What to know as 2026 AUSL College Draft kicks off Monday night
Monday night, 17 college softball superstars will have their dreams realized.
The Athletes Unlimited Softball League College Draft airs at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN2, when those 17 recipients of the league’s “Golden Tickets” find out their new homes in the next step of their softball careers.
The AUSL’s six teams privately drafted from the college ranks. Golden Tickets were ceremoniously presented to the players selected, though the details of their landing spot will not be public until the draft’s official airing.
The Draft Show will reveal the selections in a two-plus-round order, starting with the first overall pick from the Carolina Blaze, followed by the Texas Volts, the Oklahoma City Spark, the Portland Cascade, the Chicago Bandits and the Utah Talons, respectively. The second round features the same order, with teams required to make at least two selections.
After that, teams can pass their selection, and the draft continues until all six teams have passed. Thus, we’ll see 17 picks made Monday night, from the following pool of players:
- NiJaree Canady, pitcher, Texas Tech
- Reese Atwood, catcher, Texas
- Leighann Goode, infielder, Texas
- Sydney Stewart, catcher, Arizona
- Karlyn Pickens, pitcher, Tennessee
- Dakota Kennedy, outfielder, Arkansas
- Kenzie Brown, pitcher, Arizona State
- Taryn Kern, infielder, Stanford
- Maya Johnson, pitcher, Belmont
- Jocelyn Erickson, catcher, Florida
- Kenleigh Cahalan, infielder, Florida
- Jordan Woolery, infielder, UCLA
- Megan Grant, utility, UCLA
- Taylor Tinsley, pitcher, UCLA
- Amari Harper, utility, Oregon
- Ailani Agbayani, infielder, Oklahoma
- Peja Goold, pitcher, Mississippi State
This year’s AUSL college player pool draft made plenty of early history. Johnson’s stardom at Belmont made her the first mid-major player to receive a Golden Ticket, while UCLA became the first school with three players taken in the same draft.
Drafted players will complete their 2026 collegiate seasons before signing with their new AUSL teams, at which point they’ll transition from college to the professional ranks quite quickly. Players can choose not to sign with their teams for this season, however, the drafting team retains exclusive rights to that player for a period of time. Teams in this situation will receive a compensation pick for the following year depending on the position in which they originally selected the unsigned player.
The AUSL enters its second season in 2026, with the Spark and Cascade serving as the league’s first expansion teams. The season begins June 9. Teams will play a 25-game schedule, wrapping up with a championship series that begins July 25 at Davis Diamond at Texas A&M University in College Station.