Athletes Unlimited announced Monday the schedules and rosters for its upcoming AUX and AU softball seasons.
The month of June will see the first edition of AUX, a standalone, two-week competition of high-level softball in San Diego. Then, in July, Athletes Unlimited softball will return to Rosemont, Illinois, for its third season.
All games will be broadcast live on national television, with the partners and schedules to be announced at a later date.
A total of 42 athletes will take the field for AUX, including last season’s champion Aleshia Ocasio. Amanda Chidester and Kelsey Stewart are also amongst those competing in the new, standalone competition.
All three are amongst the list of 16 players who signed two-year contracts, the first in Athletes Unlimited history.
The AUX Softball season will take place June 13-25, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of Title IX.
“We are thrilled to bring Athletes Unlimited’s unique brand of world-class professional women’s sports to Southern California for the first time with our new AUX Softball competition at San Diego State University, while also looking forward to returning to Rosemont for our third season of Athletes Unlimited Softball,” AU director of softball and senior vice president Cheri Kempf said in a statement. “As we mark the 50th anniversary of the passage of Title IX, we look forward to all the ways in which fully-empowered athletes will chart the course for the next 50 years of women’s sports and beyond.”
Eight new athletes have signed on for the upcoming season, five of whom will compete in AUX. Included are five Olympians from three different countries, among them are Team USA alternate Hannah Flippen and Canadian bronze medalist Sara Groenewegen.
In total, 18 Olympians have signed on to compete in the upcoming AU season. The third season of AU softball will take place starting July 29 and running five weeks through August 28.
Nine of the league’s top 10 finishers from last season are returning. Only missing will be Cat Osterman, who retired from the game for good following season two.