Pro softball's new six-city era is officially underway
The AUSL's first city-based season opened with a record-setting bomb, a defending champ at 3-0, and softball's biggest name finally going pro. Week one is in the books.
College is in the books, so the pros take it from here — and week one of the AUSL gave us a holdout, a record-setting bomb, and a defending champ that hasn't lost a step. Pull up a chair.
Lead Off
The most decorated arm in college softball is officially a pro. NiJaree Canady — the two-time USA Softball Player of the Year who left Texas Tech a week after a second straight national runner-up finish — signed her first professional contract with the Texas Volts and pitched Sunday, ending a brief holdout that had kept her out of the AUSL's opening series. The debut was a rough one: Canady gave up six runs in a 9–1 loss to Carolina. The standoff itself was the bigger story. The AUSL negotiates contracts at the league level and pays on a fixed five-tier scale — a structure that sits awkwardly beside the two million-dollar NIL deals Canady signed in Lubbock.
Why it matters: The richest name college softball has ever produced just ran into the ceiling of what the young pro league pays. How the AUSL closes that gap — for Canady and the stars behind her — may shape whether the best players keep choosing it. The backstory →
By the Numbers
12 — runs the Portland Cascade scored in a single inning against Carolina, a new AUSL record for the highest-scoring frame, powering the expansion club to the first win in franchise history. Not bad for a team that needed three games to find its footing. Source · AUSL.
Scoreboard
AUSL opening week — last 7 days
| Final | Note |
|---|---|
| Talons sweep Bandits 3–0 (5–2, 1–0, 9–8) | Montana Fouts throws a complete game in the opener; defending champs start perfect |
| Spark take 2 of 3 from Volts (13–5, 5–4) | Maya Brady's Opening Day grand slam is the Spark's first-ever runs; Volts win G2, 8–5 |
| Blaze take 2 of 3 from Cascade (4–1, 11–1) | Cascade answer with a record 12-run inning for their first franchise win, 12–4 |
| Blaze 9–1 Volts (Sun) | Karlyn Pickens' 2nd straight complete game; NiJaree Canady's pro debut, six runs allowed |
This week — 5 to watch
| When | What | Watch |
|---|---|---|
| Tue Jun 16 | AUSL slate continues — Spark vs. Bandits | ESPN2 / MLB.TV |
| Wed Jun 17 | Volts vs. Blaze — Canady's next turn? | ESPN2 |
| Thu Jun 18–Sun Jun 21 | AUSL series across host cities | ESPN family / CBSSN |
| Thu Jun 25–Sat Jun 27 | Signature Series — Blaze host Talons, Durham | MLB.com |
| Through Jun 30 | AUSL All-Star Cup fan voting open | theausl.com |
Week one's in the books; the pros own the summer now.
Hot Corner
1. Defending champs pick up right where they left off
The Utah Talons swept their opening series from the Chicago Bandits to start 3–0, and they looked every bit the defending champions doing it. Montana Fouts tossed a complete game in the opener, and second-year slugger Bri Ellis exploded for five hits, two homers and five RBI across three games. The Talons also debuted real home-field energy in Salt Lake — the first taste of what the league's new permanent cities are built for. Just Women's Sports →
2. Maya Brady's grand slam announces the Spark
Oklahoma City's expansion club arrived loud. Maya Brady — UCLA alum and, yes, Tom Brady's niece — drove a bases-loaded riseball to center for a grand slam, the franchise's first-ever runs, then went 6-for-9 in the series with a second homer as the Spark took two of three from the Texas Volts. Sydney Romero, Bubba Nickles-Camarena and a sharp defense backed her up. OKC sits 2–1 and looks like it can rake. AUSL →
3. Megan Grant's 313-foot bomb sets an AUSL record
Days after setting the NCAA Division I single-season home run record with 42 for UCLA, Megan Grant kept mashing. Her first professional home run — a 313-foot shot for the Portland Cascade against Carolina — set a new AUSL record for the longest homer in league history. Grant is one of a dozen former Bruins scattered across the six-team league this season. Just Women's Sports →
4. No. 1 pick Karlyn Pickens is the league's early ace
The Blaze drafted Tennessee's Karlyn Pickens No. 1 overall, and the fireballer has looked the part. She threw a five-inning complete game for her first pro win in the opening series, then backed it up with a second straight complete game — one run on three hits — to beat Canady and the Volts on Sunday. Two starts, two complete games for the rookie with the 79-mph heat. Just Baseball →
5. Texas Tech reloads with the No. 1 arm in the portal
With Canady gone to the pros, the national runner-up didn't wait. Texas Tech landed Jayden Heavener, the No. 1 pitcher in the transfer portal, who went 13–9 with a 2.81 ERA at LSU and threw a perfect game in her college debut. She joins two-way All-American Kaitlyn Terry in Lubbock — and the Red Raiders added All-American outfielder Moriah Polar the same week. The villains of Oklahoma City are restocking. On3 →
From the Dugout
Podcast pick · Everything Fastpitch — The Podcast (Tory Acheson & Don McKinlay). Two former college coaches turned full-time instructors break down the craft of the game week after week, and with the college season closed and the pros in full swing, it's a good window to talk development without the scoreboard pressure. Takeaway: watch how the AUSL's best pitchers sequence — the riseball (a pitch that climbs as it reaches the plate) only works after you've earned the bottom of the zone, so teach the low strike before you fall in love with the high one. Listen →
Clip of the week: @code_red_fastpitch — the Anaheim pitching shop posts tidy, repeatable spin-and-mechanics breakdowns for 12U–18U arms, and their recent work on staying behind the ball through release is the kind of 60-second fix worth saving before your pitcher's next bullpen.
Worth a read: Just Baseball's "What We've Already Seen From AUSL Season Two" is a clean, name-by-name tour of the rookies and veterans worth tracking this summer — a useful primer if you're deciding which of the six teams to adopt.
Play of the Week
Alyssa Brito turns an unassisted double play to escape a jam
With the Blaze clinging to a lead and runners threatening, Alyssa Brito snared a hard line drive at the corner and beat the runner back to the bag herself — two outs, no help needed, inning over. The three-time national champ and Team USA pool member has been a problem on both sides of the ball in week one, and this was the rare double play one fielder gets to celebrate alone.
Source: @ausl_blaze · Watch the full clip →