Women’s college softball is considered a spring sport, but the season begins in deep winter, creating a disadvantage for northern teams. A new event, the Northern Lights/Southern Nights Invitational, is coming to central Florida on the opening weekend of 2022 and will address this disadvantage by matching top teams who never or only occasionally practice outdoors before the season begins.

The Sleepy Hollow Complex in Leesburg, Florida will be the site of the first Northern Lights/Southern Nights Invitational on February, 11-13, 2022. To be considered for the event, teams must be either top-25 programs or other top-RPI teams who have legitimate aspirations to make the post-season NCAA tournament. In 2022, the eight-team field will include three teams who lost in last year’s super-regional finals, and three other participants of the 2021 tournament, creating a strong field from top to bottom. Programs coming to Leesburg are Missouri, Virginia Tech, Kentucky, Northwestern, Liberty, Eastern Kentucky, Wisconsin, and UConn.

Team fan bases look forward to the opening of softball season. The Northern Lights/Southern Nights event should be particularly attractive to fans of softball, whether they drive in for the day from Central Florida or they fly in for the weekend from regional areas. The event will provide fans the excitement that comes when they can move from field to field, when one or more highly competitive games are continually happening. For fans who would like to come early or stay late, central Florida has numerous vacation attractions: Disney World and Universal Studios, art galleries and museums, lakes, hiking, and other nature activities.

The Northern Lights/Southern Nights is an event created by Mark Allister. The Tournament Director is Skeeter Gentile. The event will be run by Alison Strange, host and manager of THE Spring Games.