The first weekend of Athletes Unlimited Softball had it all. Between no-hitters, home runs and players living up to and exceeding the hype (hello, Odicci Alexander), the top of the leaderboard remains tight, with seven players totaling more than 400 points.

But week two means a new draft and all new teams.

As the second weekend of Athletes Unlimited’s softball season gets underway, here are three storylines to watch.

Can Cat Osterman pull away?

Last year, Osterman took a lead early into the season and never looked back. Currently, Osterman sits second on the leaderboard, just eight points behind Sahvanna Jaquish. In her final season of softball, the 38-year-old continues to make history. Just last week, Osterman tossed the first no-hitter in Athletes Unlimited history. In seven innings pitched she recorded five strikeouts, two walks and just one run allowed. 

Osterman seems to be just as dangerous as she was last season, something that is good for those she plays with and detrimental to those she plays against. If she continues to find her groove and remains stellar on the mound, it will take a very special season to unseat the reigning champion.

Odicci Alexander vs. the hype

Alexander balled out in week one and currently sits at fifth in the standings with 424 total points. A member of Team Osterman last week, she and the team went 3-0, only allowing three runs in seven innings pitched. Against Team Piancastelli she recorded three strikeouts and throughout the weekend only allowed one home run. 

However, this week, Jaquish took her off the board with the first pick of the draft before Osterman had the chance. Undoubtedly one of the hottest pitchers in the league following her stellar campaign with James Madison in the NCAA Tournament, the question will be whether Alexander can stay consistent. Just 14 points behind fourth place Lilli Piper, she has the chance to work her way into captaincy next week if she continues to dominate on the mound. 

Sahvanna Jaquish looks to keep hitting streak alive 

There’s a reason Jaquish is at the top of the leaderboard after week one, and it’s because she lit it up last weekend while on Team Osterman. The catcher has an eye-popping .778 batting average after nine at bats through three games with five runs scored. She’s hit at least one run in every game and currently is one of just two players with a double this season. 

Her hitting streak won’t be the only thing to keep an eye on, however. This week was Jaquish’s first time drafting this season. With only eight points separating her and Osterman, her softball savvy will be tested. If she drafted well and can stay hot at the place, she may have a chance to unseat the reigning champion. But one underwhelming weekend could see Osterman run away with the title again.

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

The PWHL is continuing to break records, as Sunday's 2025/26 Takeover Tour stop in Washington, DC, saw 17,228 fans pack into Capital One Arena to see the No. 2 New York Sirens top the No. 4 Montréal Victoire 2-1 — setting a new US women's hockey attendance record in the process.

The benchmark surpasses the previous US record set this past November, when the Seattle Torrent welcomed 16,014 fans to their inaugural home opener.

Sunday's DC crowd also sees the US mark inch closer to the overall professional women's hockey attendance record, set in April 2024 when 21,105 PWHL fans sold out Montréal's Bell Centre to watch the Victoire take on the Toronto Sceptres.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Just Women’s Sports (@justwomenssports)

"Washington, DC, showed up in such a big way, and the energy our fans brought into the arena turned this game into something truly special," PWHL EVP of business operations Amy Scheer said of the first-ever PWHL game in the nation's capital. "Moments like this capture the joy of our sport and the momentum behind the league."

The third-year league is currently racing through its best-attended month on record, drawing more than 154,000 fans across the last 16 games while averaging crowds of 8,726 across all 49 games so far this season.

The Kansas City Current delivered some concerning news this week, with the NWSL club revealing that star striker Temwa Chawinga remains sidelined with an hip adductor injury while the league's 2026 preseason gets underway.

The team currently lists the reigning back-to-back NWSL MVP under a season-ending injury (SEI) designation, a category earned after Chawinga picked up the injury in mid-October, leaving the Kansas City attacker benched for the Current's quarterfinal loss to eventual 2025 NWSL champions Gotham FC.

"It's hard because of the nature of the injury," incoming Kansas City head coach Chris Armas told The Athletic last week. "With Temwa, we've got to be very careful, but she's looking great and doing lots of good work on the return to play."

Also on the Current's SEI list is standout winger Michelle Cooper, with the 23-year-old rising USWNT star suffering a foot injury in Kansas City's final regular-season match of 2025.

"It was a little bit of a tough ending here after, honestly, an amazing historic season," said Armas. "Hopefully they are back as soon as possible, but it's still unclear."

Both Chawinga and Cooper will have some time to recover before Kansas City kicks off their 2026 NWSL regular season against the Utah Royals on March 14th — with teams allowed to lift a player's SEI status any time once the season begins.

The world's top tennis stars are rolling in Melbourne, as the first round of the 2026 Australian Open wrapped early Tuesday morning with only a few ranked seeds suffering early defeats.

World No. 15 Emma Navarro was the highest-ranked US player to fall in the first round, with the 24-year-old exiting the season's first Grand Slam in a 6-3, 3-6, 3-6 loss to Poland's No. 50 Magda Linette on Sunday.

No. 11 Ekaterina Alexandrova also stumbled in the first round, with her Melbourne run ending in a three-set loss to Turkey's No. 112 Zeynep Sönmez on Saturday before No. 68 Peyton Stearns ousted fellow US star and 2020 Australian Open champion No. 30 Sofia Kenin in straight sets on Sunday.

Many contenders still remain in the hunt, however, as the entire WTA Top 10 cruised through their opening matchups to advance to the Slam's second round.

That said, fans will miss out on one highly anticipated showdown, as wild card entry Venus Williams's first-round loss ended the 45-year-old tennis icon's path to a second-round clash with US favorite No. 3 Coco Gauff.

How to watch the second round of the 2026 Australian Open

The 2026 Australian Open continues when the Slam's second round kicks off with a Tuesday night slate that features stars like No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, No. 3 Coco Gauff, and No. 7 Jasmine Paolini.

Tuesday's action begins at 7 PM ET, with all Melbourne matches airing live across ESPN platforms.

The ongoing dominance of UConn basketball has started to break records, as the top-ranked Huskies humbled unranked Notre Dame 85-47 on Monday — keeping their perfect 2025/26 NCAA season intact.

Monday's 38-point margin of victory marked the largest in the teams' 20-year rivalry, with the win also snapping the Huskies' three-game head-to-head losing streak against the Fighting Irish.

"UConn showed why they're the best team in the country," Notre Dame head coach Niele Ivey said postgame.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Just Women’s Sports (@justwomenssports)

Even more, UConn sophomore forward Sarah Strong added her own individual history to Monday's tally, becoming the third-fastest Husky to reach 1,000 career points, with the 19-year-old trailing only program legends Maya Moore and Paige Bueckers — who each did so in 55 games to Strong's 59 — in the race to reach that stat.

"I would love to see if anybody has scored 1,000 points by taking less shots than she's taking," said UConn head coach Geno Auriemma. "She's so efficient."

"It means a lot to me I guess, but I wouldn't be able to do it without my teammates," Strong said after leading the Huskies with an 18-point, 11-rebound double-double on Monday night.

How to watch UConn basketball this week

UConn now returns to Big East play, with the No. 1 Huskies taking on unranked Georgetown at 7:30 PM ET on Thursday, airing live on TNT.