MADISON, Wis. – With every step around the bases, Ava Carroll’s body language told a story of joy and confidence.

The Northwoods League’s top two softball teams, the Madison Night Mares and the Minot Honeybees, had been deadlocked until the bottom of the seventh inning, when Carroll, a Madison outfielder who also plays for the University of Washington, smashed a pitch over the right-field fence for a game-winning solo home run. The palpable buzz that had filled Warner Park throughout the showdown of teams located nearly 800 miles apart turned into an explosive celebration in the grandstands.

Carroll smiled midway through her trot and threw her left arm toward the sky as she approached home plate to be mobbed by her Madison teammates. Fifteen minutes later, she met another happy mob, this one of dozens of young girls seeking her autograph outside the locker room.

“This is one of the best summers I’ll ever have,” said Carroll, who hit .321 for the Huskies this spring. “The friendships made, the travel and just being together is just so much fun.”

A similar scene unfolds in dozens, if not hundreds, of baseball parks every summer. College baseball players participate everywhere from the Cape Cod League to the California Collegiate League to hone their skills and further develop. Max Scherzer, Curtis Granderson and Brandon Crawford are among the 400 Northwoods League alumni to reach Major League Baseball. But softball had nothing like it until last year. A side conversation between Northwoods League co-founder Dick Radatz and La Crosse Loggers baseball owner Dan Kapanke turned into an exploratory opportunity. Radatz wondered why nobody had created a summer college softball league.

“It didn’t take long to see there’s no facilities,” Radatz said. “Every small town in America had a baseball facility that you could do this in.”

Facilities no longer are the roadblock they once were, however. Many baseball stadiums now feature turf infields that can be quickly converted for softball. Radatz pitched the idea of a softball league to Northwoods League owners, and four hopped onboard for the inaugural 2024 season. This year, there are five franchises, and the league will grow to at least six in 2026, with two in North Dakota, one in Minnesota and three in Wisconsin.

With the Northwoods League infrastructure, the softball branch has a firm foundation, and league commissioner Kathryn Reynolds has helped it thrive in Year 2. The daughter of longtime Cincinnati Reds executive Terry Reynolds, who is a member of the Professional Baseball Scouts Hall of Fame, Reynolds grew up as a multi-sport athlete but was focused more on basketball. In recent years, she served as Iowa women’s basketball’s director of operations and saw the rise of women’s sports firsthand as Caitlin Clark became a national phenomenon.

Reynolds left Iowa for the Northwoods League in 2024 and built connections throughout the softball world. She helped bring in coaches ranging from veterans to those just starting in the business. Madison’s coach, Lexi Godwin, was a standout player at North Carolina who wrapped her playing career in 2024 and currently works as a graduate assistant at Oklahoma. Minot coach Craig Montvidas has coached softball for 40 years and leads the Italian national softball team.

The coaches then recruit the players. In the first season, the league totaled 20 Division I athletes. This year, that number has swelled past 60 and includes players from Oklahoma to Syracuse and Arizona to Mississippi State. Players from other Division I and lower-level programs also showcase their skills alongside the power-conference athletes, and some thrive; former junior-college player Tia Durst parlayed her Northwoods League experience last summer into a scholarship at Washington.

“I already see a difference with last year, a little higher quality of players,” Montvidas said. “I think once it really catches on fire, it’s just going to spread completely.”

Carroll heard about the league from a teammate who competed in the Northwoods League last year. Madison pitcher Paytn Monticelli, a Cedarburg, Wis., native, returned to her home state to compete this summer after pitching in 16 games and compiling a 2-0 record for Oklahoma last season.

“This past season, I didn’t throw a whole lot in games, which is completely OK, but I just wanted to come out here and throw my heart out and love the game while doing it,” Monticelli said. I’m just so grateful for it, because honestly, this is the most I’ve loved it, probably since my senior year of high school.”

As a for-profit league, the business aspect matters, and Reynolds believes the league is catching on at the perfect time. This spring, the Women’s College World Series drew higher television ratings than its baseball counterpart on average (1.3 million viewers per game vs. 1.2 million), and the Texas-Texas Tech championship game set a softball record with 2.4 million viewers.

Add in softball’s return to the Olympics in 2028 and a new professional league in Athletes Unlimited, and the sport is gaining traction. To capture casual fans as well as those watching for individual players, every game is live streamed for free on its Northwoods League+ service, and several also appear on ESPN+.

“All those things are kind of like the perfect storm,” Reynolds said. “It’s a cool thing to be, in our own way, impacting and kind of helping develop and change.”

“This league has been a great opportunity to grow the game,” Monticelli said. “Any opportunity women athletes get to compete at a stage like this, where you get to be on broadcast TV, on ESPN, all of the aspects that give this sport attention. It’s such a huge deal for the game.”

The postgame autograph line after Madison’s win over Minot this week.

More than 1,000 fans showed up for the Madison-Minot showdown, and it took nearly 30 minutes for Madison players to finish with a postgame autograph line despite 90-degree temperatures. Non-game attractions included a miniature horse named “Midnight” and a home run competition involving Northwoods League baseball and softball players to cap the evening.

Young people like 7-year-old Clara Ramsey wore Night Mares jerseys, while fans like her grandfather Bill Housley, a retired police captain, were just as supportive. Housley has held Wisconsin football season tickets for 53 years and regularly attends the Badgers’ women’s hockey and volleyball matches. When Madison landed a summer softball league team, his daughter asked him if he would consider signing up as a host family. Housley had a spare part of his house available, and two players live there during the summer.

“Being able to do this is just a blessing. It really is,” Housley said. “It’s an honor to do it. I like my granddaughters to see women playing sports.”

The newest softball franchise debuts next summer in Grand Forks, N.D., the first location without a standing Northwoods League baseball team in place. Although the travel can be long, players enthusiastically endorse the league. They’re forming the same community bonds as their baseball counterparts have for generations, and in some ways, softball already has caught up.

“I hate to say this because my dad pitched in the big leagues,” Radatz said. “I grew up with baseball. This is a better product than baseball right now. It’s dinner and a movie. It’s two hours and out of Dodge.”

“I’m from Oregon, so it was a big jump not seeing my family for two months,” Carroll said. “But I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I want to come back next year, and I’m really excited for what this league has to offer.”

(Photos: Scott Dochterman for The Athletic)