AUSL is the newest swing at professional softball — and it continues to grow after 3 sellouts in Rosemont

Chicago Tribune

3 days ago

Bandits pitcher Devyn Netz fouled out to left field to end the sixth inning in a July 7 game against the Volts in Rosemont. Fans at the sold-out Parkway Bank Sports Complex applauded Volts pitcher Rachel Garcia as she walked off the field, carrying a no-hitter into the seventh.
While the Bandits erased Garcia's no-hit bid in the final inning, cutting their 5-0 deficit to 5-3, the flurry ended with Garcia's ninth strikeout. A Volts flag near home plate stretched across a section of fans as the team secured its fifth win of the season.
It was the first of back-to-back-to-back sellouts at the 2,000-seat ballpark for the Athletes Unlimited Softball League (AUSL), the newest swing at professional softball.
'Can you imagine (a player like) Jennie Finch having this type of platform back in her day and how large the game of softball would be right now?' AUSL Commissioner Kim Ng said. 'That's what we're trying to do. We're trying to grow the sport and give it the access it deserves, (which is) a continuation of the NCAA platform.'
The season opened June 7 with the league's four teams — the Bandits, Volts, Talons and Blaze — playing a pair of three-game series in Rosemont and Wichita, Kan. None of the red seats was left unoccupied during the six days the league has played in Rosemont, where it will return Tuesday and Wednesday.
Ng, 56, runs the league using tips learned from her time in Chicago. She earned a public policy degree from the University of Chicago while also playing softball for the Maroons as a middle infielder. Could a younger Ng keep up with AUSL competition today?
'Not even close,' she said with a laugh. 'Comparing me to them does not give (AUSL players) the justice they deserve. These women are incredible athletes and you gain more of an appreciation for who they are.'
She guides the AUSL with many historic moments under her belt. After Ng graduated from U. of C., the White Sox hired her as an intern, later promoting her to assistant director of baseball operations. In 1998 she became the assistant general manager of the New York Yankees — the youngest assistant GM in MLB history and the second woman to have that title — and the Derek Jeter-led Yankees won three straight World Series from 1998-2000.
Ng later joined the Los Angeles Dodgers in the same role, then was senior vice president of MLB from 2011-20. She chased her goal of becoming a big-league GM, but her run was a bumpy one. Interviews with the Dodgers, Seattle Mariners, Milwaukee Brewers, San Francisco Giants, San Diego Padres and New York Mets all ended in rejection.
'There's a humbleness when you get asked to interview so early in your career,' said Ng, who first got a GM interview in LA. 'I was incredibly privileged to be requested, (but) as the interviews mounted up, it started to get frustrating.'
One thing remains true in any job market: It helps to know people. In 2020, Ng got a call about the GM vacancy with the Miami Marlins. The interview was with Marlins CEO and part owner Jeter, who was 'the same person' as he was in his Yankees playing days.
Ng was hired as the first female GM in any of the big four North American leagues — MLB, NFL, NBA and NHL — and under her watch, the Marlins made the postseason for just the fourth time in franchise history with a 84-78 record in 2023. She and the team parted ways after that season.
Ng's journey has been a motivation for current AUSL players. Her smiling portrait was alongside those of Finch, rugby star Ilona Maher and other female sports trailblazers on a 'Women who inspire' sign at the Rosemont ballpark.
'Seeing what (Ng) has done to uplift and support the AUSL has been incredible,' Blaze infielder Aubrey Leach said. 'She continues to raise the bar for what professional softball can be.'
Ng's graduate thesis at U. of C. was on Title IX, the 1972 federal law that prohibited sex discrimination in any educational program or activity that receives federal funding. The law, among other effects, opened the door for women to participate in college athletics. She always wanted to further women's sports, and now she has found her opportunity.
'It's a cultural movement where people acknowledge and recognize how incredible the women athletes are and how incredible these sports are,' Ng said. 'That was the one of two drivers for me coming back to softball.
'No. 1 was my love of the game. I just feel this incredible debt and gratitude to the game, having grown up and played it. No. 2 (was) seeing where women's sports was and knowing that this was a train that was leaving the station and I did not want to (miss it). As we elevate and escalate and move this sport forward, I wanted to be one of the contributors to that effort.'
MLB partnered with the AUSL with a goal of helping the softball league stay established. The pairing includes marketing efforts, joint sales and AUSL broadcasting on MLB.com and MLB Network.
'Major League Baseball's investment in the AUSL represents an opportunity to support softball's long-term growth and expand our engagement with these outstanding athletes and their fans,' MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement.
There is no timestamp for the future, but Ng has a clear vision for the softball league.
'Long term, (I'd) love for us to be the MLB of softball,' she said. 'That is ultimately the (place) that we are in, this huge process creating more softball fans.'
The game is growing, and Ng will be the first to tell you not to miss it.
'If you're a baseball fan and you turn on a softball game, I think you will be amazed by the action and the pace at which it happens,' she said. 'If you think you can hit a fastball in softball, you're wrong.'