For the first time in Athletes Unlimited Softball history, it’s unlikely that a pitcher will be crowned champion.

In 2020, veteran pitcher Cat Osterman ran away with the inaugural AU trophy. The next year, right-hander Aleshia Ocasio won it by over 300 points. And in June’s shortened AUX season, Danielle O’Toole edged out fellow pitcher Rachel Garcia for the title.

O’Toole has put up a good fight during the league’s third season, currently in fifth place with 1,226 points, 236 points shy of the leader, catcher Dejah Mulipolah. Alyssa Denham, in third place with 1,316 points, is the only other pitcher in the top 10. Infielder Amanda Chidester (second, 1,364 points) and outfielder Haylie McCleney (fourth, 1,316 points) are the next-closest to first with one week remaining in the season.

Each season, in addition to a Defender of the Year award, AU names just one champion based on who finishes atop the leaderboard. But for most of the athletes, Athletes Unlimited has always been about more than the hardware. It’s an opportunity for them to compete with some of the top players in their sport and continue their softball careers.

Garcia is in her first year with Athletes Unlimited. The pitcher took last year off after winning a silver medal with Team USA at the Tokyo Olympics. Though she’s currently in 26th with 962 points and off pace for the title, she’s been one of the best pitchers to step into the circle this season. Her 3.00 ERA through 39 innings is third-best among pitchers with over 30 innings pitched, behind O’Toole’s 3.03 ERA through 34 IP and Denham’s 1.62 ERA through 34 IP.

“You’re facing the best hitters in the nation,” Garcia told Just Women’s Sports. “You’re facing people who are veterans of the game, so you have to be a little bit more smart. It’s more like a mind game at this point. I came out during AUX only throwing two pitches and being able to get away with it. Now I’m out here and I had to put other pitches into my arsenal.”

While her pitching has kept her competitive in the standings this season, Garcia says she’s more focused on other areas of the game, like her pitch count. The leaderboard, in fact, has been the last thing on her mind.

“I want my team to win. That’s what’s important to me,” she said. “I don’t personally like to look at the leaderboard. I like to look more at my pitching, how it’s rolling … because I feel like, for me as a person, [the leaderboard is] something that I think is more of a distraction than anything.”

Rachel Garcia, 52mph change up.
Her 9th K of the day.@AUProSports pic.twitter.com/Pf7E18Hz09

— Savanna Collins (@savannaecollins) August 21, 2022

Many of AU’s athletes are still trying to learn the rules of accumulating individual points and applying them to their performances.

Players can earn points for every element of the game, with a base of 10 points for plays like a single, a stolen base and a drawn walk. Doubles amount to 20 points, triples 30 and home runs 40. Points can also be lost, such as when a player gets caught stealing. Pitchers earn four points for each out and lose 10 for each run allowed.

Players also earn 10 points for each inning won and 50 points for a game victory. MVP points are also up for grabs among those who have standout performances.

“I feel like each week it’s just a different challenge. You kind of learn the game in a different way,” shortstop Sydney Romero said of the points system.

“Being able to pay attention to [the individual points] and winning each inning — really taking the game inning by inning because each inning literally matters — has helped me personally because you have to pay attention literally to each inning, and you can’t miss a beat in between.”

“You pay more attention to detail,” added infielder Sierra Romero, Sydney’s sister. “So even if your team is losing, you’re thinking, ‘OK, as a team, how can we win this inning to get everybody points?’ You’re still thinking about the team aspect of it. Every single inning matters, and what’s cool is even if you are losing right now, if we can win this inning, we got ourselves some points, and we might even take the lead.”

Sydney Romero, in 21st place entering the final three games of the AU season, didn’t always have an optimistic perspective of the leaderboard. Coming from a standout career at Oklahoma, where she won two College World Series, and the National Pro Fastpitch league, she had to learn how to approach the new rules in her two years with AU.

“Last year, I could not look at the point system. It would drive me nuts knowing where I was at on the leaderboard,” she said. “But this year, I actually like to pay attention to it and look at it because I feel like I have a better understanding. And it doesn’t make me that mad anymore.”

SYDNEY ROMERO showing off the glove 🤩@syd_syd2 | 📺: ESPNU pic.twitter.com/c1q1TymfC4

— Athletes Unlimited (@AUProSports) June 20, 2022

Of course, Sydney says she still wants to compete and move up the leaderboard, though her sentiment isn’t shared across the league. Sierra, for one, has a laser focus on winning each time she steps onto the field.

“I might know the basic stuff, but I couldn’t tell you where anybody’s at on the leaderboard ever,” she said. “I am a perfectionist [about hitting], but for me I’ve just noticed that not paying attention to the leaderboard has helped me and I’m just focusing on winning games. I think the one time I looked at it was last year when Sydney showed me.”

AU’s first-ever champion took a holistic approach from the start. Osterman has since retired, but her message continues to resonate with current players.

“At the end of the day, does [our performance] make or break where we end in the standings? Yes,” the softball legend said last year of the Athletes Unlimited leaderboard. “But does it make or break our careers? No, not at all.”

Emma Hruby is an Associate Editor at Just Women’s Sports. Follow her on Twitter @EHruby.

The LPGA is hitting the green in teams on Wednesday night, as some of the top golfers on Tour link up to represent their countries at the 2025 International Crown in South Korea.

This fifth edition of the match-play tournament will see seven teams from the USA, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Sweden, and China, as well as a mixed World Team taking on the reigning champion squad out of Thailand this week.

Comprised of the four top-ranked LPGA players from each nation, countries earn a team spot in the biennial International Crown based on the combined rankings of their best quartet of golfers — with those overall aggregates also determining tournament seeding.

The US topped all teams to snag this year's No. 1 seed, though the squad suffered a significant availability blow earlier this month when world No. 2 Nelly Korda withdrew from the 2025 International Crown due to injury.

No. 28 Yealimi Noh will compete in Korda's place, with the 24-year-old joining No. 10 Angel Yin, No. 16 Lauren Coughlin, and No. 33 Lilia Vu on Team USA.

Led by another 24-year-old, LPGA Tour debutant No. 6 Miyu Yamashita, No. 2 seed Japan appears to be the team to beat, with the World Team's fourth-ranked Lydia Ko (New Zeland) and fifth-ranked Charley Hull (England) upping the stakes for the No. 7 seed squad.

How to watch the 2025 International Crown

The four-day 2025 International Crown will tee off at 10 PM ET on Wednesday night, with live coverage of each day of competition airing on the Golf Channel.

With the first-ever eight-team PWHL season fast approaching next month, the pro women’s hockey league unveiled the inaugural jerseys for incoming 2025/26 expansion sides Seattle and Vancouver on Tuesday.

The new teams will wear jerseys displaying their city names across the front, following suit after the six founding PWHL franchises debuted without original names or branding during their inaugural 2023/24 campaign.

Per this week's press release, Seattle's colors are "deep slate green and cream with a river blue accent," while Vancouver will sport "pacific blue and cream with an earthy bronze accent."

In addition to "allowing fans to immediately identify with their hometown's newest professional team," PWHL EVP of business operations Amy Scheer explained in a Tuesday statement that "These designs also connect our expansion teams to the league's foundation while they continue building their own traditions and ties to the community."

While the PWHL will reveal the full team identities — complete with names and logos — before the puck drops on the 2025/26 season on November 21st, Seattle and Vancouver will play in their generic branding until next season.

How to purchase PWHL Seattle and Vancouver jerseys

The dark-colored replica home jerseys for both Seattle and Vancouver are currently available for purchase alongside all PWHL merch at the league's online shop.

Women's professional baseball will soon be a reality, with the incoming WPBL announcing its four inaugural teams on Tuesday ahead of the league's November draft.

Kicking off with a coast-to-coast imprint, major sports hubs Boston, New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco will house the founding WPBL teams, with the quartet of cities tapped "because of their fan support, market size, media presence, and rich baseball histories."

"We are so excited to finally announce the WPBL's first four teams," WPBL co-founder Justine Siegal said in the league's Tuesday press release. "Each of these cities are storied sports cities and we can't wait to connect with the fans who live there and baseball fans across the country."

Originally developed as a six-team venture, the 2026 debut of the WPBL will mark the first pro women's league in the US since the legendary World War II-era All-American Girls Professional Baseball League folded in 1954.

Each of the four inaugural team will feature 15 players, with next month's WPBL draft drawing from the top 100 players coming out of August's open tryouts.

The league's first competitive cycle will include a regular season, a postseason, and an all-star competition held at a neutral venue.

Adam Silver is back in the headlines, with the NBA commissioner speaking out on the increasingly fraught WNBA CBA negotiations on Tuesday — and pushing for controlled salary increases rather than the revenue sharing model that players overwhelmingly want.

"I think [revenue] share isn't the right way to look at it because there's so much more revenue in the NBA," Silver told the Today Show. "I think you should look at absolute numbers. In terms of what they are making, they are going to get a big increase in this cycle of collective bargaining, and they deserve it."

In response, the WNBPA posted a clip of Silver's interview to Instagram Stories, captioning it with "Don't want to share, @adamsilvernba?"

Tuesday's back-and-forth emphasizes a significant wedge issue within the CBA talks, as WNBA players argue for a salary cap determined by the total revenue generated from all basketball-related activities like ticket sales, media deals, sponsorships, and merchandise — the same model currently used in the NBA.

The WNBA — like Silver — wants salary cap growth to continue on a fixed scale, raising player salaries in the upcoming CBA while controlling revenue distribution at the stakeholder level.

"I think we all agree we're trying to return every dollar we possibly can to the players, but we also want to incentivize investment from owners," WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert said when addressing the issue earlier this month.

With less than 10 days remaining before the CBA's October 31st deadline, differences continue to outweigh common ground en route to an unlikely deal.