Pro softball is on deck! What to know about the inaugural AUSL season

The hold is implicit -- and organizers accidental that the clip is close -- for nonrecreational softball to marque its biggest propulsion yet into a surging women's sports marketplace with the motorboat of the Athletes Unlimited Softball League connected Saturday.

"There's a batch of vigor -- a batch of passion," said AUSL commissioner Kim Ng, a seasoned MLB enforcement and erstwhile assemblage softball player. "I deliberation this is simply a agelong clip coming for the softball community."

How to ticker AUSL connected ESPN Networks

AUSL breaks into the large leagues with an unprecedented concern with Major League Baseball -- which precocious announced an equity involvement successful the caller league -- and ESPN, which volition aerial 40 games this summer. Recent viewership information has boosted AUSL's assurance successful the sustainability of the league: Ratings for the Women's College World Series person surpassed 1 cardinal viewers successful 5 consecutive tournaments. Last year's finals notched 2 cardinal viewers -- their largest assemblage connected record.

"Softball is an implicit juggernaut connected the TV front," Athletes Unlimited CEO and co-founder Jon Patricof said. "There is simply a immense instrumentality basal retired determination and a batch of them inactive aren't alert that there's pro softball that they tin ticker and tune into. With the assistance of ESPN, with the assistance of MLB, we're assured that erstwhile they find retired astir it, they're going to emotion it."

AUSL advisor Natasha Watley, who is connected the league's committee alongside softball greats Jennie Finch, Cat Osterman and Jessica Mendoza, compared the motorboat of the AUSL with winning a golden medal with Team USA successful 2004. Watley said she plans to bring her 3-year-old girl to the opening slate of games this week.

"What's going to beryllium neat is years down the road," Watley told ESPN, arsenic tears welled successful her eyes. "I'm hoping that she tin look backmost and say, 'I was determination for opening weekend, and I was 3 years old, and present look astatine it.'

"That's her norm, radical filling up the stadium for women's sports."

Let's get into what fans person to look guardant to this season.

What is Athletes Unlimited and however volition this play work?

Athletes Unlimited, the umbrella radical for respective women's sports leagues, created the Pro Softball Championship successful 2020 earlier adding AUX, a two-week softball season. This year, the radical is launching AUSL, a women's softball league that volition initially diagnostic 4 15-player teams: the Bandits, Blaze, Talons and Volts. For the 2025 season, AUSL volition barnstorm 10 cities earlier the league becomes city-based adjacent year. Each squad volition play a 24-game season. At the decision of the regular season, the apical 2 teams volition play each different successful the best-of-three AUSL Championship successful Tuscaloosa, Alabama from July 26-28.

The determination to a accepted squad format -- from a unsocial individual-focused exemplary successful Athletes' Unlimited different softball ventures -- is the biggest alteration successful the inaugural play of the AUSL, a alteration that players lobbied for.

"The viewership and instrumentality basal present volition person thing to get down different than conscionable 1 circumstantial player," AUSL advisor and softball fable Finch said. "It's the storylines of the season, of the week of matchups, each of those things. ... And you'll person a jersey and a mascot to get down arsenic well."

Which cities volition big games?

Games volition beryllium held successful Rosemont, Illinois, Wichita, Kansas, Sulphur, Louisiana, Chattanooga, Tennessee, Norman, Oklahoma, Omaha, Nebraska, Seattle, Salt Lake City, Round Rock, Texas, and Tuscaloosa. The league views this touring exemplary arsenic a "tryout" for cities to perchance onshore location teams adjacent season.

"We get to spot which cities truly amusement up and possibly adjacent twelvemonth they tin beryllium location cities for our league," Volts shortstop Sis Bates said. "So I'm excited to spot each the fans retired there."

Who are the teams?

Bandits

General manager: Jenny Dalton-Hill, who inactive holds the NCAA Division I grounds for vocation RBIs with 328, astir 30 years aft her assemblage vocation astatine the blue-blood Arizona Wildcats.

Head coach: Stacey Nuveman-Deniz, who won 2 Olympic golden medals with Team USA and brings an extended coaching vocation to the Bandits, arsenic the existent caput manager of the San Diego State Aztecs softball team.

Players to know:

Odicci Alexander, RHP -- Alexander led James Madison to their archetypal Women's College World Series quality successful 2021, wherever it made an historical tally to the semis arsenic an unseeded team. Alexander won the AU Softball rubric successful 2023 aft starring the league with 1,994 leaderboard points. She made 1 of the most unthinkable WCWS plays successful caller memory.

Lexi Kilfoyl, RHP -- Kilfoyl was the archetypal prime selected successful the AUSL inaugural draught successful January. The Oklahoma State righty helped pb the Cowgirls to the WCWS for the 5th consecutive twelvemonth successful 2024, posting a 5-0 grounds with a 0.75 ERA during determination and ace determination play. She was the unanimous Big 12 Pitcher of the Year successful her last collegiate season.

Bubba Nickles-Camarena, INF -- Aside from having the champion sanction successful the AUSL, Nickles-Camarena won a metallic medal with Team USA astatine Tokyo and helped pb UCLA softball to a nationalist title successful 2019. Nickles-Camarena was a 2024 AUX champion and led the league with 14 RBIs.

New threads for @lexikilfoyl 🤠 pic.twitter.com/2HJEoytXBF

Blaze

General manager: Dana Sorensen led Stanford to the WCWS successful 2001 and 2004 and graduated holding astir each single-season pitching people successful Stanford past astatine the time. She's 1 of lone 2 pitchers successful Stanford past with implicit 1,000 Ks and 1 of 3 with 100 oregon much wins. Do we request to notation she is successful the Stanford Athletics Hall of Fame?

Head coach: Alisa Goler was a three-time All-American astatine Georgia, graduating with galore UGA single-season records, including batting mean (.455), location runs (24) and RBIs (83). She was named an adjunct manager for USA Softball's Elite and U-18 teams successful 2024. She serves arsenic the caput manager astatine Western Illinois.

Players to know:

Keilani Ricketts, LHP -- The seasoned pitcher won the 2013 nationalist title with Oklahoma and was named WCWS MVP. Ricketts holds schoolhouse records for wins, appearances, starts, implicit games and inning pitched. After playing with the National Pro Fastpitch league and successful Japan, she made her Athletes Unlimited debut past twelvemonth successful the AUX season, finishing with a 2.75 ERA implicit 20⅓ innings and 11 strikeouts.

Emma Lemley, RHP -- Lemley had a large elder twelvemonth with Virginia Tech, starring Division I successful no-hitters with 4 successful her 2025 season, including back-to-back cleanable games. She was the archetypal "Golden Ticket" recipient for the AUSL, which notified the champion players successful assemblage of their upcoming enactment successful the AUSL inaugural draft.

Aliyah Andrews, OF -- If you are an avid instrumentality of "SportsCenter's" apical 10 plays, you mightiness admit "Air Aliyah" for her ridiculous diving catches and spectacular antiaircraft ability. She was a three-time SEC All-Defensive squad enactment during her collegiate vocation astatine LSU. And she's a speedster -- she holds the LSU single-season grounds with 47 stolen bases.

your 2024 #AUProSB Defensive Player of the Year...@andrews_aliyah ✈️ pic.twitter.com/FXf5XvU67U

Talons

General manager: Lisa Fernandez, who is wide regarded arsenic 1 of the top softball players of each time. Fernandez dominated arsenic a pitcher and a hitter. She won 3 consecutive Olympic golden medals with Team USA softball from 1996 to 2004, astir notably arsenic the lone pitcher to look successful each 3 finals. She besides won 2 nationalist championships with UCLA and is successful her 27th twelvemonth with the Bruins softball coaching staff.

Head coach: Howard Dobson is the erstwhile hitting manager astatine LSU who helped pb the Tigers to 4 WCWS appearances and saw the program's violative numbers surge to caller heights crossed his 13 seasons successful Baton Rouge, breaking 15 idiosyncratic single-season records, 10 idiosyncratic vocation records and 16 violative play records.

Players to know:

Bri Ellis, INF -- The "Barry Bonds of softball," Ellis brings plentifulness of powerfulness to the sheet arsenic Arkansas' single-season grounds holder for HRs and RBIs -- her 26 HRs tied the SEC grounds -- among galore different awesome records arsenic a Razorback. She said she's decidedly not expecting to beryllium walked overmuch successful this league.

"This is going to beryllium overmuch harder due to the fact that determination is nary crippled off," Ellis told ESPN. "You've got to beryllium locked successful and astatine your best. And besides you got to retrieve that these pitchers don't truly miss, and they don't truly marque mistakes. [But] I garbage to get retired and I garbage to fto the pitcher bushed me."

Montana Fouts, RHP -- A four-time All-American, Fouts pitched a cleanable crippled for Alabama against UCLA successful the 2021 Women's College World Series, the 5th cleanable crippled successful WCWS history. She besides led Division I successful strikeouts successful 2023. Fouts compiled a 100-32 grounds for the Crimson Tide.

Sharlize Palacios, INF -- One of the apical players successful collegiate softball and the 2024 Pac-12 Tournament MVP, Palacios says the level of contention volition unit her to up her crippled arsenic a hitter.

"It's those small moments successful betwixt your swings that you person to deliberation precise rapidly and marque those tiny adjustments," Palacios said. "I'm truly excited to person present a coaching unit that is going to beryllium capable to assistance maine with that and manager maine done that, and I'm going to beryllium capable to conscionable proceed to up my levels."

Volts

General manager: Cat Osterman has a agelong past with Athletes Unlimited softball, having won the Pro Softball Championship Season rubric successful 2020. The lone three-time victor of the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Award (2003, 2004 and 2006) said this astir the violative firepower connected this Volts squad team.

"If we're not starring the league successful location runs, we person immoderate problems," she said. "And if it's not location runs, we amended beryllium starring successful doubles. We should beryllium getting a batch of other basal hits with this power."

Head coach: Kelly Kretschman won a golden medal with Team USA successful 2004 and a metallic successful 2008. Beyond her Olympic success, she holds galore records successful nonrecreational softball, including being the all-time vocation person successful RBIs, hits, doubles and walks successful the National Pro Fastpitch league.

Players to know:

Sis Bates, SS -- The Washington Huskies all-time hits leader, Bates joins the Volts aft a storied collegiate vocation and is looking guardant to playing connected a batch of ungraded fields this season.

"I americium a hitter that slaps," Bates said. "I accidental I'm not a slapper per se, truthful I'm funny to spot if possibly immoderate of my slap crippled comes backmost playing connected ungraded with a small spot higher bounces. I'm truly looking guardant to honing into being a triple menace again and bringing that portion backmost into my game."

Rachel Garcia, RHP -- A first-round prime successful the inaugural AUSL draught and the anchor of the Volts pitching staff, Garcia led UCLA to a nationalist title successful 2019 and was named the WCWS Most Outstanding Player that year.

"When I drafted her first," Osterman told ESPN, "I texted her and said, 'let's go.' And she was like, 'I'm ready.' She's travel successful and she's looked great. I've watched a mates of the bullpens and live, and you tin conscionable archer that there's nary rust."

Michaela Edenfield, C -- What's the champion mode to picture the Volts infield? Stacked. Oh, and Edenfield's consistently been 1 of Florida State's astir almighty hitters, having antecedently led the squad successful HRs and RBIs.

What bash players think?

The overwhelming sentiment is excitement astir the caller league, the concern with MLB (which volition see visibility during the All-Star Game) and the semipermanent prospects for AUSL. Throw successful a dose of nerves, peculiarly for the players making the modulation from assemblage shot to the pros.

"I'm 100 percent going to beryllium shaking successful my boots," Edenfield said successful an interrogation astatine Parkway Bank Sports Complex successful Rosemont. "You're with the champion of the champion retired here. ... [Volts GM] Cat Osterman threw BP to maine the different day; I can't wrapper my caput astir it." (Osterman confirmed to ESPN she did propulsion BP "the different night" and disclosed the respect is mutual: "Michaela is astir apt our 1 draught prime that I honestly didn't deliberation she was inactive going to beryllium determination with my prime successful the 2nd circular ... she was the lone large catcher successful the group.")

The caller league besides prides itself connected benefits for players that supersede erstwhile pro leagues, with higher salaries -- players tin gain up to $75,000 for the play -- and idiosyncratic edifice rooms portion touring, different departure from anterior leagues.

"Our athletes, they're each astir apt jumping for joy," Osterman said. "They don't person to person roommates, and they get their ain country this year. That's big.

"Athletes Unlimited has ever remembered that [players are] the product, and [they're] trying to instrumentality attraction of the merchandise first."

"We've been astatine the forefront with respect to benefits," Patricof told ESPN. "Everyone wants the accidental for these athletes to beryllium year-round, afloat dedicated softball players."

What strikes AUSL advisor Finch astir the caller league is simply a level of professionalism she says is simply a imagination travel true.

"We've been a portion of a batch of things and a batch of nonrecreational leagues that conscionable person not been professional," Finch said. "Getting Kim Ng connected arsenic the commissioner was a crippled changer and past conscionable to spot it travel to fruition and, it's each hands connected deck. We're present 1 motor moving forward."