Aubrey Leach was the oldest of four sisters growing up in The Woodlands, Texas, so leadership wasn’t just expected of her. It was demanded.
Her parents frequently needed an extra pair of eyes or hands to keep track of the rest of the girls and ensure everyone arrived where they needed to be on time. Leach embraced that leadership role within her family from a young age and has not stopped leading since.
As she approaches her 29th birthday later this summer, Leach has seemingly accomplished it all. She was a two-time NFCA All-American at Tennessee and has been an assistant coach at her alma mater ever since, coaching each of her three sisters for the Lady Vols. She is now in her fifth season playing professionally and is a member of the United States national team. And to top it off, she earned a law degree from Tennessee in 2024.
“It’s unbelievable,” said Blaze Head Coach Alisa Goler. “People in general struggle with the decision to even go to law school, let alone keep training and playing and excelling. It’s not like she hasn’t gotten better since she graduated college, either. She’s special. I don’t know if there’s ever going to be another pro player who is going to be what Leach is, on and off the field, for a while.”
Even with so much of her youth spent caring for her sisters, Leach found time for a wide range of athletic endeavors, participating in gymnastics, golf, volleyball, and track and field. In fact, she has said she would have wanted to be either a gymnast or a golfer if she had not stuck with softball. But although her mother was a cheerleader and her father enjoyed playing golf, Leach’s roots in the diamond sports run particularly deep.
Her grandmother, Wilma Ann Williams-Leach, played for the Rockford Peaches of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, which operated from 1943 to 1954 and was immortalized in the 1992 movie “A League of Their Own.” Williams-Leach died when her granddaughter was a baby, but Leach has seen the movie many times and has tried to learn as much as she can about her family’s legacy in the AAGPBL.
“My dad passed down my grandma’s legacy,” Leach said. “She was a great athlete. She played volleyball, played softball, did a lot of things before her time. For me personally, it really sunk in when I joined (Athletes Unlimited) for the 2020 season in Chicago. Being able to see that Rockford exit sign, it really hit me where I was playing. I’m playing where she played and I’m carrying that legacy on.”
Lady Vol for life
Leach considered top college programs all across the country, including UCLA, Michigan and Stanford, but ultimately settled on Tennessee, where Ralph Weekly — the co-head coach at the time with his wife, Karen — had experience as an assistant coach for Team USA. She became just the third Texan to play for the Lady Vols and was the Southeastern Conference’s leading hitter as a junior in 2018, when she set a program record with 80 runs scored.
As a rookie in 2019, Leach played for Scrap Yard Fastpitch, which reformed as an independent team: This Is Us. In her first four years with Athletes Unlimited, she was a hitting machine, highlighted by a .405 average and second-place finish on the individual leaderboard in the 2023 AUX campaign. She has shown no signs of slowing down, and the Blaze selected her in the third round of the AUSL Inaugural Draft in January.
“It kind of hit me this summer that I’m one of the older people in the league now,” Leach said. “I do feel like it’s my duty to help guide some of the rookies into what it means to be a professional athlete, but also to navigate starting a new league and what this new league needs to look like. I’m excited. I feel strong.”
Meanwhile, Leach joined Tennessee’s coaching staff as a graduate assistant during her law school years, then became director of player development this past season. She has helped the Lady Vols win two SEC titles and reach the Women’s College World Series twice.
Karen Weekly, who became the solo head coach in 2021, herself has a law degree from the University of Washington. She called Leach a “coach on the field” as a player and supported her throughout her rigorous studies.
“Karen really cares about academics,” Leach said. “Giving me the freedom to not only pursue whatever major I wanted in undergrad, but also to support me through law school after, was huge. Tennessee was that family environment that gave me a chance.”
Tennessee has literally become a family environment for the Leaches. Aubrey’s second-oldest Leach sister, Kelcy, played there for her final college season in 2022 as a graduate transfer from Texas Tech. Her two youngest sisters, twins Alannah and Gabby, are now rising juniors for the Lady Vols.
“It’s incredible,” Aubrey said. “It’s been pretty sweet to see not only my program grow, but my family grow inside it as well.”
A leader on and off the field
The Blaze have needed veteran leaders like Leach this season — they won just two of 12 games to open the season, including an eight-game skid. Goler said Leach helped her teammates keep things in perspective as the Blaze battled injuries and let a few winnable games slip away.
Leach has done her part both at the plate and defensively at second base. She has four multi-hit games this season and leads the AUSL in walks while maintaining a perfect fielding percentage.
“Her brain, the way she thinks, the way she conducts herself… that’s what has people drawn to her all the time,” Goler said. “Yes, she’s very good at softball, but it’s the whole package that makes her what she is.”
Leach’s fellow players elected her chairperson of the Athletes Unlimited Player Executive Committee, where she ensures the players are well-represented and have everything they need. As for practicing law, that will be there when she’s ready — she hopes to keep playing long enough to play in the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
“I’ve caught the coaching bug, and I want to take a run at that as well. The law degree, being able to practice, that will be there in the future no matter what,” Leach said. “We’re doing a great job at promoting ourselves and getting the news of our new season out there. I just want to see that continue.”
Benjamin Rosenberg is the Blaze beat reporter for the AUSL this season. He has more than seven years of experience covering college, professional and high school softball, and graduated with a degree in journalism from Northwestern University in 2021.
