Athletes Unlimited softball is back, with the league entering its third five-week season Friday.

Defending champion Aleshia Ocasio is back in Rosemont, Illinois, as is reigning AUX champion Danielle O’Toole. Other familiar faces will also grace the field as all look to claim the third Athletes Unlimited softball crown.

The league as a whole is trending upward, with an increase in viewership and social engagement following the AUX season.

Just Women’s Sports has three players to watch as the season kicks off.

Danielle O’Toole

O’Toole enters the season as one of the favorites to take the crown after amassing 1,436 points during the shortened AUX season to take that title. The left-handed pitcher had the lowest ERA of the AUX season at 1.69 through 28 innings pitched.

She was the only pitcher with an ERA under 2.00, although Georgina Corrick managed a 2.14 ERA across 39 innings pitched coming off a loaded NCAA season.

The last full season didn’t go as well for O’Toole, who amassed just 680 leaderboard points in 2021 while managing a rotator cuff injury that she carried with her through the Tokyo Olympics while playing for Team Mexico. But she’s back this summer, healed and showcasing just what she’s capable of with her AUX win.

“I was in a really bad place, and I worked really hard to try to be able to get back to a place where I could live every day and like and be free and be happy,” she said following the AUX season. “I was not trying to come out and win [the title]. I looked at AUX as a unique opportunity to get better and an opportunity to prepare for the regular AU champ season. I wasn’t planning on doing as well as I did.”

O’Toole also appears to be entering her final professional softball season, with the pitcher posting on Instagram a photo with the caption: “The calm before the last storm.”

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Dejah Mulipola

Dejah Mulipola was one of the favorites to win the AUX crown, winning game MVP four times and holding the lead in the standings after the first week of action. She finished in third with 1,368 leaderboard points.

While Mulipola couldn’t get it done in the shortened season, she’s showing signs of improvement from her rookie season in 2021. After posting 13 hits last season, she equaled that in a shorter amount of time at AUX while scoring a league-leading 14 runs in San Diego. She also tied for the league lead with 11 RBIs – three more than she had last season.

Mulipola’s .625 slugging percentage during the shortened season was only bested by Rachel Garcia’s .667. No other batter finished above .600.

The catcher’s bat stayed hot at the World Games for Team USA, where she notched eight hits in 13 at-bats through five games. With five RBI, four runs scored, and a .682 slugging percentage, she helped the United States score a gold medal and revenge from last year’s Olympics, beating Japan 3-2 in the final.

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For her performance at the plate, Mulipola was named to the All-World Team alongside fellow AU pro Haylie McCleney, who was named MVP of the tournament. Mulipola was just as good behind the plate, as she was named the best catcher of the tournament.

Sis Bates

Sis Bates enters her second AU softball season as one of the best defensive players in the game. She finished ninth last season, her first in the pros after a standout career at the University of Washington.

During the AUX season a little over a month ago, Bates recorded 21 putouts and a .952 fielding percentage in 12 games. In all but three games, her fielding percentage was perfect. Twice, she featured on SportsCenter’s Top 10 plays for her efforts on defense. At the end of the two weeks, she was named the league’s Defensive MVP.

A walking highlight reel 🎞

Sis Bates has been INSANE throughout this AUX Softball season 🥎#AUX | #AUSB pic.twitter.com/I2z0cmbpfO

— Athletes Unlimited (@AUProSports) June 22, 2022

“It was so awesome,” Bates told Softball America. “I hadn’t been able to play since the last AU (season). This was my first year coaching, which was a little different for me. Being able to put on a uniform again and do what I love was the best experience.”

For as good as she is at taking control of the ball, she’s pretty good at hitting it too. She recorded nine hits and four runs during the AUX season. During the 2021 season, she registered 14 hits and tied for the league lead with five doubles. No matter where she is on the field, Bates is a threat.

The third season of Athletes Unlimited softball gets underway at 7 p.m. ET Friday on ESPN2.

USA Basketball dropped its 18-player December roster on Monday, selecting both standout vets and fresh faces for the national team's final training camp of 2025.

Taking place at Duke University from December 12th until the 14th, five 2024 Paris Olympic gold medalists — Kahleah Copper, Chelsea Gray, Brittney Griner, Kelsey Plum, and Jackie Young — will anchor the Team USA lineup.

Notably, a full 10 players will join the senior team for the first time next month, as young WNBA superstars like Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, Paige Bueckers, and Cameron Brink earn their first call-ups.

A pair of NCAA stars will also attend the December camp, with the national governing body tapping both UCLA senior center Lauren Betts and USC junior guard JuJu Watkins on the roster — though Watkins will not participate in on-court activities as she continues to rehab an ACL tear.

Along with the full camp roster, USA Basketball also dropped its December sideline leaders, with current WNBA head coaches Nate Tibbetts (Phoenix Mercury), Natalie Nakase (Golden State Valkyries), and Stephanie White (Indiana Fever) comprising the assistant coaching staff for the previously announced senior national team head coach Kara Lawson.

December's camp is the team's first step toward the World Cup qualifiers in March, when the US will compete despite having already qualified for the 2026 FIBA World Cup by winning the 2025 FIBA AmeriCup in July.

Overall, the clock starts now for USA women's basketball managing director Sue Bird, who is in charge of cultivating the best team for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

The USA Basketball December Training Camp Roster

Overall No. 1-seed Stanford has rolled through the competition in the first three rounds of the 2025 NCAA Division I women's soccer tournament, with the Cardinal booking their spot in this weekend's quarterfinals with a 6-0 thumping of No. 5-seed BYU on Monday.

Stanford has outscored their opponents 16-4 so far, ousting unseeded Cal Poly 3-1 in the first round and claiming a 7-3 second-round shootout win over No. 8-seed Alabama before bouncing BYU.

Elsewhere in the bracket, fellow No. 1-seed Vanderbilt is also still alive after the Commodores took down SEC rival No. 4-seed LSU in Monday's Sweet Sixteen.

Not every top seed is through, however, as ACC standouts Nos. 1 Notre Dame and Virginia both fell to Big Ten contenders in the NCAA tournament's early rounds.

Reigning Big Ten Champions No. 4-seed Washington sent the Cavaliers home in a Sweet Sixteen penalty shootout on Sunday, as the Huskies continue their run in honor of late senior goalkeeper Mia Hamant.

Unseeded Ohio State has also surprised, overcoming a mediocre 4-2-5 performance in 2025 Big Ten play by staging an upset run through the national tournament. After claiming golden-goal overtime winners to oust Notre Dame last week and No. 5-seed Baylor on Sunday, the Buckeyes will make their first Elite Eight appearance since 2010 on Friday.

No. 2-seeds Michigan State, Duke, and TCU, as well as No. 3-seed Florida State round out the quarterfinal competition, as the Big Ten joins the ACC in leading the charge toward the 2025 College Cup with three teams each in the Elite Eight.

How to watch the 2025 NCAA soccer quarterfinals

The 2025 NCAA soccer tournament kicks off its Elite Eight round with three ACC vs. Big Ten matchups on Friday, when No. 2 Duke takes on No. 4 Washington at 4 PM ET before No. 1 Stanford vs. No. 2 Michigan State and No. 3 Florida State vs. Ohio State begins at 5 PM ET.

The last quarterfinal takes the pitch on Saturday, as SEC favorite No. 1 Vanderbilt faces No. 2 TCU at 7:30 PM ET.

All quarterfinals will stream live on ESPN+.

Despite a slight dip in attendance, the NWSL has continued to see steady gains from its TV audience this year, posting a league-wide 22% viewership growth during the 2025 regular season.

Prior to last Saturday's title game, the NWSL reported that postseason viewership had risen 5% from the 2024 Playoffs, when the Orlando Pride completed a league-double Shield and championship win.

Even more, ABC and ESPN platforms saw their largest percentage hike for NWSL regular-season matches in history, with the audience growing an impressive 61% year-over-year — though CBS still touts the league's highest viewership average at 479,000 fans tuning in per 2025 match.

Three of ABC/ESPN's top matchups featured the Washington Spirit, with the Portland Thorns also making two appearances in the Top-5 most-watched games of the 2025 season on the platform.

Additionally, CBS's 2025 semifinal between Washington and Portland drew 548,000 viewers while the other NWSL semifinal between Orlando and reigning champs Gotham FC averaged 328,000 viewers on ABC.

Broadcast partner ION, which carries the most linear games each NWSL season, also claimed a 5% increase in overall viewership from 2024.

Ultimately, the NWSL remains competitive with other North American soccer leagues in finding an audience on TV, with the league now aiming to retain its star power in order to encourage even more growth.

Founding WNBA franchise Phoenix will have a new look entering the 2026 season, as the Mercury announced its first-ever rebrand on Monday to celebrate the team's upcoming 30th anniversary campaign.

"The new branding represents the Mercury's championship legacy, devoted fanbase, and the new era that began with a record-breaking season and memorable [2025] Finals run," said Phoenix CEO Josh Bartelstein in a statement.

In honor of the franchise's 1997 inaugural season, the new primary Phoenix logo positions the Mercury "M" at an angle of 19.97 degrees, while the team's redesigned global logo centers the primary emblem on top of four rings — mirroring the planetary rings on the Mercury's original design.

The team is also debuting a first-ever secondary logo, featuring the outline of the state of Arizona with the seams of a basketball, while also officially introducing the popular "Merc" nickname into the WNBA squad's branding lexicon.

In celebration of the rebrand, Phoenix is currently running a first-of-its-kind community giveback called the Merc Merch Swap, in which fans can trade old team merchandise — which will be donated to Goodwill — for a newly branded Mercury T-shirt.

How to purchase or swap for new Phoenix Mercury merch

To take part in the Merc Merch Swap, fans can bring any Phoenix, WNBA, or WNBA team item to the Mercury Team Shop at Mortgage Matchup Center to swap for a new logo T-shirt as well as a single-item 20% voucher through through Friday, December 5th.

Phoenix's rebranded items are also now available for purchase at the team's online shop.