Everything you need to know ahead of second AUSL season
The Athletes Unlimited Softball League begins its second season with high hopes as it rides the wave of record Women’s College World Series viewership.
Game 2 of the championship series drew 2.5 million viewers on ESPN with a peak of 3 million, making it the most watched softball game ever. The first 14 World Series games included five of the top seven most watched non-finals games ever.
Several stars from that event, including Tennessee’s Karlyn Pickens and UCLA’s Megan Grant and Jordan Woolery, are first-round picks who are set to make their pro debuts on Tuesday.
“All of these talents coming into the league, and watching fans respond to our current athletes and those coming in — I think it’s going to make for a great season,” commissioner Kim Ng said.
Last season, the league’s four teams — the Talons, Bandits, Blaze and Volts — played in a touring format. The Talons defeated the Bandits 2-0 in the best-of-three championship series.
The league has added the Spark and the Cascade, and all six teams are now assigned to cities. They are now the Chicago Bandits, Texas Volts, Carolina Blaze, Oklahoma City Spark, Utah Talons and Portland Cascade.
The AUSL is in the first year of a three-year deal with ESPN, with 50 games slated to be shown on its networks annually. Game 1 of the championship series will be on ABC — the first time pro softball will be broadcast on network television.
Ng said now that the sport is more accessible and women’s sports are booming, she expects the growth to continue.
“We’re seeing this surge and this explosion of women’s sports,” she said. “I think once people see softball, understand it a bit, they will fall in love with the game. … I think what you’re seeing is this starting to break out into the mainstream.”
2026 details
The teams will play 25 games each. Action begins June 9, when Carolina hosts Portland (5 p.m. ET), Oklahoma City hosts Texas (7 p.m. ET on ESPN2) and Utah hosts Chicago (9 p.m. ET on ESPN2). The regular season ends July 20.
The top three teams make the playoffs, with the top seed earning a berth in the best-of-three championship series and the next two seeds meeting in a one-game playoff at the Davis Diamond in College Station, Texas, on July 23. The championship series starts July 25 at the same site.
2025 award winners
Bandits infielder Erin Coffel was league MVP and Hitter of the Year last season. The former Kentucky star had a .410 batting average and led the league with 28 RBIs, an .869 slugging percentage and a .566 on-base percentage. She was also on the All-Defensive team.
The Talons’ Georgina Corrick was named Pitcher of the Year. She had a 7-0 record with a 2.08 ERA and 33 strikeouts in 40 ⅓ innings.
Blaze infielder Ana Gold was Rookie of the Year. She hit .373 with five home runs and 17 RBIs.
Talons infielder Hannah Flippen was named Defensive Player of the Year. She finished second in the league with 42 assists and second with seven double plays.
Protected players
Each of last season’s four teams protected five players before the expansion and allocation drafts.
Bandits: Coffel, Lexi Kilfoyl, Taylor McQuillin, Skylar Wallace, Morgan Zerkle.
Blaze: Gold, Baylee Klingler, Kayla Kowalik, Aubrey Leach, Keilani Ricketts.
Talons: Corrick, Megan Faraimo, Flippen, Montana Fouts, Sharlize Palacios.
Volts: Rachel Garcia, Amanda Lorenz, Tiare Jennings, Dejah Mulipola, Mia Scott.
New teams
The Spark aren’t actually new, they’re just new to this league. They have existed for three years and operated independently last year. Founder Tina Floyd is the executive director. Amber Flores remains the head coach.
The Cascade are a completely new team. Tairia Flowers, an Olympic gold medalist in 2004 and a silver medalist in 2008, is the coach. Jami Lobpries is the general manager.
Players in new locations
The Oklahoma City Spark chose Maya Brady with the top pick in the expansion draft.
The former UCLA star has a winning pedigree — she’s former NFL quarterback Tom Brady’s niece. Brady was very effective in a shortened 2025 season for the Talons. She played in just eight games, but hit .500, had a .621 on-base percentage and a .682 slugging percentage.
Former Oklahoma pitcher Sam Landry, the top pick in the 2025 college draft, was the No. 2 pick in the expansion draft. She moved from the Volts to the Cascade.
Armed and dangerous
The top three players chosen in the college draft were pitchers.
Pickens went No. 1 overall to the Blaze. She has the fastest recorded pitch on record, hitting 79.4 miles per hour her junior year.
NiJaree Canady, the No. 2 overall pick has yet to sign with the Volts. She signed two NIL deals worth more than $1 million while at Texas Tech and led the Red Raiders to national runner-up finishes the past two years.
Belmont pitcher Maya Johnson went third to the Spark. She was the National Fastpitch Coaches Association Pitcher of the Year after finishing with a 28-3 record and leading the nation with a 0.78 ERA and striking out 397 in 215 ⅔ innings.
Sluggers incoming
Grant is ready to find out if her record-setting power at the college level translates to the Cascade.
The No. 4 pick in the college draft set a new Division I record with 42 home runs for UCLA this past season, shattering the record of 37 set by Arizona’s Laura Espinoza in 1995.
Florida’s Jocelyn Erickson went fifth to the Bandits. She leaves Florida ranked third in school history with a .726 slugging percentage, fourth with 219 RBIs and fifth with 51 home runs.
Woolery went sixth to the Talons. She hit 36 home runs and had 117 RBIs this season, second most ever in a Division I season.
Venues
The Bandits will play their home games at The Stadium at the Parkway Bank Sports Complex in Rosemont, Illinois.
The Cascade will play home contests at Hillsboro Ballpark in Hillsboro, Oregon. The Talons will play at Dumke Family Stadium at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah.
The Blaze will play at Duke University Softball Stadium in Durham, North Carolina. The Volts will play at Dell Diamond in Round Rock, Texas.
The Spark will play home contests at Tom Heath Field at Oklahoma Christian University in Oklahoma City.
MLB investment
Last season, Major League Baseball invested in the AUSL. Now, the Milwaukee Brewers and Ryan Sanders Baseball have joined in.
The Brewers are the first Major League Baseball club to invest directly in the AUSL. The investment group includes Milwaukee Brewers Chairman and Principal Owner Mark Attanasio and Nolan Ryan, Reid Ryan and Don Sanders of Ryan Sanders Baseball.
Last year’s Major League Baseball investment included an undisclosed amount for operational costs and a commitment to help the league gain visibility. Support included marketing the league and its athletes during the MLB All-Star Game.
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