Athletes Unlimited Softball League opens with high hopes and support from MLB and USA Softball

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The Athletes Unlimited Softball League made its debut after a year of buildup and a recent collaboration with Major League Baseball.

The Bandits beat the Talons 3-1 in the first game Saturday in Rosemont, Illinois. The Volts were set to play the Blaze in Wichita, Kansas later in the day.

“I kind of feel like we blinked and it was here,” Cat Osterman, general manager of the Volts, said. “But then there were moments where it felt like we weren’t ever going to get here either because it took a whole year of process. We’re all excited.”

Athletes Unlimited has featured softball since 2020, when it unveiled a unique format that crowned an individual champion. The organization that focuses exclusively on women’s sports now has launched a traditional four-team softball league in a traveling format. The Blaze, Volts, Bandits and Talons will play 24 games each, touring to 12 cities. The top two teams will compete in the best-of-three AUSL Championship from July 26-28 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

MLB said last month that it is making a strategic investment in the league. It will include an undisclosed amount for operational costs and a commitment to help it gain visibility. It will market the AUSL and its athletes during its All-Star Game, throughout the postseason and during broadcasts on the MLB Network and streams on MLB.TV.

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USA Softball executive director Craig Cress likes the fact that a league with MLB’s backing exists for players to join after their college careers. He sees it as an opportunity to keep the top American players facing elite competition so Team USA will be ready for Olympic softball that will be played in Oklahoma City in 2028.

Japan has won the past two Olympic gold medals in the sport. Cress said he hopes the AUSL emerges as something comparable to Japan’s well-established softball leagues.

“We have a great respect and a great rivalry,” Cress said of the history with Japan. “But this Olympics on our home soil is our gold medal. We need to go get it. So from that standpoint, I know we’ve got a long way to go, but that’s the end goal.”

Cress said it was smart for Athletes Unlimited to add former MLB executive Kim Ng as commissioner and to seek out the league as a partner. He hopes the AUSL can catch fire the way the WNBA has the past two years with Caitlin Clark.

“The WNBA is now starting to really do some things with the star power they have coming in,” he said. “But what got them to the point to be able to keep their athletes from going overseas to play? It was the involvement of the NBA.”

There are indicators that this league could last longer than those that have come and gone over the years, starting with the well-structured support system, stability and the experience Athletes Unlimited had with the sport before launching this league.

“I think that one thing you hear about Athletes Unlimited from anybody that’s been around it is we’ve done what we said we were going to do,” Athletes Unlimited co-founder Jon Patricof said. “We’ve been around now for five years.”

Bri Ellis, who was named the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year for Arkansas this season, played for the Talons on Saturday after being the No. 2 overall pick in the AUSL draft last month. She said she’s thrilled about the timing of the league’s rollout.

“It was kind of this relief that I don’t have to be done now,” she said. “I can keep going and keep playing and there’s still a story to be written for me in my career, and so I’m just really grateful for everyone that’s come before me and has worked their tails off to get the sport to where it is now.”

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