No screens. Just a sandlot-style wiffle ball court and forty kids.

A simple backyard pastime turned into a Saturday tournament for the residents of Lake Forrest in Hendersonville.

The Caine family started the wiffle ball fever. Their neighbor Larken Lech recounts, “They invited our son, Whitley, to play.” They had so much fun, Larken’s husband, Joe, decided to build a field. 

Larken’s husband, Joe, then built a wiffle ball field on the back corner acre of the Lech family’s lot with help from his neighbors, the Caine Family, hoping to create a haven where neighborhood kids could play freely.

“We’ve got one rule,” says Joe’s wife, Larken, regarding Forrest Field. “Put the balls back in the bucket and close the lid.”

The field is open daily—daylight or dusk—welcoming wiffle ball players to kick up dust and swing for fun.

The idea for a tournament came just five days before the event. On July 7th, 5th grader Cameron Caine (son of Brian and Bobbie Jo) asked Larken if she could help organize one. “(The idea) just came from my brain,” says Cam. With a background in marketing, she accepted the challenge, realistically.

“I told Cam I’d try,” Larken recalls. “Honestly, I thought we might get a couple of teams together at most.”

But after 50 flyers and a surge of neighborhood interest, 40 kids signed up. “I went around for two days with Mr. Joe and my mom and my brother, Riley, and handed out flyers that Ms. Larken made,” says Cam. Larken’s phone, Bobbie’s phone, and Cameron’s watch buzzed nonstop with neighbors offering to donate and help fund the event.

“We may have hosted this in our backyard, but it was truly a community-driven event,” says Larken. “The Caines opened their pool to everyone, which was a lifesaver, and we were even able to offer free concessions thanks to everyone’s generosity.”

She lined the field fencing with homemade sponsorship banners. “We wanted to make it feel official,” she says, smiling.

And official it felt.

A scoreboard. A  system. Joe was the all-time pitcher, only taking a short break where another awesome dad stepped in. Joe  pitched nearly 600 balls—“to keep it fair.” Larken called the plays over the mic, giving players quirky nicknames. The details gave the whole day a sense of heart and authenticity.

But this game wasn’t about competition. No arguments. No drama. Just pure fun.

Parents and kids cheered for every team. A blind snake draft the night before divided the 40 players into seven teams, with 7 captains.

She calls Wiffle Ball the “great equalizer.” That lightweight, holey plastic ball didn’t play favorites. The trees on the field even played defense, deflecting hits mid-air. “We call it ‘playing the trees,’” says Larken.

“The winning team received golden wiffle ball bats, and we gave a sportsmanship award to 1 kid for being amazing throughout the day,” Larken says with a grin.

That Saturday morning, kids rolled up on bikes. No screens. No shoes. No shirts, most of them.

“It felt like we stepped back into 1980,” Larken recalls.

Everyone embraced the time warp—a day of sunshine, dust, laughter, and connection.

“So many people told me they didn’t know how much they needed that day,” she says, emotion sparkling in her hazel eyes. “They said it fed their souls.”

Larekn adds, “Saturday proved that no matter your age, we are all still kids at heart. My hope is that we all still use our imaginations. As adults, we are busy and it’s easy to say no, but it’s also easy to say yes. Cam had a dream, and we said yes….and as the saying goes, if you build it, they will come.”

Let’s follow Lake Forrest’s lead. Say yes to imagination and dreams. Turn off our screens more. And just play ball.