ROSEMONT, Ill. -- Just under two miles outside of O’Hare International Airport, the near constant hum of airplanes overhead is rivaled only by the sound of infield drills at the Parkway Bank Sports Complex. The softball smacking the back of a glove. The “yes queen!” after a properly executed rundown.
On a sunny Friday afternoon in Rosemont, the Talons and Bandits were preparing for Saturday’s inaugural Athletes Unlimited Softball League Opening Day.
Or "Christmas," as two-time Olympic medalist and AUSL advisor Natasha Watley calls it.
"I feel like this is like Christmas Eve, and we're about to open all our presents tomorrow,” Watley said. “This has been just a long time in the making. … There's been a ton of women before me that have played through different iterations [of professional softball leagues], and then my generation. So to finally have something that feels like it's the right model, it feels like the right backing, it feels like it's got the right investments … it feels like it's go time.”
As the Talons ran through infield drills, the 2,000-seat softball stadium -- the first of its kind built exclusively for women’s professional sports -- was adorned with AUSL banners. The grounds crew took out their stencils and spray painted the professional softball league’s logo onto the outfield grass. A mobile pro shop rolled up its windows to reveal merchandise for the league’s four teams.
The Talons and Bandits open the season at 3 p.m. ET today on MLB.com, MLB.TV and the MLB App in Rosemont, leading into the nightcap between the Volts and Blaze at 7:30 p.m. ET on MLB Network and MLB.TV in Wichita, Kan. Saturday marks the latest chapter in what’s shaped up to be an exciting few weeks for the AUSL which included a “golden ticket” Draft approach, all 12 of their draftees signing and a partnership announcement with Major League Baseball.
“I don't think it's hit yet,” commissioner Kim Ng said. “I think tomorrow, when we throw out the first pitch, that's probably when it'll hit. And getting authenticators to authenticate various key moments of tomorrow. But it's finally come together. And I think the momentum and the traction that we've gained in the last six weeks has just been unbelievable.”
While the momentum has been building behind the scenes for months, the players have had the unique experience of building chemistry with their teammates over the course of just a week and a half. Some of the women have lived together previously while playing in Athletes Unlimited -- the parent company to AUSL. Others have played or coached together. But Saturday will be the first time they’ve played together as a team.
For Bri Ellis, the 2025 SEC Player of the Year found an easy hack to getting to know her teammates in a short amount of time.
"It helps that I don't have a car, so I'm always having to ride with someone else and ask for rides. That has helped a lot, the carpooling,” said Ellis, who has been referred to as the “Barry Bonds of softball.”
Outside of practice and weight room sessions, players have used the past week and a half to explore the area together and build team chemistry. As it so happens, the time leading up to AUSL’s Opening Day synced up with the Women’s College World Series, prompting teammates to throw watch parties in their rooms.
The ultimate watch party happened during Friday’s welcome reception held at a rooftop bar in Chicago. With Ng, Texas alum and general manager of the Volts Cat Osterman, Watley and fellow advisor Jennie Finch in attendance, the crowd congregated not by the beautiful floral arrangements or the extensive food spread, but in front of a TV airing the winner-take-all national championship game between Texas Tech and Texas.
As Ng thanked numerous people around the room -- including former White Sox general manager Ken Williams -- she turned and pointed to the TV as a live display of the talent she spoke of.
The room celebrated alongside Osterman when Texas clinched its first national title. A perfect tone setter for the kickoff of what Athletes Unlimited co-founder Jonathan Soros hopes to be the “last first” in professional women’s softball on Saturday.
"I've got my daughter here and my husband,” Watley said. “My daughter's 3, she doesn't know the meaning of being here, but I can't wait to tell her down the road, ‘You were there for the very first opening weekend of our program,’ that hopefully by then is sustainable. And that's what I'm excited for.”