A new college tournament will debut on opening week of the Division 1 softball season in February, and some of the nation’s best teams will be part of the field that will help christen the new event.
‘Northern Lights, Southern Nights’ is an event created by Mark Allister and put on by the same group that organizes The Spring Games every year, including veteran coach and tournament director Skeeter Gentile and The Spring Games host and manager Alison Strange.
The tournament will be held in Leesburg, Florida.
The 13-team tournament field includes nine Power Five programs and a total of six teams that participated in the NCAA tournament last season. Among the teams participating in the tournament are reigning Super Regional participants Missouri, Kentucky, and Virginia Tech.
“Women’s college softball is considered a spring sport, but the season begins in deep winter, creating a disadvantage for northern teams,” reads a portion of the event’s website. “A new event, the Northern Lights | Southern Nights Invitational, is coming to central Florida on opening weekend 2022 and will address this disadvantage by matching top teams who never or only occasionally practice outdoors before the season begins.”
One of the first tournaments to kick off the 2022 season, a matchup of Wisconsin vs. Kentucky on Thursday evening, February 10th, will be the event’s opening act.
In addition to the Badgers and Wildcats, the list of teams participating in the tournament includes Missouri, Northwestern, Virginia Tech, Liberty, Eastern Kentucky, UConn, Iowa, Pittsburgh, Penn State, Michigan State, and Akron.
Click here for the full tournament schedule of games and matchups.
