THE Spring Games (TSG)—a college softball event that covers Division I, II, IIl, NAIA and JC’s—kicks off at the end of this month starting February 27 and running through March 28, 2025—and will feature 280 teams and over 1,200 games across Central Florida!

The history of the timeline for this transcendent event goes back over 100 years.

Here’s a look at some of the key moments over the last century including the beginnings with softball legends Marge Ricker, Dot Richardson and today’s head of the event, CEO Alison Strange (Richardson’s niece!)

Keep following Line Drive Softball as we’ll have coverage all this month and next as my wife, Shannon, and I will be there on-site!

— Brentt Eads/Line Drive Softball

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THE Spring Games: A 100+ Years’ Timeline (1924-2025)

1924 – Marjorie “Marge” Ricker is born August 5 in Providence, RI.

1934 –   C.L. Varner Stadium is built in Orlando. This is the first softball stadium in America.

1942 – Ricker is a real life “Rosie the Riveter” as she serves the USA in the Army.

1950 – Ricker graduates from Stetson University.

1954 – Marge Ricker forms the Orlando Rebels women’s fastpitch softball team.

1961 – Dorothy “Dottie” Richardson is born September 22 in Orlando, FL.

1972 – Young Richardson joins the Union Park Jets, a “Junior Rebels” team, with their home field at Downey Park in east Orlando.

1975 – Liz Miller, a rookie coach at Lake Michigan College, contact the Rebels for a clinic with the Orlando Rebels. That summer, Richardson moves up to the Orlando Rebels women’s team.

1976 – Four (4) teams come down to Florida to play each other (the first year of what would eventually become the “Rebel Spring Games.” Richardson (called “Dottie” by Coach Ricker), plays against Western Illinois, coached by Kathy Veroni.

1979 – Richardson graduates from Colonial High School and signs with Western Illinois University, where she went on to become an AIAW All American. That summer, she represented the USA in the first-ever Pan American Softball Games.

1980 – Richardson transfers to UCLA, where she was a one-time AIAW All American and a three-time NCAA All American under the leadership of Head Coach Sharron Backus. Richardson would go on to become an orthopedic surgeon.

1981 – Richardson leads the Rebels to the ASA National Championship by breaking Kathy Arendsen’s perfect game in the bottom of the 7th with a leadoff base hit (and, as Paul Harvey would say, you know “the rest of the story”). Richardson’s sister, Laurie, has a daughter she names Alison.

1986 – C.L. Varner Stadium is demolished. The Orlando Rebels disbanded. The Rebel Games hosted just under 50 colleges and universities.

1987 – The West Orange Girls Club, the host of the Rebel Games, expands from three (3) to five (5) fields. The Rebel Games, which now hosts 74 teams, is called “the world’s largest women’s college softball tournament.”

1996 – Richardson represents the USA in the Olympic Games in Atlanta, GA. West Orange Girls Club softball complex is sold; Osceola County builds the Osceola Softball Complex and the Rebel Games moves to Kissimmee, Florida.

1998 – The Rebel Games host 117 colleges and universities in Ocoee, Florida.

1999 – Strange graduates from Oviedo High School as the East Coast MVP for Florida.

2000 – Richardson represents the USA in the Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia. Strange plays women’s softball for Marge Ricker on the Orlando Sun Sox that summer before  attending Stetson University, where she would play for the Hatters and obtain a BA,  MBA, and JD.

2001 – Richardson moves to Clermont, Florida to practice medicine. Ultimately, she will become the director of the National Training Center where she will design and construct Legends Way Ballfields.

2005    Strange moves to Clermont to support Richardson’s efforts with the PFX Tour and to practice law.

2006 – With 168 colleges and universities in attendance, Marge Ricker sells the Rebel Games brand to Kevin Billio, an umpire from Michigan.

2008 – Dr. Dot Richardson starts THE Spring Games at newly constructed Legends Way Ballfields at the National Training Center in Clermont, Florida. THE Spring Games hosts 48 colleges and universities in its first year.

2009 – THE Spring Games hosts 113 colleges and universities.

2014 – THE Spring Games hosts 267 colleges and universities. Richardson leaves Clermont to coach the Liberty Flames; Strange takes over at the helm of THE Spring Games. Billio moves the Rebel Games to Polk County.

2017 – The last year of the Rebel Games. THE Spring Games hosts 321 colleges and universities.

2020  – THE Spring Games hosts 481 colleges and universities. The economic impact of the  event is estimated at over $32,000,000 for Central Florida.

2026  – Strange and Richardson honor their coach, Marge Ricker, by celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Rebel Games, and Coach Ricker’s legacy, at THE Spring Games.

*** Follow Line Drive Softball all February for more pre-event coverage of THE Spring Games!