It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon at the June Classic Baseball Tournament as the sun was out and the kids were ready to play baseball. The action was supposed to start in the morning, but a massive storm the night before dumped huge amounts of rain on the 12 fields. The grounds crew did an amazing job to get the fields ready by noon, and by that time the Road Trip crew was more than ready to have some fun.

We set up the Road Trip at the front of the park where several batting cages had been before a recent flood destroyed them. It was perfect for us as we had our own little "Baseball Youth Village" as we called it. Kids collected plenty of baseball cards, posters, candy backpacks, shirts and more as we were there through the early evening hours. The kids at this tournament were awesome and lots of fun.

For the first time this Road Trip we broke out the Baseball Card Challenge, a game we created three years ago during the first Baseball Youth Road Trip. No one had ever played, but after one game everyone wanted to play! The Baseball Card Challenge became the hit of the tournament, mainly because we gave the winners special insert cards of baseball greats. The reactions were priceless when we asked if the kids had ever heard of guys like Ken Griffey, Jr. or Albert Pujols.

Unfortunately, another storm came that Saturday night, and we had to move quick to get our Road Trip packed into our trailer. Just as we got the last bit put away it started to rain. I know the players were sad to see us go, but there's no doubt we had an amazing day.

Now we're heading back to the Columbia area after a quick stop in Jefferson City. See you soon!