This may be one of the busiest times of the year for Plant City’s sports parks.
Six youth and collegiate-level events have been and will be hosted at Ellis-Methvin Park, the Otis M. Andrews Sports Complex, Mike Sansone Park, the Randy L. Larson Softball Four-Plex, Plant City Stadium, Snowden Park, Plant City High School and the MLK ball fields. Fans of baseball, softball, soccer and 7-on-7 football have plenty of reasons to visit local parks soon.
Florida Premiership’s Showcase League for youth travel soccer clubs kicked off March 23 at Ellis-Methvin Park and is ongoing through March 31. The league is for boys and girls and caters to NPL and FPL U15-U19 teams looking for additional exposure to colleges and game time in the spring. The boys played last weekend and the girls will play on Saturday and Sunday.
Florida USSSA Baseball’s War on I-4 Tournament, geared toward travel ball teams with players age 8 through 14, used just about every baseball field in town (as well as Winter Haven’s Chain O’ Lakes complex) on March 23 and 24. Eight of the nine championship games were played in Plant City ball parks.
The National Club Baseball and Softball associations returned to town for their annual Spring Training Showcase series. Dozens of college baseball and softball club teams from all over the country come to Plant City every spring for the event, which features exhibition games and practices at Mike Sansone Park, Plant City High School and the MLK fields. The NCBA started playing on March 2 and will continue through Friday, while the NCSA started its play March 10 and wrapped up on March 23.
This weekend will bring two more tournaments into the mix.
Global Sports Alliance Florida will host Florida Gulf Coast League play on the fields at Mike Sansone and Ellis-Methvin parks on Saturday and Sunday beginning at 9 a.m. and ending at 5 p.m. both days. The travel baseball league will host the last set of league play games in Plant City before its playoffs begin April 12.
On Saturday, Make a Play 7v7 will host a youth football tournament at Ellis-Methvin Park from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Make a Play is a Miami-based organization that hosts national championship tournaments from the 10U level up to 15U and varsity, as well as skills camps. Some of the tournament alumni listed on its website include Atlanta Falcons wideout Calvin Ridley and Alabama wideout Jerry Jeudy.
INFORMATION
Florida Premiership: https://floridapremiership.org/florida-premiership-showcase-league-2/
USSSA: http://www.usssa.com/baseball/event_gameCenter/?divisionID=1892915
NCBA: http://ncbaspringtraining.weebly.com/east-schedules–results.html
NCSA: https://ncsaspringtraining.weebly.com/schedules–results.html
GSA: https://baseball.sincsports.com/TTContent.aspx?tid=GSAB00193
Make a Play 7v7: http://makeaplay7v7.com/