Athletes Unlimited Softball League Gears Up for Its Second Season

Athletes Unlimited Softball is back for a second season after the first left fans wanting more. The inaugural season debuted with four teams: the Bandits, Blaze, Talons, and Volts, who toured across the country to different fields. 

This year, each team has claimed a city and a home field, becoming the Chicago Bandits, Carolina Blaze, Utah Talons, and Texas Volts. Two additional teams have joined the league: the Portland Cascade and the Oklahoma City Spark.

Each team brought a unique and exciting character to the first season before the Talons were ultimately crowned as champions after a series sweep over the Bandits at the championship games in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. 

With Opening Day on June 9, each team will play 24 regular season games across all six cities before a postseason in College Station, Texas. The postseason will host a matchup of the number two and three seeds, and the winner will play a best-of-three series against the number one seed for the official crown.  

History and Leadership

Versions of Athletes Unlimited softball date back to 2020 with the AU Pro Softball Championship Season and AU Pro Softball AUX, but 2025 saw the first traditional league set up with the four inaugural teams.

A star-studded team of women works to back the league, led by commissioner Kim Ng, who took on the role in April of 2025, just prior to the start of the first season.

Ng, a former collegiate player at the University of Chicago, started her career with Major League Baseball working through staffs of the White Sox, Dodgers, and Yankees, as well as the league office. She then transitioned from a general manager position with the Miami Marlins to full-time commissioner for AUSL. 

Supporting Ng are some incredible former players, including Sam Fischer, Jennie Finch, Jessica Mendoza, Cat Osterman, and Natasha Watley. Ng and the team circulated through collegiate games this season, presenting top players with Golden Tickets, a signifier that they would be included in the 2026 draft.

The Players

Pitchers

This season will include a mix of new and returning players, many of whom have dominated the collegiate softball scene in the past few years. Standout pitchers like the Talons’ Georgina Corrick (South Florida) and Montana Fouts (Alabama), the Volts’ Rachel Garcia (UCLA), and the Bandits’ Odicci Alexander-Bennett (James Madison) will return to the circle and resume their dominant pitching careers. 

Pitcher and number one draft pick Karlyn Pickens (Tennessee) heads to the Carolina Blaze to join the elite pitchers of the AUSL. Her collegiate career came to a close this week when the Lady Vols lost to Texas in the Women’s College World Series semi-finals.

Pickens currently holds the record for the fastest pitch recorded in collegiate softball at a whopping 79.4 mph. The 6-foot-1 North Carolina native holds a career ERA of 1.50 and threw 55 complete games throughout her time at Tennessee. A clear first-round pick, Pickens will be one to watch as she joins the Blaze pitching staff.

The Texas Volts took Texas Tech ace NiJaree Canady, who holds a current career ERA of 1.08, with the number two pick.

Canady holds a shelf-full of honors, including the D1 Softball Freshman of the Year and Softball America NCAA Freshman of the Year in 2023, and Pac-12 pitcher of the year and USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year in 2024. Last year, she added to her impressive resume by winning Big 12 Pitcher of the Year and was a top-three finalist for USA Softball’s Collegiate Player of the Year.

The third pick by Oklahoma City was Belmont University pitcher Maya Johnson, who boasted a remarkable 0.78 season ERA across 215.2 innings. Belmont has earned Missouri Valley Conference Pitcher of the Year for both the 2025 and 2026 seasons. 

Other standout pitchers drafted this year include UCLA’s Taylor Tinsley, drafted 12th overall by the Talons. Tinsley has dominated the circle for UCLA, tossing 235 innings this season, more than the rest of the staff combined. 

In her final collegiate appearance against Texas Tech, the Bruin’s ace threw a staggering 181 pitches, breaking a record for most pitches thrown by a single pitcher in a Women’s College World Series extra-innings game.

With the 15th overall pick, the Portland Cascade took the last pitcher, Kenzie Brown from Arizona State University. A two-time Big 12 first-team selection, Brown led the Sun Devils all the way to the regional round this season and a defeat over top-seeded Texas Longhorns, but ultimately fell in games two and three.   

Catchers

Behind the plate, fans loved Volts catcher Michaela Edenfield. Although her stats lacked in comparison to her time at Florida State, Edenfield became well known for her creative makeup looks under her catcher’s mask, a part of her game-day routine and a fundamental way to express her individuality. 

Joining the backstops of the AUSL are a handful of top collegiate catchers. Most notable is Florida’s Jocelyn Erickson, a two-time Rawlings Gold Glove winner at catcher. Erickson, the number five draft pick, is headed to Chicago to join the Bandits. In addition to her near-flawless defense, Erickson holds a .352 career average, 238 total hits, and 58 home runs, including 21 this season alone. 

Texas Longhorn Reese Atwood, picked seventh by the Blaze, holds a long list of accolades, including a top-three finalist for USA Softball’s Collegiate Player of the Year in 2024. This season, Atwood has gunned out four of five runners on steal attempts while contributing offensively with a .330 average.

Position Players

The 2025 season highlighted offensively talented position players all over the diamond. A Bandit last year and a Spark this coming season, infielder Sydney McKinney led the league in average and slashed .486/.500/.649 on the year with 36 hits in 23 games.

This year, number four draft pick Megan Grant will be heading north from UCLA to the Portland Cascade and is expected to take their offense to another level. Grant, a two-sport athlete in basketball and softball, currently holds the record for most single-season home runs in NCAA softball with 42. Grant is a two-time top-three USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year in both 2025 and 2026, supported by a career slash line of .373/.510/.864. 

UCLA teammate Jordan Woolery will be joining Grant in the league as an infielder for the Utah Talons. The 2026 Big 10 Player of the Year led the Bruins with a .497 average and 36 home runs herself.

Supporting a Growing League

Supporting a growing league like the AUSL can be done in many ways, and picking a team can be based on location, favorite players, or even favorite uniforms.

No matter what, the support for up-and-coming women’s sports leagues will give them the power to keep growing and evolving for years to come. Last season saw an 88% jump in viewership compared to the experimental seasons prior, and the championship series on ESPN drew in an average viewership of 230,000.

Women’s sports consistently prove to be more than just the game. These leagues are catalysts for social impact and community engagement. 

The Athletes Unlimited Softball League opens on June 9 and will play through the end of July. Games can be streamed on a variety of platforms. Check out the official AUSL website and schedule for information on how to watch.

Statistics as of 6/1/26