They called it the softball version of Midnight Madness, and softball players at Clinton Lake Sports Complex on Saturday got their rest wherever they could find it.

Leslie Beeman slept on a picnic table and woke up just a few minutes before her 2 p.m. game. The 19-year-old infielder had already played four games with two teams since midnight.

Members of a team calling itself Git’r Done set up camp in a grassy, shady site well away from the softball field and relaxed with family members. They also had played four games – at 3 a.m., 5 a.m., 11 a.m. and noon. Their next game was to be at 5 p.m.

“We’re all used to playing a lot of games, but not without sleep,” said Brandon Grammer as he sat in a lawn chair sipping a bottle of water.

A total of 10 teams participated in the coed softball tournament to raise funds to help the First Christian Church youth group members attend a mission retreat scheduled for July 9-17 in Minneapolis. The first two teams began play at midnight Friday and the round-robin tournament was to continue until midnight Saturday. The event was to be capped off with a four-team championship tournament.

Mitchel Masten, left, and Preston Martin, right, both 14, and both members of First Christian Church, relax before the start of their next game during the Midnight Madness softball tournament.

Members of the Whipper Snapper team didn’t expect to be playing in that championship. Teammates Preston Martin, 14, Mitchel Masten, 14 and Levi Eberson, 12, said they formed their team just for the tournament and none of them had played together as a team. They were winless by early afternoon.

“We’re also the youngest,” Levi said.

“But we’re scoring runs,” Mitchel said.

This was the first time the church at 1000 Ky. has held a 24-hour softball tournament to raise money, said Nick Prather, who, along with his wife, Jenelle Prather, coordinated the tournament. Both are youth ministers.

“Everything’s gone well,” Nick Prather said. “We’d like to make this a yearly event.”

The tournament raised about $1,500 after expenses, Nick Prather said.

Youths going to Minnesota will mix sightseeing with service work at the Marie Sandvik Center, which serves the spiritual and physical needs of local homeless and urban youths.

Last year the youths traveled to Colorado, where they were plagued by constant mechanical breakdowns by the old school bus they traveled on, as well as extremely severe weather. The group saw several tornadoes in the distance during the trip home.

“I don’t think I’d like it any less exciting,” Beeman said. “Well, maybe a different bus.”