The Athletes Unlimited Softball League (AUSL) All-Star Cup begins Saturday in Holly Springs, North Carolina, and 60 athletes, most of whom just finished playing in the first-ever AUSL season under a traditional format, will participate.
The All-Star Cup uses Athletes Unlimited’s innovative scoring system, first developed in 2020. Batters earn points for hits (+10 for a single; +20 for a double; +30 for a triple; and +40 for a home run), walks (+10), hit-by-pitches (+8), stolen bases (+10), and sacrifices (+10), with a 10-point penalty for being caught stealing. Pitchers earn four points for each out they record, but lose 10 for each earned run they allow.
In addition to the individual stat points, players earn points for each inning in which their team outscores their opponent (excluding the seventh and extra innings), plus 70 points each for being on the winning team. Players and fans will also vote on the MVP of each game, with the first-place winner earning 60 points, second place 40 points, and third place 20 points.
To give new fans a sense of how the scoring system works in action, here are the Top 10 stat point earners during the AUSL regular season over the last two months. Hitters dominate the list, and it’s clear that impressive stats do not always translate to team success – the regular-season champion Talons did not have a player in the top five and landed just one player in the top 10.
This leaderboard excludes stats from Championship games.
1. Morgan Zerkle, OF, Bandits (820 points)
Zerkle finished at or near the top of the leaderboard in almost every offensive category, batting .419 with an .806 slugging percentage. She led the league with 39 hits and nine home runs and lapped the field with 75 total bases. The former Marshall University superstar, now the head coach at her alma mater, has been an outstanding performer at the plate throughout her pro career, but took her game to another level this summer.
2. Erin Coffel, MIF, Bandits (724 points)
The AUSL MVP and Hitter of the Year, Coffel led all qualified hitters with a 1.435 OPS, thanks largely to her eye-popping .566 on-base percentage. Her 28 runs batted in led the AUSL, and she would have earned 104 points just from being hit by 13 pitches (each worth +8), which were nearly twice as many as any other player in the league.
3. Skylar Wallace, MIF, Bandits (710 points)
The Bandits take all three spots on the podium with their league-best offense. Wallace did a little of everything at the plate, hitting .390 with a .701 slugging percentage. She had six doubles, six homers and was second behind Zerkle in total bases. Wallace was also second in the league with seven stolen bases and was not caught stealing once.
4. Ana Gold, IF, Blaze (586 points)
Gold earned the most stat points of any rookie and was appropriately named the AUSL Rookie of the Year. The former Duke standout kept getting better throughout the season, racking up 28 hits, 10 of which went for extra bases. She was in the top five in the league in total bases and climbed up the leaderboard with a two-homer night in the penultimate game of the year.
T-5. Amanda Lorenz, OF, Volts (570 points)
The Volts had the worst offense in the AUSL, but it was hardly the fault of Lorenz, who has been one of the best hitters in the world since the moment she turned pro. Lorenz slashed .308/.413/.564 and was third in the league with 14 walks compared with just seven strikeouts.
T-5. Aubrey Leach, MIF, Blaze (570 points)
Like Lorenz, Leach is tied for fifth place due to her professional approach at the plate, as she finished tied for the league lead with 15 walks. She makes it this high despite not hitting any home runs or triples, but she started all 24 games and hit .355 with a .457 on-base percentage to go along with seven doubles and six stolen bases in seven attempts.
T-7. Caroline Jacobsen, OF, Talons (526 points)
Jacobsen was the best hitter for the team that claimed the regular-season title, slashing .384/.451/.616 with 10 extra-base hits. She hit safely in eight straight games to end the first half, then had a six-game hitting streak early in the second half before getting hot again just before the championship series.
T-7. Korbe Otis, OF, Blaze (526 points)
Otis is the second Blaze rookie on this list as she was excellent at the plate in the second half, finishing with a .346 average, six doubles and two homers. She closed out the year with a bang, collecting two hits in each of her last four games. No stat points are awarded for defense, but Otis, like her fellow rookie Gold, earned a spot on the AUSL All-Defensive team.
9. Rachel Garcia, RHP, Volts (524 points)
The first pitcher on the leaderboard, Garcia is a two-way player, but racked up most of her points in the circle. She hit just .195 with a .594 OPS in 48 plate appearances, but led the AUSL with 54 ⅔ innings pitched, earning 656 points just from recording outs. She pitched to a 3.84 ERA and easily led the league with 51 strikeouts.
10. Danielle Gibson Whorton, CIF, Blaze/Bandits (520 points)Gibson Whorton was traded from the Blaze to the Bandits on July 11 for Devyn Netz, and she excelled no matter what uniform she was wearing. In her return season after giving birth to her son last year, Gibson Whorton put up a .351/.425/.527 triple slash, was third in the league with 21 RBI and tied for fourth with 11 walks.
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.
