All hands are on deck at Eastside Centre. But that's what happens when East Peoria becomes home base for the Missouri Valley Conference softball tournament.

"It’s a championship venue," Valley assistant commissioner Jeremiah Ingram told News 25. "I don’t think there’s any doubt about that. From the state high school championships to NSA events, and now our championship and the great Lakes Valley will play their championship here too. It’s a first-class facility."

Ingram estimates as many as 800 out of town visitors filing into and filling up local hotels. Vickie Simpson made the pilgrimage all the way from Orange County, California.

"It’s a 2,000 mile drive or a $300 air fare," said Simpson. "I usually fly but she drives home every summer, so we’ll be driving home when she’s done here."

Virnette House–Browning is Bradley's executive athletic director. She's also the the tournament director and to go to gal here for logistics.

"We’ve had to bring in extra phone lines," she said. "And we have several schools bringing in radio stations and video streaming. We have 8 phone lines here. We have to do some extra things for T-V."

Some people are using this tournament as an excuse for a mini–vacation, like Bob Markowski, an automobile technician from Crown Point, Indiana. He's here to watch his daughter, Sam, play for Indiana State.

"I took off work today to be down here. In fact, I wasn’t going to but my boss says. ‘you got to be there.’ He’s right. I’ve got to be here."

When Bob gets back to work on Monday, he'll have good things to say about East Peoria.