Alright so the baseball spring trip thing for 2025 needed planning right? My kid’s team decided Florida again, gotta find the good spots this time. I started digging way back in January ’24 honestly, ’cause stuff fills up crazy fast.
First Big Research Mess
Hitting up Google was step one obviously. Typed “Florida high school baseball tournaments spring break 2025” – wow, so many different websites popped up. Travel pages, school sports leagues, random tournament organizers… got kinda dizzy honestly. Gotta click through every single one, see if they actually list towns yet. Most just had generic info, dates still TBD. Super frustrating.
Then I remembered last year – just asking other parents worked best. Jumped into our team group chat: “Hey anyone heard which Florida towns are hosting tourneys for Spring Break ’25?” Few folks replied quick! Got tips about Fort Myers for sure, maybe Plant City. But needed way more.
Narrowing Down the Spots
Armed with that, went back to searching but specific this time: “Fort Myers high school baseball spring break tournament 2025”. Boom. Actually found a legit organizer site mentioning Lee County Sports Complex hosting. Did the same for Plant City – yep, their stadium complex got early listings too.
Pulled up my Florida map, started pinning all these spots:
- Fort Myers: Hot spot, lotsa fields, beaches nearby for downtime. Hotels gonna be pricey though.
- Plant City: Smaller town vibe, feels classic Florida. Fields decent, fewer crowds maybe.
- Sarasota: Kept popping up! Found the Ed Smith Stadium (Spring Training home!) actually hosts HS stuff sometimes. Huge find if it happens.
- Bradenton: Right near Sarasota, fields looked good. Maybe pair these two together?
- St. Petersburg: Found one smaller tournament listing. Nice area, extra stuff for families to do.
Checked some Florida travel forums after that. Real people chatting – saw mentions of Panama City Beach having tourneys too. Added it to my maybe list. Gotta balance baseball quality with places families won’t hate hanging at, right?
Making the Final Picks
By February ’24, things got clearer. Organizer sites finally posted actual tourney dates! Fort Myers was locked in – solid fields, big names playing there. Plant City too, kinda tradition now. Sarasota/Bradenton? Linked ’em together ’cause close drive. Got confirmation Ed Smith field available one week! St. Pete confirmed smaller event.
Panama City Beach? Info felt shaky – found lotsa ads for vacation not actual tournament listings. Decided skip it this time. Too risky.
Final four targets:
- Fort Myers: For the big competition experience.
- Plant City: Reliable, good baseball focus.
- Sarasota/Bradenton: Major league stadium access? Big selling point.
- St. Petersburg: Back-up option or for families wanting more city stuff.
Packed my notebook with dates, park names, hotel booking links (booked hotels FAST in March ’24, seriously folks do this early!). Sent the whole list to the team parents group. Done! Took months but feels solid. Gotta bring extra sunscreen tho, Florida sun ain’t playing!