The heavy rain across North Texas this week lead to some last-minute changes for youth baseball players and parents at the American Amateur Youth Baseball Alliance's Texas World Series.
Three straight days of heavy rain wiped out what was to have been the beginning of the tournament, the largest of its kind in the country.
It was a tall order for event organizers to take care of 280 teams, 3,600 kids and 1,005 games this week on 28 ball fields in Flower Mound, Lewisville and Highland Village.
"We got stuck in hotel rooms and they get a little antsy — well, they're kids," Russ Barber of Jenks, Oklahoma, told NBC DFW about the week so far.
It hasn't been hotels, but highways, for Freshanna Williams and her 9-year-old son T.J. who made multiple trips between Mesquite and Flower Mound for three straight days only to find rained out fields.
"It's not that far, but coming back and forth and getting here, waiting hours and getting told we can't play, it's been stressful," Williams said.
The fact that the tournament started Thursday night is a testament to the amazing work of the volunteer grounds crews from the three cities hosting the World Series, according to event organizers.
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"And I can tell you right now they were in beast mode for the last three days, really," said Scott White of the AAYBA.
Chuck Berneche, president of the Flower Mound Youth Baseball Association agreed.
"These fields were totally under water," Berneche said Thursday about the situation the grounds crew workers faced. "There's absolutely no way on God's green earth we were gonna play. The time and effort that these guys put in is unbelievable."
