65 Softball Teams From 19 States Head to Northport This Weekend for Tournament
Sixty-five elite softball teams from 19 states will play at Northport’s River Run Park this weekend for the Diamond Legacy Elite Invitational Softball Tournament.
The championship event runs Friday, November 13 through Sunday, November 15 at the city-owned complex on the Black Warrior River.
Games are scheduled from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday and 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $25 for a three-day pass or $10 per day, and children 10 and younger get in free.
Opening-night activities begin Thursday, November 12 and are limited to participating teams. The city said dinner will be served to roughly 1,100 players and coaches, and that University of Alabama head softball coach Patrick Murphy is scheduled to speak before city officials welcome the teams.
Buffalo Rock, HD Sports and Hospitality LLC and local SmartBank branches are sponsoring the tournament. Buffalo Rock, which signed a five-year deal in 2025 to become River Run Park’s exclusive beverage provider, will supply tournament drinks. HD Sports and Hospitality, the developer behind the hotel and indoor sports facilities planned for the park, is splitting the cost of the opening-night meal with SmartBank.
“We are very excited to bring our elite softball athletes to the City of Northport’s new River Run Park complex,” said Chad Stears of Diamond Legacy Events. “The signature softball stadium is one of the best we have seen in the country.”
The tournament is the kind of weekend Northport had in mind when it built River Run Park. The $27 million complex opened in August 2025 with nine baseball and softball fields, including a signature field for each sport with 150 grandstand seats and bleacher room for 400 more.
City analysts projected before the park opened that it would draw 530,000 visitors a year and generate an estimated $68 million in annual revenue.
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