For players out of the Reserve Athlete Pool, there’s a difference in their jerseys. The last name on the back is Velcroed instead of stitched.
With only 16 standard roster spots in the Athletes Unlimited Softball League, this group of players is available for teams to fill roster gaps when needed, whether due to injuries or other absences.
Their time on a team is often limited and not guaranteed. That stitched last name is all Jadelyn Allchin wants.
On May 22, Allchin was assigned to the Talons to fill the absences of players arriving late to the season, and she has remained on the team because of openings left by injuries.
Now with 13 starts, a fixture in the two-hole and the best on-base percentage of the team, it’s hard to imagine Allchin not suiting up in green and gold. But the vision of Allchin trotting out to left field hasn’t been her reality the past year.
The “Softball Girl”
Up until mid-December, Jadelyn Allchin was a substitute teacher in the Huntington Beach Union High School District. She even subbed at her alma mater right next to her old ceramics teacher. Allchin asked if he remembered her.
“Yeah, you’re the softball girl!” he told her.
That’s what Allchin has always been. Growing up in Fountain Valley, Calif., she was a 2018 All-State selection in high school, on the Orange County Batbusters travel team, and won a World Cup with the USA Junior National Team.
She spent her career at Washington, then transferred to UCLA for a year as a graduate student.
She played with AU Pro Softball in the summer of 2024 at the AUX and Championship seasons. Her opportunities were limited with only six starts and 21 at-bats in 15 games. Once the season wrapped, Allchin wasn’t sure what was next. Her undergraduate degree was in Education, Communities & Organization, and for subbing, “It’s not bad money,” she said.
One mid-December day, UCLA Head Coach Kelly Inouye-Perez called Allchin during her lunch period. Michigan State had a last-minute opening for an assistant coach. Allchin interviewed for the job with the Spartans, and by January, she moved to East Lansing, Michigan.
“I’d never shoveled a driveway in my life,” Allchin said.
A few months into the job, she received another phone call. Michigan State was ramping up Big 10 competition when Sam Fischer, the AUSL’s senior manager of softball operations, asked Allchin if she would be interested in joining the league’s Reserve Athlete Pool.
“I don’t know what it looks like, but I’m down for whatever,” Allchin told Fischer.
It was mid-March, with less than two months until Allchin would (possibly) take the field. Whether that moment came or not, she would be ready.
A Slump to Slow the Game Down
Allchin spent a ton of time on the tee. After working many “8 to 8” days, she was training any way she could alone, but she needed more.
After getting over her aversion to asking for help, she learned there were plenty of people willing to support her. Fellow assistant Bethaney Wells would feed balls into the pitching machine for her to hit. Justin Rickert, the Spartans’ director of softball operations, would do sprints, lift, and throw with her.
Allchin would crank up a Junior Hack Attack pitching machine to 75 mph, load it with foam balls that move like wiffles, and swing with a flat bat.
“I was very crazy,” Allchin admitted. “I’d rather make it 10 times harder training and kind of feel in the dumps.”
Her success rate was dismally low. When she arrived at AUSL Spring Training in May, she worried. Allchin didn’t feel ready, like maybe she didn’t train properly.
“But coming into it, everything felt slower. It feels slower,” Allchin said. “Looking back on it, I feel like that was my slump,” Allchin said.
Instead of struggling, she started and continued a hot streak for the Talons.
She made her debut on the Talons’ Opening Day, recording a walk. June 14 marked the start of a six-game hitting streak for Allchin.
Now, she stands in the top 10 league-wide in five different offensive categories. Her .500 on-base percentage is the third best amongst all athletes in the AUSL, and her OPS is a staggering 1.158.
Allchin has been a menace between the bases and leads the AUSL in stolen bases with six total – she’s yet to be caught stealing.
“She’s a spark plug for us for sure,” Talons Head Coach Howard Dobson said. “She does everything for us and never expects any of the glory.”
The Talons have practice slots and early hitting on game days structured into their week throughout the season. They also have slots where the team can claim field time for optional hitting on off days. Dobson said the team always opts in because Allchin will be there.
“Jax (Jadelyn) is going to be in the cages every time. She made herself what she is now because of her preparation to come into this thing. It’s great to see her work and get the success because of it.”
Her Own Biggest Fan
Everyone believes in Allchin, from Head Coach Howard Dobson and General Manager Lisa Fernandez, who was her assistant coach at UCLA, to teammates one through fifteen. Fans of this underdog out of the Reserve Athlete Pool have built from one home run to the next clutch play made in left field.
But sometimes Allchin struggles with being her own fan.
“Something that one of my friends said is, ‘No matter how much you don’t believe in yourself, you have to be willing to trust and believe other people and how much they believe in you.’ So I think for me, it’s putting myself in the stands in a third-person perspective.”
In the past, Allchin has fallen into the trap of thinking about all the things she didn’t do, the times she failed. Instead, she’s working on imagining looking down and seeing #90 take the field and thinking of the accolades and accomplishments.
“This is Jadelyn Allchin,” she said amidst tears. “This is what she’s done, this is how great she is. And knowing that I am that person.”
The future for Allchin on the Talons is uncertain. A team can only have 16 active players on its roster at a time. If she were reassigned to the Reserve Athlete Pool, she wouldn’t be there long. No doubt, another team within the AUSL would pick her up immediately.
When the season ends, she thinks she’ll probably go back to being a substitute teacher in her hometown. But in this opportunity with the Talons, Allchin has proven she’s not a substitute.
Allchin is a name you stitch.
Savanna Collins is the Senior Reporter at Athletes Unlimited. You can follow her on Twitter @savannaecollins.
