This is something which hasn't been publicized that much. This year is the first year of a 48 team "NIT" for softball. It is called the National Invitational Softball Championship, run by Triple Crown Sports. There will be 4-6 team regionals starting this Tuesday (same format the NCAAs were when the baseball tourney was 48 teams).

The 8 winners will play in a double elimination bracket starting next Sunday (the 21st), and that will go through the 24th. All the games in the final bracket will air on ESPN3.

There are 32 automatic bids (one for the top non-NCAA team in each league). The rest of the teams will be at-large. 14 schools have already gotten automatic bids, with UNCW, Nevada, Boise State and Western Kentucky some of the teams in.

Here is more info about it.

http://www.womensnisc.com/event-details.html