CHOCOWINITY — Hundreds of softball players, coaches, parents and fanatics swarmed Chocowinity on Saturday. The opening ceremony of the eastern North Carolina Babe Ruth tournament was standing room only and parking was scarce.

It was a sight to behold. Nearby squads from Pitt County and New Bern and as far as Dare County all made the trek to compete for championships. The age divisions are 8U, 10U, 12U and 16U.

The turnout this season was spectacular not only for Chocowinity and Beaufort County, but also for the Babe Ruth tournament itself.

“(It helped) bringing it this far east. Last year it was in Henderson,” Tanya Dixon said. “Not a lot of people wanted to travel from the east coast that far. Bringing it a little further east to Chocowinity helped bring some of those teams in that normally wouldn’t come.”

Participation is up nine teams from 34 to 43. Those teams are split up into the four age classifications and will compete in pool play through Monday to determine tournament seeding.

“It was pretty awesome. It has been a huge undertaking for us,” Dixon said. “As long as I’ve been on the board, we’ve never had a crowd like this. It was a little stressful, but it’s been awesome.”

The double-elimination tournaments will begin Tuesday and wrap up Wednesday, weather permitting. Beaufort County is well represented with teams at each age level: Washington, Chocowinity and the Bath-Belhaven East Beaufort squad.

With more teams that may not usually compete at the state level, this week should bring with it some surprises.

“I’m expecting to see some underdogs come forward,” Dixon said. “The ones that normally don’t play in states because they’re so far away, I’m hoping that they’ll step up and show the east coast has something. … There’s going to be a field on all day long every day. You can choose an age group, get some food, and it’ll be a fun time for a softball fan.”

Games are being played at the Chocowinity recreation complex and at Chocowinity Middle School.