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 USA women's hockey team came out on top over the weekend, kicking off the four-game 2025 Rivalry Series against Canada by dominating their northern neighbors, outscoring them by an impressive 10-2 margin across the pair's first two games.

US forward Abbey Murphy emerged as a series star, scoring a natural hat trick in the team's 4-1 win in Cleveland on Thursday — the first three-goal turn by a USA player against Canada since team captain Hilary Knight did so at the 2023 IIHF Women's World Championship.

"I told [Murphy], 'You set the bar pretty high,'" said Knight, who added her own hat trick to the mix in Saturday's 6-1 victory in Buffalo.

"I love how we showed up," the 36-year-old continued. "We've been working like dogs since August and to get rewarded for our work, and see situations that we need to work on."

Notably, while the USA brought their entire 2025 world championship-winning roster to the first two Rivalry Series games, Canada chose to evaluate some fresh faces while resting a number of standout veterans, including their No. 1 goaltender Ann-Renée Desbiens — a fact that should temper the sting of adding two big losses to their now four-game skid against the US.

With women's hockey taking over Milan at the 2026 Winter Olympics in February, the last two 2025 Rivalry Series matchups will more likely see both sides testing their final rosters for Italy.

How to watch the final games in the 2025 Rivalry Series

Canada will welcome the USA for the last two matchups in the 2025 Rivalry Series, with the puck dropping in Edmonton, Alberta, at 9 PM ET for both the December 10th and 13th clashes.

Both games will air live on the NHL Network.

The LPGA is bringing star power to Florida this week, as a wealth of women's golf talent — and one basketball superstar — tee off at the 2025 edition of The ANNIKA.

Kicking off the event on Wednesday was the annual Pro-Am, with Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark headlining the field for the second straight year.

World No. 2 golfer Nelly Korda once again joined Clark through her first nine holes, as Fever teammates Sophie Cunningham and Lexie Hull served as guest caddies.

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The four-day professional tournament will then tee off on Thursday, though current world No. 1 Jeeno Thitikul will not be in attendance for the second year in a row.

Korda, however, will lead the charge to both defend her 2024 title and secure her first win of the 2025 LPGA season — as well as add to her full trio of trophies collected at The ANNIKA.

Four other Top-10 players will look to upend Korda's back-to-back bid, including No. 3 Miyu Yamashita, No. 6 Charley Hull, No. 9 Mao Saigo, and No. 10 Lottie Woad.

With the 2025 CMA Group Tour Championship capping the LPGA season later this month, The ANNIKA will also see golfers on the bubble — like US stars Rose Zhang and 2023 champion Lilia Vu — try to snag enough points to make the end-of-year tournament's final 60-player cut.

How to watch The ANNIKA 2025 LPGA tournament

Coverage of the fifth edition of The ANNIKA continues through Sunday, airing live on the Golf Channel.

The No. 3 UCLA Bruins rose to the occasion on Monday, looking like 2025/26 NCAA basketball championship contenders as they took down the No. 6 Oklahoma Sooners 73-59 in Sacramento.

Utah transfer Gianna Kneepkens made the difference for the Bruins, leading all scorers with 20 points while opposing defenses limited both UCLA center Lauren Betts and Oklahoma big Raegan Beers to single digits.

Bruins forward Angela Dugalić also put up a standout performance, coming off the bench to score 16 points and snag 15 rebounds on Monday.

"There are so many weapons that I feel like it's hard for the defense to choose what to take away," Kneepkens said ahead of Monday's matchup. "What makes this team special is that any night could be someone's night."

Monday's clash with UCLA also served as the national broadcast debut of Oklahoma freshman guard Aaliyah Chavez, with the No. 1 high school basketball recruit seeing her first Top 10 NCAA matchup as a Sooner.

Chavez had a slow start against the experienced Bruins, registering 11 points, three assists, and two rebounds across her 32 minutes on the court.

How to watch UCLA basketball this week

The heat continues for No. 3 UCLA on Thursday, when the Bruins will host the No. 11 North Carolina Tar Heels at 9 PM ET, airing live on ESPN.

Newly formed offseason league Project B is stocking up, with Phoenix Mercury star forward Alyssa Thomas becoming the second big-name WNBA player to sign with the overseas venture ahead of its anticipated November 2026 debut.

Thomas follows Seattle Storm forward Nneka Ogwumike in joining Project B, a traveling tournament-style competition reportedly offering players significant pay raises into the seven- and even eight-figure echelon — as well as equity stakes in the league.

Thomas will still feature in the 2026 season of Unrivaled 3×3 Basketball this January, with the launch of Project B expected to conflict with Unrivaled's third season in 2027.

With salaries reportedly topping both Unrivaled and the WNBA, Project B's funding sources came into question after Ogwumike's announcement last week.

In February, The Financial Times named Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund as a league investor, though Project B co-founder Grady Burnett denied those claims to Front Office Sports last week.

However, the league is working with event partner Sela, a known subsidiary of the Saudi Public Investment Fund, though Burnett was quick to qualify that "Sela is one event partner that we pay money to. We do not have any dollars coming from them."

With the first season of Project B set to field 66 players, expect more high-profile signings to continue as the new venture adds to the increasingly crowded WNBA offseason space.