Heading into the final weekend of the Athletes Unlimited season, and the final weekend of her softball career, pitching legend Cat Osterman is focused on just one thing: enjoying herself. 

“I’m ready to walk away,” she tells Just Women’s Sports. “There will be no regrets. I have given everything I can to this game. 

“But as a teammate, I just want to have fun.”

Coming out of retirement wasn’t even a remote possibility for Osterman in 2015 when she first stepped away from the sport. At the time, she was ready to hang up the cleats for good. 

Everything changed when softball was added to the Tokyo Olympics after being taken off the program following the 2008 Games. As Osterman explained on the Just Women’s Sports podcast last year, she was first asked to help coach the US team before deciding she still had some gas left in the tank.

The addition of Athletes Unlimited introducing softball as its first professional league in 2020 was a silver lining in the midst of it all.

“I am glad I unretired and came back, but I’m fully ready [to retire],” Osterman says, adding that the biggest thing she’s learned over the past two years has been how much she truly enjoys playing softball.

“I think I am very intense and serious so often that my enjoyment of the game doesn’t always come through,” she continues. “But I truly enjoyed playing and have been able to let loose in moments that I didn’t before.”

At 38 years old, getting to know new faces, be it through Athletes Unlimited or with the U.S. National Team, has been a highlight for Osterman. Season two of Athletes Unlimited has been different from season one in that the athletes are no longer in a bubble. That means more bonding activities outside of just softball. The league has enabled Osterman to connect with players she might not normally have crossed paths with, like outfielder Ciara Bryan.

“We went to a White Sox game and [Bryan] was like, ‘Hey, do you want to be in my Snap?’ And I was like, ‘Sure. I’m not a big Snapchat person, but hey, you want me in your snap? I’ll jump in and say hi,’” Osterman says. “And just to learn that that was her first MLB game ever was crazy.”

Playing with Athletes Unlimited has also allowed Osterman’s friends and family to see her play one last time after fans were barred from the Tokyo Olympics. At previous Olympics, Osterman was used to having a dozen plus family members cheering her on from the stands. 

“I’ve had a very supportive family throughout my whole career,” she says, adding that a lot of family will be coming to Chicago to watch her this weekend.

“That’s always cool to be able to see those people in the stands, and just feel their love and their presence, because they’ve been a huge part of my career.” 

Heading straight from the Olympics into the Athletes Unlimited season has been a grind for the 23 players that were in Tokyo, including Osterman. 

“There were two-and-a-half, three weeks in between the end of one season and the start of the next,” she says. “That’s not really a lot of time for us to process everything, to be able to decompress, physically come down from all the training that we’ve been doing for the last two years.”

But that’s where enjoying the game and not letting expectations get the best of you comes in. For Osterman, the past four weeks have been about doing it because she loves softball and nothing else. 

Still, as many athletes continue to open up about their mental health, Osterman admits that while she’s not one to always put her thoughts on social media, it’s been a struggle. 

“I’ve been home 13 days in the last three months, and that’s tough,” she says.  “Mentally, it’s surrounding yourself with the right people, talking to the right people so they fill your love up. They fill your heart up. 

“I think for me, knowing this is the end, I approach every week with, ‘You know what? I’m going to leave everything I have out on the field.’

“Some days I have my stuff. Some days I don’t. When I don’t, it’s frustrating. But at the same time, I’ve got to offer myself a little bit of grace and know that what we have gone through in the last two years is a lot.”

Osterman will head into her final weekend of Athletes Unlimited softball in an unusual position — for the first time in two years, she won’t be captaining a team. After losing the top spot in week three to Amanda Chidester, she now sits at 10th on the leaderboard with 1,216 total points. 

After winning the inaugural individual title last season, Osterman says this season is all about having fun and not stressing about the outcome. 

“At the end of the day, does [our performance] make or break where we end in the standings? Yes,” she says. “But does it make or break our careers? No, not at all.”

No matter what happens this weekend, Osterman will still retire as one of the greatest pitchers the sport has ever known, one with one Olympic gold and two silver medals to her name. Her number has already been retired with the USSSA Pride after amassing a 95-24 record during her career on the National Pro Fastpitch. The University of Texas likewise retired her number last year, making her the first UT softball player and third woman in university history to have her jersey retired. 

Her venture with Athletes Unlimited has been just as successful and historic. Osterman will forever be the first-ever champion in league history. And while she might not repeat this year, she still made history all the same, tossing the first no-hitter in Athletes Unlimited history.

As a legendary career draws to a close, Osterman insists that she’s staying in the present, and that she’ll be focused this weekend on celebrating another successful season of Athletes Unlimited. She’s hopeful the league can continue to grow as the pre-eminent professional league in the country. 

If there’s an avenue, Osterman says she’d love to stay involved with the league. But for now, she’s excited about the prospect of finally being able to step off of the field and into the rest of her life. This time, it really is for good. 

“It’s crazy to think that I will never put on the cleats again,” she says. “But I’m excited to celebrate the end of another successful AU season with these athletes. It’s not about me. I’m obviously going to walk away. But just for them to have this avenue and to have been a part of it in the first two seasons is pretty cool.”

Editor’s note: Athletes Unlimited is a sponsor of Just Women’s Sports.

Welcome to another episode of Sports Are Fun! presented by TurboTax.

A new episode of Sports Are Fun! dropped today, with soccer icon Kelley O'Hara, sports journalist Greydy Diaz, retired NWSL great Merritt Mathias, and JWS intern BJ professing their hottest takes all things women's sports — joined this week by current WNBA star and former UConn legend Stefanie Dolson.

But first, the lineup takes a good look at USWNT coach Emma Hayes's 2025 SheBelieves Cup roster.

"I think this is an interesting point in time for this team and Emma as a coach," says O'Hara. "She is now having to make decisions and choose to leave people off that she's had consistently since she's been there for the purpose of trying younger talent, newer talent, uncapped talent."

"My only pushback to you is that in the past, when younger talent has been brought in the expectation is that you don't see significant minutes or opportunity within games," answers Mathais. "I think that's a massive shift, like performing or having runs within the NWSL does now get you an opportunity to see if your ability and your talent transfers to a level that is higher."

"And if you are going to start having this conversation and see what depth you have, what pipeline you have, whether you like it or you don't like it, this roster seems to be very aligned within this runway you have leading up to the World Cup," she adds.

In addition to chatting with Dolson about all things basketball, the Sports Are Fun! squad also tackles iconic walk-out songs, the week's wild NCAA upsets, how to avoid tanking your checking account, and so much more.

Stef Dolson invites 'Sports Are Fun!' into UConn's playbook

Later, guest star Stefanie Dolson joins the part to talk about college basketball, the WNBA, and Unrivaled — starting with a look at her alma mater UConn and their up-and-down NCAA season so far.

Diaz kicks the interview off with a question: "As a former multi-champion, do you think this UConn team with Azzi [Fudd], with Paige Bueckers, and their supporting cast, do you think they have what it takes to win it all?"

"They needed a big win," Dolson says of UConn's upset victory over top contenders South Carolina on Sunday. "I think a game like this was really important for them to kind of build that confidence. And I know that they've had a lot of tough games — when they played USC, that was a huge game for them although they didn't come out on top, it just showed how tough they are."

"I'm always gonna put my money on UConn. If you're a Husky, you're a Husky for life," Dolson continues. "I would never count them out, but there are a lot of really, really good teams — UCLA, USC, Texas — a lot of really, really great teams so I think it's going to be a fun tournament.

Dolson then looks back on her time at UConn, sharing an insider's perspective on how legendary head coach Geno Auriemma ran things.

"We had a lot of different rules in terms of teams and how we wanted to play," she remembers with a laugh. "And even if we won by 40, if we didn't play well, Geno was making us run."

About 'Sports Are Fun!' with Kelley O'Hara

'Sports Are Fun!' is a show that’ll remind you why you fell in love with women's sports in the first place. Join World Cup champ, Olympic gold medalist, and aspiring barista Kelley O'Hara as she sits down with sports journalist Greydy Diaz and a revolving cast of co-hosts and friends. Together, they're talking the biggest, funnest, and most need-to-know stories in the world of women’s sports.

From on-court drama to off-field shenanigans, to candid (and silly) chats with the most important personalities in the space, this show screams "Sports Are Fun!"

Subscribe to Just Women's Sports on YouTube to never miss an episode.

Several women’s basketball greats earned nominations to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Friday, with Maya Moore, Sue Bird, and Sylvia Fowles among the Class of 2025’s 17 finalists for first-ballot induction.

After leading UConn to back-to-back undefeated NCAA seasons en route to the 2009 and 2010 national titles, Moore won four WNBA championships across seven seasons with the Minnesota Lynx. The 2014 WNBA MVP and six-time league All-Star also earned a pair of Olympic gold medals in 2012 and 2016 before exiting the game to pursue criminal justice reform in 2018.

Fellow Husky alum Bird also won two NCAA titles at UConn before picking up five Olympic gold medals with Team USA and four WNBA championships in her 21-season career with the Seattle Storm. Despite retiring in 2022, Bird remains the WNBA's career assists leader with 3,234 dimes, and her 13 All-Star nods still sets the league record.

Before joining Moore in leading the Lynx to WNBA championships in 2015 and 2017 — and earning Finals MVP awards during both runs — Fowles helped her alma mater LSU to four straight Final Four appearances. Her 14-year pro career included four Olympic golds, eight All-Star nods, four Defensive Player of the Year awards, plus the 2017 WNBA MVP trophy. When Fowles exited the sport in 2022, she did so as the WNBA's career rebounds leader, with a total of 4,006 boards.

Also on the 2025 Naismith ballot is Stanford standout and 1996 Olympic gold medalist Jennifer Azzi, who spent five years in the WNBA before retiring from play in 2004. Azzi now serves as the chief business development officer for the Las Vegas Aces.

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Naismith committee to decide Hall of Fame class

A 24-member Honors Committee will assess all 17 finalists. Those who garner at least 18 committee votes will earn admittance into the Hall of Fame.

The Class of 2025 will be announced in during the NCAA men’s Final Four in San Antonio, Texas, on Saturday, April 5th, with an official enshrinement ceremony to follow at a later date.

The WNBA appears poised to accept a bid from Cleveland to become the league's 16th franchise, with Sports Business Journal (SBJ) putting the Midwestern city’s chances of earning an expansion team "as high as 90%."

Led by Dan Gilbert, the majority owner of the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers, the investor group will reportedly revive the name and branding of the Cleveland Rockers ahead of the team’s 2028 debut. The Rockers were one of the WNBA's inaugural teams, competing from the league's 1997 debut season until the team's 2003 folding.

SBJ also cited an estimated expansion fee of $250 million, setting a new league record by fully doubling the $125 million fee shelled out by Portland, the WNBA's incoming 15th franchise.

That massive check combined with access to top-notch facilities likely elevated Cleveland’s bid, which includes plans for the incoming Rockers to operate out of the Cavs' current training facility after the NBA team moves to a new center in 2027.

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Big expansion team bids spark additional WNBA growth

SBJ's report also indicated that the WNBA has begun considering growth beyond their previously stated three-year, 16-team strategy, with an eye toward stretching to 18 squads in the short-term and 20 franchises by 2030.

Like Cleveland's bid, immediate access to NBA infrastructure has reportedly placed two markets at the front of the line for an expansion nod: a revival of the four-time WNBA champion Houston Comets and a net-new Philadelphia team. That said, three other former WNBA franchises — the Detroit Shock, the Miami Sol, and the Charlotte Sting — are rumored to be in the mix as well.

However, those ex-WNBA cities face stiff competition with bids from new markets like Austin, Nashville, Kansas City, Jacksonville, St. Louis, Milwaukee, and Denver entering the race in recent months.

Seizing the moment after a banner 2024 season, the WNBA is appearing to fast-track expansion rather than put prospective owners with deep pockets on hold — and turning some heads in the process as fears about growing too big, too quickly start to crop up.

No. 4 UConn bagged their first signature win of the season on Sunday, taking down then-No. 4 South Carolina 87-58 to snap the Gamecocks’ 71-game home winning streak. Dating back to 2020, South Carolina's string of home victories was the fourth longest in Division I women's basketball history.

"They had their way with us," South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley said after the game. "There's no trying to find a silver lining to it. We got beat. We got beat bad."

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Leading the beatdown was Husky guard Azzi Fudd, who notched a game-high 28 points while teammates Paige Bueckers and Sarah Strong each snagged double-doubles en route to UConn's massive victory.

Despite dominating the Big East this season, UConn has struggled against non-conference foes, picking up losses against Notre Dame, USC, and, for the first time since 2007, Tennessee.

"We needed to prove that to ourselves, that we could never let up for 40 minutes," Fudd said on Sunday.

"More than anything else, it was evident today that we played to win," echoed UConn head coach Geno Auriemma.

Top 10 upsets set the stage for March Madness

UConn wasn’t the only team showing out against Top 10 teams on Sunday, as then-No. 3 Texas took down former No. 5 LSU 65-58 in just the second SEC loss of the Tigers' season.

Now riding on three straight Top 8 wins, including humbling the reigning champion Gamecocks on February 9th, Texas currently sits atop the SEC standings. With less than two weeks of 2024/25 play left, the Longhorns have a real shot at the conference's regular-season trophy, as well as the key postseason seeding that title bestows.

Overall, the weekend’s slate tossed any presumptions about March Madness out the window, with top-ranked contenders stepping up to bust brackets before they’ve even been created. The only thing to expect? The unexpected.

Elite action paves Notre Dame's rise to No. 1

Last week’s NCAA onslaught brought bedlam to Monday's AP Top 25, with Notre Dame enjoying the view from the top after earning their first No. 1 ranking since 2019.

Sunday's top matchups sent South Carolina and LSU down two spots each to Nos. 6 and 7, respectively, while UConn earned an equitable rise to No. 5 with their defeat of the Gamecocks. Meanwhile, by taming the Tigers, Texas scaled up one spot to sit just behind Notre Dame at No. 2.

As for then-undefeated No. 1 UCLA, the Bruins fell two spots to No. 3 after their Thursday loss to crosstown rival USC, who leapt from No. 6 to No. 4 with the win.

Notre Dame is flying high for now, but with an unranked loss amid their ranked wins, their grip on the top slot is far from ironclad.

The Irish did manage to cement their No. 1 status with a 64-49 dismantling of No. 11 Duke just hours after Monday’s poll update, flexing their national prowess with a big ACC win.

However, UCLA and Texas each received multiple first-place votes this week, proving the AP's No. 1 ranking is far from unanimous as teams stare down their last few regular-season games.

With March fast approaching, conference tournament seeding could boil down to Top 10 wins — and teams will need every bit of leverage they can manage as the NCAA tournament looms.

AP College Basketball Top 25: Week 16

1. Notre Dame (23-2, ACC)
2. Texas (26-2, SEC)
3. UCLA (24-1, Big Ten)
4. USC (23-2, Big Ten)
5. UConn (24-3, Big East)
6. South Carolina (23-3, SEC)
7. LSU (25-2, SEC)
8. Ohio State (22-3, Big Ten)
9. North Carolina (23-4, ACC)
10. TCU (24-3, Big 12)
11. Duke (20-6, ACC)
12. Kansas State (24-4, Big 12)
13. NC State (20-5, ACC)
14. Kentucky (20-4, SEC)
15. Tennessee (19-6, SEC)
16. Oklahoma (19-6, SEC)
17. West Virginia (21-5, Big 12)
18. Alabama (21-5, SEC)
19. Baylor (22-5, Big 12)
20. Georgia Tech (21-5, ACC)
21. Maryland (20-6, Big Ten)
22. Michigan State (19-6, Big Ten)
23. Creighton (21-4, Big East)
24. Oklahoma State (20-5, Big 12)
25. Illinois (21-5, Big Ten)