressions toward previous STJ staffers out on me is quite another.

Brian Tynes is the sports editor of the Selma Times-Journal. He can be reached at brian.tynes@selmatimesjournal.com or by phone at 334-410-1716.