Speaker 1: Welcome to good Game with Sarah Spain, where we just
Speaker 1: woke up in a cold sweat after dreaming we had
Speaker 1: to try to hit a cat Asterman fastball. It's Wednesday,
Speaker 1: January eighth, and today we continue our New Year, New
Speaker 1: Leagues series of shows, serving up everything you need to
Speaker 1: know about the new professional women's leagues, kicking off, tipping off,
Speaker 1: first pitching, and first serving their way into our hearts
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty five. Today's League Athletes Unlimited Softball AKAAUSLF.
Speaker 2: A new professional women's softball league.
Speaker 1: From the folks at Athletes Unlimited, this time playing in
Speaker 1: the traditional team softball format. Softball Legend and GM of
Speaker 1: the AUSL volts Cat Austerman joins the show to give
Speaker 1: us the stakes, stars, stories.
Speaker 2: And stats that we need to be ready for first pitch.
Speaker 1: It's all coming up right after this, All right sliceys,
Speaker 1: Welcome back to New Year, New Leagues.
Speaker 2: Today AUSL.
Speaker 1: Joining us to tell us everything we need to know
Speaker 1: about AUSL. She's an Olympic gold medalist and two time
Speaker 1: Olympic silver medallist, a collegiate, four time All American, and
Speaker 1: four time Big twelve Pitcher of the Year. She ended
Speaker 1: her career at the University of Texas with school pitching
Speaker 1: records and wins, strikeouts, era, no hitters, perfect games, whip innings,
Speaker 1: pitch shutout, strikeout ratio, and opponent's batting average, and still
Speaker 1: leads in all those categories. Still leads in most of
Speaker 1: those categories for the Big Twelve as well. The first
Speaker 1: overall pick in the National Pro Fast Pitch League, she
Speaker 1: earned four NFP titles, was named Championship MVP three times,
Speaker 1: and was a six time professional All Star. She was
Speaker 1: the champion of Athletes Unlimited's inaugural softball season in twenty
Speaker 1: twenty and finished her professional career with Athletes Unlimited in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty one before joining the AU Advisory Board in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty three. She's the only person to win USA
Speaker 1: Softball's National Player of the Year honors three times, and
Speaker 1: she's an advisor and GM in the new Athletes Unlimited
Speaker 1: Softball League.
Speaker 2: It's Kat Austerman. What's up, Cat?
Speaker 3: Hey so excited to join you.
Speaker 1: I know we've been flirting with each other on social
Speaker 1: media for years, never actually meeting in person yet, but
Speaker 1: we finally get to actually talk, which is amazing.
Speaker 3: One of these days I'm in Chicago enough. I don't
Speaker 3: know how we haven't crossed path.
Speaker 2: We need to make it happen.
Speaker 1: By the way, I reserve the right for any of
Speaker 1: that bio to be slightly off based on the fact
Speaker 1: that I could have spent years talking about your accomplishments
Speaker 1: and the fact that you still hold all those records
Speaker 1: all these years later. You just never know when someone
Speaker 1: pops up and breaks something. But I'm pretty confident about
Speaker 1: all of that. And it's just like so impressive reading
Speaker 1: about especially the people who become the names that we
Speaker 1: all know. There's a couple softball players that are just
Speaker 1: the three or four that everybody knows. You have so
Speaker 1: many accomplishments, so many records. When you look back at
Speaker 1: your playing career, is there something that stands out that
Speaker 1: you're most proud of?
Speaker 3: Well, you know, I think my college career, just because
Speaker 3: I went a little bit against the green At the time,
Speaker 3: the Pack was the premiere conference. You know, Arizona Ucla
Speaker 3: were winning titles going back and forth, and I was
Speaker 3: recruited by both those schools, but I really wanted to
Speaker 3: be different and tried to beat the big dogs, and
Speaker 3: so I stayed home at Texas and part of that
Speaker 3: was being closer to my family. But I think my
Speaker 3: college career really I say all the time, if I
Speaker 3: had chosen somewhere else, I don't know if I would
Speaker 3: have catapulted successfully as quickly as I did. At Texas.
Speaker 3: I got thrown in the fire. There was only one
Speaker 3: returning picture. Everywhere else had a couple different returning pictures,
Speaker 3: and all Americans at that and you know, who knows.
Speaker 3: If I'd gone there, maybe I still would have been
Speaker 3: a one or two or you never know. But I
Speaker 3: just saw a clear path at Texas for a chance
Speaker 3: for me to to take that role and it worked out.
Speaker 3: But really proud because I mean it was hard. Obviously,
Speaker 3: you spend four years and put blood, sweat and tears
Speaker 3: into a jersey. But it was really cool the first
Speaker 3: time we got to go the World Series, the first
Speaker 3: World Series game. But then I think the really fun
Speaker 3: part was to see how fans turned out by the
Speaker 3: end of my career and just finishing Super Regionals there
Speaker 3: and beyond left field there's a street, but they allowed
Speaker 3: people to park on the curb, and come postseason we
Speaker 3: had people put it parking their boats there, big old
Speaker 3: buses with like you know, built out build outs on top,
Speaker 3: so it was a party out in left field. Occasionally
Speaker 3: a fire truck from one of the fire stations nearby
Speaker 3: would park out there and all the firemen would sit
Speaker 3: up top until they got a.
Speaker 2: Call and amazing.
Speaker 3: So it was really cool just to see the evolution.
Speaker 2: You know, you changed a program a while ago.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, it was really fun.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's really cool.
Speaker 1: You also had some cool pop culture moments at opportunities.
Speaker 1: You were the first softball player on the cover of
Speaker 1: Sports Illustrated. You appeared in the ESPN Body Issue. Is
Speaker 1: there a particular opportunity or cool experience that stands out
Speaker 1: to you from those years when you were kind of everywhere?
Speaker 3: Well, I will tell you the Body Issue. I know
Speaker 3: they aired like an overview of the I think ten
Speaker 3: years they had done it, and they say that someone
Speaker 3: cried on the very first shoot. That was me. I
Speaker 3: thought it was the coolest thing until we got ready
Speaker 3: to go and then all of a sudden, like I
Speaker 3: just panicked. But it's it was cool to be part
Speaker 3: of and be asked to be part of that. But
Speaker 3: I really think the twenty fourteen being on the cover
Speaker 3: of Sports Illustrated was the coolest experience. One I was young,
Speaker 3: but two they told us, you know, we beat out
Speaker 3: Michael Phelps I think for that cover, and for all
Speaker 3: of us at that point, it was like that was
Speaker 3: the biggest thing. But just to have our team honored
Speaker 3: in that way, because you know, you do you you
Speaker 3: always wonder, you know, who's going to be on that
Speaker 3: cover and who's going to be on the Wheaties box
Speaker 3: and all of that, and so that that part pop
Speaker 3: culture and I think most of us still have that,
Speaker 3: uh that cover frame somewhere, and it's just it was
Speaker 3: one of the best experiences for our team.
Speaker 1: That's really cool for those that aren't super familiar with softball.
Speaker 1: Can you set the stage for what the post college
Speaker 1: softball landscape has kind of looked like for the last
Speaker 1: twenty years or so?
Speaker 3: Oh so, it's been really up and down. The NPF
Speaker 3: was going for a while. It had been in operation
Speaker 3: for I want to say, probably eight or ten years
Speaker 3: before I shouldn't say ten, probably eight before I played there.
Speaker 3: There were other entities of it, but every time it
Speaker 3: just kind of got rebranded. So I was drafted into
Speaker 3: the NPF straight out of college. I did not play
Speaker 3: my first year, but then ended up joining the year
Speaker 3: after I graduated. Played ten years there and that continued
Speaker 3: on really until about two years ago, and then MPF
Speaker 3: folded and now the WPF has taken its place. But
Speaker 3: at the same time, right around COVID is when Athletes
Speaker 3: Unlimited kind of jumped in and had this different idea
Speaker 3: for professional sports. And I will admit without COVID, I
Speaker 3: probably wouldn't have played it because the first time someone
Speaker 3: explains it to you, you're like, oh, what's that. But
Speaker 3: then we all got into that environment and absolutely loved it.
Speaker 3: And so Athletes Unlimited has been going for the last
Speaker 3: five years. And then at the same time there have
Speaker 3: been various different other professional opportunities. A couple of teams
Speaker 3: on the East Coast have partnered up and they run
Speaker 3: a league during the summer. You know, there's a there's
Speaker 3: an independent team out of Oklahoma City that runs. It's
Speaker 3: just been very inconsistent, and you know, even when the
Speaker 3: WPF or the NPF, excuse me, ran there were teams
Speaker 3: that were treated truly professional, and then there were teams that,
Speaker 3: you know, one team's getting wined and dying at a
Speaker 3: steakhouse and the others eating McDonald's or ones, you know,
Speaker 3: on a great flight and the other is on the
Speaker 3: cheapest flight, which is making them on a red eye,
Speaker 3: or they're getting in barely in time to change and
Speaker 3: run to the field. You know, there were just so
Speaker 3: many discrepancies of how people were being treated in the
Speaker 3: professional environment, and so it kind of it was chaos
Speaker 3: for a little while. You know, there were I was
Speaker 3: in the NPF where I think at one point we
Speaker 3: had eight to six to four to five, like the
Speaker 3: teams just and the team I was on ended up
Speaker 3: relocating from Rockford to Tennessee, to Florida back to Tennessee
Speaker 3: and then they got renamed, renamed and rebranded and bought
Speaker 3: out in it up in Pennsylvania somewhere. So it was just,
Speaker 3: you know, we've had people try, and you know, the
Speaker 3: NPF was there and a lot of us from the
Speaker 3: national team played in it for a good chunk of time,
Speaker 3: but just being able to get it to actually go
Speaker 3: has been a challenge.
Speaker 1: I mentioned that you were and still are one of
Speaker 1: the top names in softball major name recognition. How have
Speaker 1: you tried to parlay that unique popularity and people knowing
Speaker 1: you to help the sport of softball over the years,
Speaker 1: and what do you think is the biggest barrier to
Speaker 1: the sport being able to at the pro level try
Speaker 1: to reach the same support, ratings and attendance of the
Speaker 1: massive success of the women's College World Series.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Well, you know, I jumped into coaching right out
Speaker 3: of college. So I college coached for twelve years and
Speaker 3: tried to, you know, wherever I was obviously influenced girls
Speaker 3: to have it to think about the opportunity of playing professionally,
Speaker 3: and you know, quick full circle story. I actually got
Speaker 3: to retire the same year as one of my pitchers
Speaker 3: that I coached at Texas State because she played two
Speaker 3: years professionally. And when I had scot her and said, hey,
Speaker 3: have you ever thought about playing professional? When I thought
Speaker 3: she had the tools to do it, she was like,
Speaker 3: are you crazy? No, I'm here for four years to
Speaker 3: get out. So, you know, uh, it was fun to
Speaker 3: be in that. And then when once I stepped down
Speaker 3: from college coaching and I was actually you know, honored
Speaker 3: to be part of athletes and womened first year just
Speaker 3: seeing what John and Jonathan do. I when I retired,
Speaker 3: I told him I want to do anything and everything,
Speaker 3: you know, I can to help you guys make this go,
Speaker 3: and ended up being on the advisory board and just
Speaker 3: trying to keep people knowing what's going on and whether
Speaker 3: it's just sharing on social media, doing appearances, going up
Speaker 3: there once a season to you know, pre game draft,
Speaker 3: pre draft shows, whatever it is, trying to jump in
Speaker 3: and continue to help put the professional, you know, game
Speaker 3: in everyone's eyes. And you know, we have to be
Speaker 3: able to get brand recognition. And I think honestly, with
Speaker 3: Athletes a Limited dropping the AUSL when we are, they
Speaker 3: already have the brand recognition from us playing in COVID.
Speaker 3: I mean we benefited that literally nothing else was on
Speaker 3: during COVID. I mean I laugh. People were like, oh,
Speaker 3: you were on the ticker. I was like, that's how
Speaker 3: slow sports was. It's on the ticker that I resigned
Speaker 3: my job as a college coach, and a couple of
Speaker 3: weeks later, like on the ticker that I signed with
Speaker 3: Athletes Unlimited. I'm like, we don't have anything going on,
Speaker 3: so I'll take my moment. But you know, it was
Speaker 3: the blessing for us, especially in softball that we got
Speaker 3: so many fans during that first season, and so it's
Speaker 3: it's the brand recognition, and I think it's better because
Speaker 3: athletes and women that has a following now and now
Speaker 3: we can say, hey, we have these teams. Yeah, and
Speaker 3: let's push that because that is what it is. It's
Speaker 3: it's when you start brand new and people don't know
Speaker 3: who you are. That's the hardest part. And I've learned
Speaker 3: that now my husband and I opened the business and
Speaker 3: it's like, man, you think social media is just going
Speaker 3: to like we're blast everything out for you, and it
Speaker 3: doesn't happen that way. And so I think having the
Speaker 3: brand recognition really actually might help this entity be able
Speaker 3: to connect with those college fans because college softball is huge.
Speaker 3: I mean, I still go to games at Texas. I've
Speaker 3: been welcomed up in Norman. As much as that sounds sacrilegious,
Speaker 3: I said, I wanted to see the stadium and the
Speaker 3: fans were like, come on up, we'd love to have you.
Speaker 3: And yeah, you know, they just they they love the
Speaker 3: history of it, they love what's coming of it, and
Speaker 3: they we just have to get them to love their
Speaker 3: athletes post college as well. And you know that's, like
Speaker 3: you said, that's been the trick. But I think the
Speaker 3: brand recognition of Athletes Unlimited already established is going to
Speaker 3: help that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so you mentioned the previous and still will be running.
Speaker 1: AU softball has individual and team points earned per game,
Speaker 1: and then in the end, one individual player wins it all.
Speaker 1: That was you the inaugural champion of Athletes Unlimited Softball
Speaker 1: back in twenty twenty. What did you take from your
Speaker 1: experience that you mentioned made you want to join as
Speaker 1: an advisor and also that you brought to your role
Speaker 1: once you got there and said, this is what stood
Speaker 1: out to me from playing, this is what was great,
Speaker 1: this is what needs to be worked.
Speaker 3: One part of it was John and Jonathan. John Patrick
Speaker 3: co Hof was more of the point person that we
Speaker 3: saw a lot in season one, and I remember he
Speaker 3: was coming into town and he had just text and
Speaker 3: was like, hey, you know, I know you've been in
Speaker 3: pro softful for a long time. I love to say
Speaker 3: I'm in chat and he just wanted my perspective on
Speaker 3: where it was. You know, how was season one going,
Speaker 3: what could be better? And obviously during COVID there were
Speaker 3: so many restrictions, it was hard to say what was
Speaker 3: better because we we had our own we had our
Speaker 3: own bubble there too, and so but I just remember
Speaker 3: him wanting to have conversation and I was like, Okay,
Speaker 3: they're in this for the long haul and they truly
Speaker 3: want the product their athlete to be happy and to
Speaker 3: have what they need. And then the people they hire
Speaker 3: from content team to you know, are the people who
Speaker 3: are managing our equipment, our draft, you know, everyone that
Speaker 3: helps produce the draft and all of that. It's just
Speaker 3: everyone was really truly invested and it wasn't just a job.
Speaker 3: There were times where I think people wanted to get
Speaker 3: into sport and they found a job in the in
Speaker 3: pro softball, but it was just a job in the
Speaker 3: stepping stone, and they found people who truly were invested
Speaker 3: in women's sports, and that was it stood out because
Speaker 3: NAM want to be around people that are invested in you,
Speaker 3: in what you're doing, and not just there to you know,
Speaker 3: check the box of you know, I got this this
Speaker 3: and this done today.
Speaker 1: And so AU has always felt to me like they
Speaker 1: really listened to a lot of what people say they
Speaker 1: want out of professional women's sports and they give it,
Speaker 1: whether that's maternal care to athlete opinions and voices being
Speaker 1: heard on everything from uniforms to everything else. So it
Speaker 1: feels like they're doing it right, and it's just about
Speaker 1: continuing to get the word out about that. So we
Speaker 1: just talked about the previous AU softball format. Twenty twenty
Speaker 1: five is going to see a new Athlete's Unlimited Softball league,
Speaker 1: more traditional kind, starting as a touring property featuring games
Speaker 1: in six to eight different cities, and then becoming a
Speaker 1: city based league beginning in twenty twenty six. We're going
Speaker 1: to take a little break here and when we come back,
Speaker 1: we're going to get a full AUSL one oh one
Speaker 1: from Cat Asterman.
Speaker 2: It's coming up next to.
Speaker 1: We're back talking with Kat Osterman, and I mentioned the
Speaker 1: transition from the old individual league to the new more
Speaker 1: traditional league. Why the change, and I think you mentioned
Speaker 1: they're both going to exist moving forward.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so fans and athletes both were kind of asking
Speaker 3: for the traditional league. Originally AU had put AUX, which
Speaker 3: was an extra like three week shortened season as a
Speaker 3: tune up for the actual championship season, and instead we're
Speaker 3: going to implement the traditional season during that time extended
Speaker 3: a little bit. But both fans, you know, a lot
Speaker 3: of fans and like, as we said, there's a history
Speaker 3: of college softball fans that have watched, those that did
Speaker 3: tune in there, a lot of them didn't like kind
Speaker 3: of I call it the fantasy model. They didn't like
Speaker 3: that points model, and they've been asking for a team model.
Speaker 3: And then I think athletes too. Sometimes when you get
Speaker 3: in the points model, if you get down towards the bottom,
Speaker 3: you're not given opportunities to get yourself out of that spot.
Speaker 3: You just end up being you know, the bench person
Speaker 3: for a couple of weeks or maybe get one or
Speaker 3: two at bats, and it doesn't really allow you to
Speaker 3: move up. And so now with the traditional model, it
Speaker 3: gives athletes a chance to be able to play every
Speaker 3: week and work themselves through slumps and things like that.
Speaker 3: But yeah, so they went ahead and listened to two
Speaker 3: fans and athletes and we're going to do the six
Speaker 3: week traditional model, and we're all really excited about it.
Speaker 1: So let's do AUSL one oh one here. Yet, you've
Speaker 1: told us how we arrived at this, Let's start with
Speaker 1: what it's going to look like with teams. How many
Speaker 1: of them are there and who are they?
Speaker 3: Yeah, so we have four teams. I am in charge
Speaker 3: of the Volts and my head coach is Kelly Creutchman,
Speaker 3: who's also a decorated Olympian and professional. We have the Talents,
Speaker 3: whose GM is actually the Goats of All Goats, Lisa Fernandez.
Speaker 3: Their head coach is Howard Dobson, who's a longtime college
Speaker 3: coach and just recently got out of a college game,
Speaker 3: but has also been in the USA Softball Arena as
Speaker 3: a coach. We have The Blaze, which is GM'd by
Speaker 3: Danis Sorenson, one of the smartest people in our game.
Speaker 3: She played at Stanford, a little bit older than I am.
Speaker 3: And her head coach is Alissa Gohler, who is a
Speaker 3: former professional player as well. And then, last but not least,
Speaker 3: the Bandits are recreated and Stacy Nuveman, who was their
Speaker 3: head coach their last few years in the NPF, is
Speaker 3: going to head coach that and her GM is Jenny
Speaker 3: Dalton Hill, another big name from actually before even like
Speaker 3: the four team stuff. She played at Arizona. So those
Speaker 3: four teams are going to kick off the inaugural year,
Speaker 3: and the hope is that we add two more in
Speaker 3: here too.
Speaker 1: There is something for everyone with these names and logos.
Speaker 1: The Blaze is super bright, kind of like nineties pop.
Speaker 1: The talents have this incredible crest that looks like a
Speaker 1: peregrine falcon sort of formed into a crush shape.
Speaker 2: The Bandits.
Speaker 1: Of course, I'm a little bit biased being a Chicago
Speaker 1: gallon having on to see the Chicago Bandits on many occasions.
Speaker 1: The way they incorporate the colors of the Chicago flag
Speaker 1: and the star kind.
Speaker 2: Of ties to that. But the Volts have the best colors.
Speaker 1: In my opinion, I am really into that sort of
Speaker 1: tennis ball green and with the purple.
Speaker 2: I think it's going to pop.
Speaker 1: So people can find their merch, they can find the team,
Speaker 1: the players, the logos that they're drawn to. You mentioned
Speaker 1: the gms and coaches leading the teams. So much experience,
Speaker 1: so much history there in softball. What about some of
Speaker 1: the players. I know there's still a lot of signings
Speaker 1: yet to happen, but who are some of the players
Speaker 1: we'll be watching in this new league.
Speaker 3: Yeah, anyone you've seen in a US Championship season unless
Speaker 3: they retired, are eligible, And a lot of contracts were
Speaker 3: extended to majority of the returning players. Right now, we
Speaker 3: have Bubba Nichols, who.
Speaker 2: Greatest name in sports in my opinion, Bubba Nichols. It's
Speaker 2: so good.
Speaker 3: Yes, she got married and I think she might have
Speaker 3: put her married name on her jersey and we were like, dude,
Speaker 3: you have to just stick with bubb the Nichols. Yes,
Speaker 3: it is what it is. Carly Hoover, who was an
Speaker 3: amazing picture at LSU, is actually coming back Stateside to
Speaker 3: play professionally. She's been playing over in Japan where she's
Speaker 3: dominated for a few years. And then we have you know,
Speaker 3: not signed yet but have been part of au You know,
Speaker 3: you have amand Lorenz who's the most recent champion, Rachel Garcia,
Speaker 3: all of those that we're trying to we're waiting to
Speaker 3: see when they sign, and we'll hopefully be part of
Speaker 3: the first allocation draft.
Speaker 1: Do you have any idea if any of the players
Speaker 1: who recently retired might be changing their minds to come
Speaker 1: back now that there's this new AUSL to join.
Speaker 3: I did see Haley mcclinney recently and she was like,
Speaker 3: if you can promise me this tier, I might I
Speaker 3: might retire for a couple of years. So I do
Speaker 3: know there are some that, like we were all wishing
Speaker 3: for this model to come, and some of them, I
Speaker 3: don't know, give them a year, they might unresign.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they might catch sight of what's going on over
Speaker 1: there and decide they want back in something you did.
Speaker 1: Of course, you had a couple retirements and returns. So
Speaker 1: as a GM, when you're looking at these players that
Speaker 1: you want to add to this new league, what's your
Speaker 1: role in signing them and scouting them?
Speaker 3: So I'm gonna work with Kelly obviously on creating a
Speaker 3: roster that we feel like is going to be talented
Speaker 3: but at the same time passionate, energetic. So it's about,
Speaker 3: you know, the culture, and I think the plus side
Speaker 3: I have is that I've played with a lot of
Speaker 3: these athletes, so I know who they are on and
Speaker 3: off the field. I know you know their character and
Speaker 3: how they how they play the game, and if they're
Speaker 3: going to match the other pieces that we put into
Speaker 3: place before, you know, in rounds, before we draft certain people,
Speaker 3: and then after that, it's about making sure that everything
Speaker 3: is running smoothly. I'm gonna, you know, I have to
Speaker 3: I shouldn't say have to. I will be in market
Speaker 3: for most of it doing double duty because I also
Speaker 3: coach an eighteen new team, so I'll be going back
Speaker 3: and forth in a lot of softball during that time,
Speaker 3: but you know, be in market, make sure the travel
Speaker 3: is taken care of, make sure that you know, we
Speaker 3: know what hotel we're going to, where where food's coming from,
Speaker 3: like all those things with the places that we're traveling
Speaker 3: to and so and then eventually once season's over. I
Speaker 3: think the cool part that they want us to offer is,
Speaker 3: you know, a player development plan. So when you have
Speaker 3: rookies that maybe didn't play, could be on the bubble
Speaker 3: if they get a contract, here's what we need to
Speaker 3: see from you in the off season. You know, we
Speaker 3: need to see you improve in these areas, and we're
Speaker 3: going to give them resources to be able to do
Speaker 3: those player development plans. And that's something that we've never
Speaker 3: had in our sport because it's always just go figure
Speaker 3: out how to be a professional athlete on your own.
Speaker 3: And so being able to put together player development plans.
Speaker 3: It does fall on my shoulders to release players if
Speaker 3: we think, you know, we need to move on from them.
Speaker 3: And so that might be the tough part, especially if
Speaker 3: they're people I've played with. But I'm I'm known to
Speaker 3: be a very honest communicator. So while it might be
Speaker 3: a little bit tough, on my heart strings. I think
Speaker 3: I'll be able to do it, but really excited just
Speaker 3: because we get to add some pieces, you know, especially
Speaker 3: for the player development overall. That is huge for our sport.
Speaker 3: And as you said, you know, AU has always done
Speaker 3: childcare and maternity leave and all of that really well,
Speaker 3: and so the childcare policy is huge. An athlete can
Speaker 3: have their child travel with them and AU pays for it,
Speaker 3: or they get a stipend and that can go to
Speaker 3: whoever's helping watch them back home.
Speaker 2: Awesome.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so it's about coordinating that too, you know, making
Speaker 3: sure that families are taken care of and all of
Speaker 3: that as we travel. And it's not just only on
Speaker 3: the field stuff.
Speaker 1: You mentioned that someone said maybe I'll come back for
Speaker 1: the right tier. Does that mean that you are the
Speaker 1: one deciding player pay or who is deciding salaries and
Speaker 1: things like that.
Speaker 3: No, there was a committee that got together that tiered
Speaker 3: the current players based on what they've done in Athletes
Speaker 3: unlimited and so that can change though. You know obviously
Speaker 3: each year you have to perform to keep your tier,
Speaker 3: and you can drop and other people can increase, and
Speaker 3: then how that's going to go as we expand in
Speaker 3: more years is not quite sure, but for right now, Yeah,
Speaker 3: there was a committee that tiered those athletes. But as
Speaker 3: a GM, when a year ends, we can we can
Speaker 3: put our two cents in on like, hey, this player
Speaker 3: performed really well or I think this player needs to
Speaker 3: be bumped up for consideration.
Speaker 2: Where are the games going to be played? You mentioned
Speaker 2: being in market.
Speaker 3: So there's like six to eight cities. The only two
Speaker 3: that are solidified right now are Chicago and Wichita. But
Speaker 3: I can say they have actually looked like coast to coast.
Speaker 3: So there's a lot of a lot of places being
Speaker 3: considered that we have never really ever been before, even
Speaker 3: in other professional entities with the national team. So we
Speaker 3: could be in markets that will be the first time
Speaker 3: they see, you know, elite level softball.
Speaker 2: That's awesome.
Speaker 1: When do you anticipate us learning about the locations?
Speaker 3: I would believe that you should probably know what cities
Speaker 3: sometime in the next couple of weeks.
Speaker 2: Cool.
Speaker 1: Are those locations being used to test the best spots
Speaker 1: for permanent markets starting next season?
Speaker 3: Yes, so, as I said, wich Ta in Chicago, it's
Speaker 3: probably not a it's like not a secret. Obviously, the
Speaker 3: bandits with Chicago colors. But for yeah, season two, a
Speaker 3: lot of these markets are going to be you know,
Speaker 3: tested to see. Some of them already have made bids
Speaker 3: and they believe that they're going to be strong enough
Speaker 3: to do it, but it is it's to see who
Speaker 3: comes out, you know, how is it hosted, is there
Speaker 3: enough stuff? If the team's how's there for athletes to
Speaker 3: you know, have all the resources they need. So yeah,
Speaker 3: it's it's a test market. But at the same time,
Speaker 3: I think too some of them might be solidified. I
Speaker 3: don't know. But also where can we expand to? So
Speaker 3: we're going to eight cities? Is this where we could
Speaker 3: eventually have all eight teams?
Speaker 2: Cool?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 2: What are the league dates? When does it start and end?
Speaker 3: Athletes report at the end of May. I believe our
Speaker 3: first series will be the first week or weekend of June,
Speaker 3: and then the goal is to wrap up Our championship
Speaker 3: series will be the top two teams best too out
Speaker 3: of three and that'll end at the last week of July.
Speaker 1: So that's the season format, regular season matches. Between all
Speaker 1: the games, the top two teams will end up in
Speaker 1: the championship.
Speaker 2: Yes, cool.
Speaker 1: Are there any new or different rules to look out?
Speaker 1: For outside of the normal rules of softball orre we
Speaker 1: playing it straight.
Speaker 3: No, we're gonna play it straight. There's nothing too funky.
Speaker 3: I think in the past MPF and other pro entities
Speaker 3: haven't had a run role. They've like, let everyone play
Speaker 3: it out. But I think we might we might bring
Speaker 3: the run role into effect for professional softball. That was
Speaker 3: a conversation we were having, and I think a lot
Speaker 3: of us were just with pitching and whatnot, trying to
Speaker 3: advocate for that.
Speaker 1: Is the run rule the nice newer way of saying
Speaker 1: slaughter role? I guess, so, yeah, we think we stopped
Speaker 1: saying that.
Speaker 2: That seems right. That seems like a good choice to
Speaker 2: stop saying that.
Speaker 1: When I was growing up, if a team was getting beat,
Speaker 1: the breaks off of it was called slaughter rule.
Speaker 2: If you ended it early.
Speaker 1: Run rule is nicer For folks newer to softball, What
Speaker 1: are some ways to watch and be a more educated
Speaker 1: viewer of the game watching the on just balls and
Speaker 1: strikes or runs and outs.
Speaker 2: What are things we can look for?
Speaker 3: Well, I think one thing that with all of our
Speaker 3: productions is athletes a limited does it themselves and they
Speaker 3: do a great job of storytelling for each athlete, so
Speaker 3: as you watch, you'll get to know more about the
Speaker 3: individual athletes or a group of them if they came
Speaker 3: from the same school. But at the same time watching
Speaker 3: I think I obviously was a pitcher, so my eyes
Speaker 3: are always in the circle, but just watching how a
Speaker 3: pitcher uses their pitches in her repertoire and seeing later
Speaker 3: in the game how they're doing something different than they
Speaker 3: were early in the game. It's always fun to sit
Speaker 3: down with athletes and go through hitters of an elite
Speaker 3: pitcher and be like, Okay, this is what she was
Speaker 3: doing early in the game, but they know that, you know,
Speaker 3: in the first three innings this was her go to
Speaker 3: and now she's changed that. But at the same time,
Speaker 3: we have some amazing hitters that you can totally get
Speaker 3: a feel of what they're looking for and how they're
Speaker 3: gaining momentum in there at bat when you watch just
Speaker 3: what pitches take, who they're facing for you know the
Speaker 3: second or third time, and that becomes really fun. And
Speaker 3: I think I would say as much as that everyone
Speaker 3: wants to pick a team. On that team, pick a
Speaker 3: hitter that you watch for one game and just watch
Speaker 3: how she approaches every of that because you can learn
Speaker 3: so much from all of these athletes.
Speaker 1: If we've got overachievers as listeners that really want to
Speaker 1: they're not big on top of or haven't really looked
Speaker 1: into it much. Do you have a resource that you
Speaker 1: maybe give young players just starting out to start to
Speaker 1: understand what to look for, what's the most important as
Speaker 1: a player.
Speaker 2: That might also work for someone who just wants to watch.
Speaker 3: You know, we honestly don't have like a lot of
Speaker 3: softball one oh one like go here to learn it.
Speaker 3: I would say the biggest thing is go to YouTube
Speaker 3: and type in a player or a team, or go
Speaker 3: just follow your local college team. Go watch a game
Speaker 3: and write down your questions and then watch it on TV.
Speaker 3: Or like I said, athletes in the Limit have all
Speaker 3: their past games for the championship series on YouTube. Go
Speaker 3: watch and see, you know, do your questions get answered
Speaker 3: or what else? Do you what else sticks out to you?
Speaker 3: I think that's a big thing. We always tell young athletes, like,
Speaker 3: go watch the game and then come to us with questions.
Speaker 2: Cool, so that.
Speaker 3: Way they're seeing it in real time and then you
Speaker 3: get to tell them, Okay, they did this because of X,
Speaker 3: Y and Z, and that's the best way to learn,
Speaker 3: I feel like, but I still feel like we're so
Speaker 3: young that we don't have that one that's off well,
Speaker 3: one on one resource to point everyone too.
Speaker 1: Well, it sounds like your next job, Kat, that's your plate.
Speaker 1: Where can folks get tickets if they want to go
Speaker 1: to a game, you.
Speaker 3: Can get them online AU pro sports dot com. All
Speaker 3: of their sports are covered there, but aus L has
Speaker 3: its own little tab now and once sites are announced
Speaker 3: and tickets are available, it will be there.
Speaker 2: And how can folks watch on TV and streaming?
Speaker 3: ESPN is going to cover thirty games that goes with
Speaker 3: our AUSL series as well as the Championship series, which
Speaker 3: is the points based system, and then aside from that,
Speaker 3: they usually if ESPN's not covering something between CBS, Sports
Speaker 3: Valleys and other networks, it will be either streamed or
Speaker 3: also aired, so it will be covered, you will be
Speaker 3: able to see it. And we're excited to be launching.
Speaker 1: So from now on, AUSL will be the traditional format
Speaker 1: and AU Sopball Championship Series will be the point.
Speaker 3: That it's going to be called All Star Cups, So
Speaker 3: AUSL and then the All Star Cups, okay, perfect. The
Speaker 3: premise is in the future, if we have eight teams,
Speaker 3: the top sixty performers will get invited to All Star Cup.
Speaker 2: Nice cool, that makes sense.
Speaker 1: Okay, last couple here. Setting up a league is about
Speaker 1: more than just getting players on the field, So tell
Speaker 1: us about the behind the scenes. This is a little
Speaker 1: bit easier for this because Athletes Unlimited has been in
Speaker 1: practice for a number of years with different sports. But
Speaker 1: what does it look like in terms of support staff, doctors,
Speaker 1: physical therapists, hr, things like that, reporting if there's player
Speaker 1: issues or you know, issues within the coaches or league.
Speaker 3: Correct, So we will have athletic trainers. We are trying,
Speaker 3: I know, trying to make sure there's access to chiroproductors, pets.
Speaker 3: If not traveling with us in market wherever we travel to,
Speaker 3: housing is going to be taken care of. And if
Speaker 3: they would like to have a housing back at Chicago
Speaker 3: where we start off with our training, they can get
Speaker 3: a stipend and find an airbnb or a rental property
Speaker 3: or whatever if they would like to do that, and
Speaker 3: keep stuff there so they're not carrying everything with them
Speaker 3: for the five or six weeks. As I mentioned, the
Speaker 3: childcare and Materneyle is great. The biggest thing that AUSL
Speaker 3: has done that no NPR or no Professional Opportunity has
Speaker 3: ever had is they have you around insurance. So that
Speaker 3: was added to the docket this year, which is just huge.
Speaker 3: A professional athlete, I had had a couple of short
Speaker 3: term insurance policies to cover when I was in between
Speaker 3: jobs and whatnot, so that's huge. Support staff isn't going
Speaker 3: to be an issue. We're still hiring a lot, but
Speaker 3: everything athlete and the women covers everything, and as since
Speaker 3: they're all under one umbrella, everybody can kind of mix
Speaker 3: and match or share if something happens. And then as
Speaker 3: part of the advisory board, we are still working on
Speaker 3: some of the policies and stuff, but it's going to
Speaker 3: be top notch and professionally run. Cool.
Speaker 1: Okay, So we're closing with this my not yet trademarked
Speaker 1: but should be trademarked approach to teaching folks about a
Speaker 1: new sport, or talking to a newbie as I take
Speaker 1: them to their first sporting event, or even just sort
Speaker 1: of how I crafted how I wanted to talk about
Speaker 1: stories of women's sports on this show can be summed
Speaker 1: up by the four US's Stars, stakes, stats and stories.
Speaker 1: So I want to close with the speed round for
Speaker 1: the AUSL.
Speaker 2: Stars. You mentioned a couple, but who should we watch for?
Speaker 3: I mentioned Bubba Nichols and Carl Hoover. I think the
Speaker 3: other one is Daja Moulliepolas. She was a previous champ.
Speaker 3: She's coming back to AU after taking a year of
Speaker 3: doing some other things, so it'll be excited to see
Speaker 3: her back in the fold.
Speaker 1: Okay, we're going to add their accounts to the show
Speaker 1: notes so people can follow them and keep up with
Speaker 1: keep up with the league. Okay, Stakes, how important is
Speaker 1: it going to be for say, one regular season game
Speaker 1: a winner or a loss to the team's likelihood of
Speaker 1: making it to the championship. What are the stakes of
Speaker 1: each game we're watching?
Speaker 3: Well, this year we have a limited short schedule, so
Speaker 3: there's only twenty four games, so every game is going
Speaker 3: to count. Every game is going to matter, even at
Speaker 3: the very beginning, which I think a lot of times
Speaker 3: is where you know, especially in men's sports, when they
Speaker 3: play so many you kind of can get some more
Speaker 3: up rowing.
Speaker 2: Stats.
Speaker 1: What's a great stat line in a single game for
Speaker 1: a batter or for a pitcher for people to look
Speaker 1: for for a hitter.
Speaker 3: I think, well, it depends, but usually a two for three,
Speaker 3: two for four something where you know, but if they
Speaker 3: go one for three with a sackfly move the runner,
Speaker 3: that can also be successful. But I think a lot
Speaker 3: of times watch the hard hits. If they're barreling football,
Speaker 3: they're getting ready to get hot and go on a streak. Pitchers,
Speaker 3: I'm a little bit selfish in that realm, so I
Speaker 3: like to look at strikeouts, but really it's how few
Speaker 3: free passes they give, walks and hit by pitches and
Speaker 3: then can they scatter their hits as opposed to allowing
Speaker 3: them to be back to back?
Speaker 1: Okay, and stories give us a story or two to follow.
Speaker 1: It could be a player coming back from injury, a
Speaker 1: player that breaks boundaries or represents an underrepresented group. It
Speaker 1: could be a coach or a GM with a really
Speaker 1: cool story. What's something we should be excited about as
Speaker 1: we get looking forward to the season.
Speaker 3: Well, I think too. One, we just had a rookie,
Speaker 3: Sidney McKinney. I think she was a rookie. She might
Speaker 3: have been in her second year, but she's from Wichita.
Speaker 3: So anytime the AUSL is going to go back to Wichita.
Speaker 3: If she's on one of those two teams. It's I
Speaker 3: think it's going to be fun to see how Wichita
Speaker 3: shows out for her and how she performs there because
Speaker 3: when aux was there she did really well. And then two,
Speaker 3: I think the biggest get for AUSL has been Lisa Fernandez.
Speaker 3: You know, but go she's been around the game. She'll
Speaker 3: describe herself as a lifer, and to have her involved
Speaker 3: right now in this new, vibrant kind of environment is
Speaker 3: huge because of all of her experience in everything. I mean,
Speaker 3: she's been part of, you know, trying to get a
Speaker 3: national team going to being in the Olympics. Multiple different
Speaker 3: pro avenues have existed in her time, and so it's
Speaker 3: really cool to have her and see how her influence
Speaker 3: is going to now continue to impact this young generation
Speaker 3: of professional athletes.
Speaker 2: I love it. Well, that's it, folks.
Speaker 1: You know everything you need to know that you can
Speaker 1: know so far about the AUSL.
Speaker 2: Thanks to the great Kat Austerman. Kat, thanks for.
Speaker 3: The time, Thank you so much.
Speaker 2: Welcome back, slices.
Speaker 1: We love that you're listening, but we want you to
Speaker 1: get in the game every day too. So here's our
Speaker 1: good game play of the day. Follow AUSL on social
Speaker 1: and follow some of the players Cat mentioned, like Bubba
Speaker 1: Nichols and Deja Mulipola. One of the best ways to
Speaker 1: learn about a new league, get to know the players
Speaker 1: and storylines, and keep up with the games is to
Speaker 1: have them right in your social timeline, so hit that
Speaker 1: follow button. Also check out photographer slash videographer Jade Hewitt
Speaker 1: on Instagram for dope visuals and fantastic reporter Savannah Collins
Speaker 1: for updates, interviews, and behind the scenes content. Links to
Speaker 1: accounts in our show notes, And don't forget to subscribe,
Speaker 1: rate and review like this paying homage to the Chicago
Speaker 1: Bandits with a new Incarnation rating ten out of ten
Speaker 1: inventive reinventions review. The Chicago Bandits were a staple of
Speaker 1: the National Pro Fast Pitch League from twenty five to
Speaker 1: twenty nineteen, so reimagining them with a new logo and
Speaker 1: colors in this AUSL league just feels right, especially when
Speaker 1: the new logo rocks the light blue, white and red
Speaker 1: of the Chicago Flag Bandits Forever. Now it's your turn, subscribe,
Speaker 1: rate and review.
Speaker 2: Thanks for listening. See you tomorrow. Good game, Cat, good
Speaker 2: game AUSL.
Speaker 1: You trying to play a professional sport after taking a
Speaker 1: red eye flight. Good Game with Sarah Spain is an
Speaker 1: iHeart women's sports production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports
Speaker 1: and Entertainment. You can find us on the iHeartRadio app,
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