Youth Baseball - Ripken Experience, Myrtle Beach

If you're a baseball Mom or Dad, you have to love Youth Tournament Baseball. The long car rides, setting your alarm clock for an unheard of hour on the weekends, the long wait between games, concession food heartburn What's not to love?

Following a family event, we made an 10 1/2 hour all night ride to South Carolina to catch up with my son's Spring travel ball team as they entered their final tournament of the season. After a quick breakfast, we changed into our uniforms and headed to the Ripken Baseball Complex in Myrtle Beach for Opening Ceremonies and Skill Competitions.

Starting Monday, the first two games of pool play began, followed by 2 more on Tuesday and the final pool-play game on Wednesday. On Thursday, it was win or go home, as the elimination rounds began. Thunder storms, with heavy rains made for long, drawn out days as rain delays were frequent. But the turf fields handled the rain well and all of our games were played to completion each day - even if some of the delays lasted for hours (we finished a 10am game at 9:30pm when heavy storms placed the teams in a sit and wait-it-out situation).

Overall, the competition was very good. The games were exciting, even if our team was overmatched and our opponents were very friendly, as was the staff. My son had a fairly successful tournament. He played well in the field and hit well also, getting 3 extra base hits, along with 3 singles in 14 at-bats. The team was eliminated in a 3-0 loss in Game 6 and that ended my son's season with his Spring travel ball team.

In the end, it was a great experience. Despite early wake-up calls, quickly eaten meals and unusually rainy conditions, it was time well spent with family and friends. My son loves to play baseball and I love watching him do what he loves.