Re-Peat

8 days ago

Just like that we close the door on another university softball season. Last night, the Texas Longhorns accomplished what I didn't think they could do and they won their second Women's College World Series title in a row. I'm happy for them, it's not the team I wanted to win it all, but I am happy with the outcome. Hopefully, this serves to instill a bit of humility into the Texas Tech squad. It feels like they needed it.

It's interesting how the world of college sports has changed so much with the introduction of the transfer portal and now name image and likeness money. Similar to the professional teams, you now have universities that can basically "build" their best chance at winning the title. I'm not really sure how I feel about it. I think it's good that players are getting something for the stress and strain they put on their bodies, but there was always something kind of pure about college sports that seems to be missing now.

Although for many of the ladies in the NCAA tournament, this may have been their senior and final year of playing at the college level, we now have the AUSL to look forward to. In fact, believe it or not, the Athletes Unlimited Softball League picks up in just four days on August 9th. Many of the players we saw over the past month have already been drafted to their respective teams. In addition to that, several of the players have also been offered a position on the US team for 2028 Olympics when softball is added to the list of events.

Games are at 5 PM, 7 PM, and 9 PM on June 9th and take place in North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Utah respectively. I'm actually looking forward to seeing how this all works out. I can tell you right now, similar to the WNBA, the players won't even be making a fraction of what the male players make in their same or adjacent sport. It's pretty eye opening when you see the numbers.

Despite that, I am still interested in watching the teams this summer. I think it is going to be fun watching some of the best players in the country come together to play on the same team. You better believe I will be covering the results of the games here in my blog.

I've definitely become a huge softball fanatic over the years and while not everyone might share the same passion I have for the sport, I still like writing about it.

Right now there are a total of six teams in the league. The Chicago Bandits, Carolina Blaze, Portland Cascade, Oklahoma City Spark, Utah Talons, and Texas Volts. In fact, they even had a 2026 draft and the ace pitcher from Tennessee was picked first by the Carolina Blaze. Second was none other than NiJaree Canady by the Texas Volts. In fact, the first three players drafted were all pitchers with the third being Maya Johnson from Belmont taken by the Oklahoma City Spark.

The national champion Texas Longhorns had two players drafted in the second round.