It’s Arrived!
This week, one team will win the Women’s College World Series (NCAA Division 1). That’s big. But something bigger is about to happen.
Professional Women’s Softball.
Athletes Unlimited Softball League (AUSL) has arrived! It’s more than big. It’s prime time! Why do I say that? Several things impressed me:
- Kim Ng (former GM of the Marlins) is the commissioner of the League! My articles about Kim Ng are here and here.
- MLB has a strategic investment (long-term partnership) with the AUSL. The investment will include joint sales and marketing efforts, including softball broadcasts on MLB Network and MLB.com.
- Jennie Finch is an AUSL advisor. My article about her inspirational book is here.
“MLB’s investment will supercharge our efforts to build the sustainable professional league this sport has long deserved, and sends a powerful message about the value of female athletes and the importance of creating professional opportunities for them.” — Kim Ng
This Season’s Softball Events.
This season’s events will include the following:
- Regular Season. Opening day is 7 June. Opening day games can be seen on ESPN. MLB.com will stream the opening day game between the Volts and the Blaze, starting 4:30 PM MST. The regular season will include 24 barnstorming games by 4 teams.
- Championship series. July 26-28, three games at the Rhoads Stadium, University of Alabama.
- All-Star Cup. In August, 21 games will be played to select an individual champion. An innovative process will decide the champion.
- Home Run Derby. Six events will occur from 13 July to 13 September. Then 19-20 September, a winner-take-all event will be in Salt Lake City.
Next season, the AUSL will change into a city-based league with additional teams. The cities have not yet been announced.
Four Players from Arizona.
The following four AUSL players attended a university in Arizona. I will be cheering for them to play their best and help their teams win!
Taylor McQuillin, LHP for Bandits. Played for Mexico in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. She pitched 1.2 innings against Canada, with 2 strikeouts and 2 hits allowed. More details are here.
“Be where your feet are.” — Taylor McQuillin
Dejah Mulipola, Catcher for Volts. In 2022, she led Team-USA to a gold medal in the Pan American Championship. Also, she was the Athletics Unlimited Softball Champion with league best .432 batting average, league best 9 homers, and league best 19 RBIs. More details are here.
“…usually you get hyped up and very like, ‘oh, let’s go!’ for a softball game. But, I think I took a step back to be more, ‘okay, are we calm and collected?’ and that allowed me to play my best softball…” — Dejah Mulipola
Devyn Netz, RHP for Bandits. An outstanding defender, she won a 2025 NCAA Div 1 Rawlings Gold Glove. And that season she was a top-10 finalist for the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year. More details are here.
Devyn Netz hurt her back doing a squat followed by an overhead lift. She talked about coming back from that injury in this video.
Miranda Stoddard, RHP for Volts. In 2025, her pitching ERA was 1.73, with 48 strikeouts in 105 innings. That same season, she hit 15 homers with 46 RBIs. More details are here.
“We grew a lot as a team and we felt like we played a good game. But, [we] just had a little bit extra that we had to give.” — Miranda Stoddard