Softball Icon Jennie Finch Joins AUSL as Advisor

• Finch Joins Fellow Softball Legends Jessica Mendoza, Cat Osterman and Natasha Watley to Advise on Strategic Direction of New League

Athletes Unlimited today announced that softball icon Jennie Finch will join the organization as an advisor to the new Athletes Unlimited Softball League (AUSL), the newest addition to the exploding pro women’s sports landscape. Launching in 2025, the AUSL will feature four teams playing a 30-game season (60 total games) in a traditional format, complementing the existing AU Pro Softball Championship Season (which will be renamed the AUSL Champions Cup) and creating a new opportunity for the world’s best players to compete. 

Finch joins fellow softball legends Jessica Mendoza, Cat Osterman, and Natasha Watley as advisors to the AUSL, consulting with AU leadership and current athletes on the strategic direction of the new league. Kim Ng – a trailblazing executive who most recently became the first woman to serve as General Manager of a major American men’s professional sports team – joined the organization earlier this year as a Senior Advisor overseeing the development of the AUSL as it prepares for its 2025 launch. 

The AUSL will become a city-based league beginning in 2026, while the inaugural season in 2025 will be a touring property featuring games in six to eight different cities, including The Stadium at Parkway Bank Sports Complex, in Rosemont, Illinois, the first sports venue in the United States, built solely for the purpose of hosting a women’s professional sports team. ESPN has signed on as a founding broadcast partner of the AUSL and will carry at least 30 games exclusively on its linear platforms (ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPNU) in 2025. Further details about the AUSL, including additional locations, competitors, schedule, and additional broadcast partners will be announced at a later date.

Finch has been a softball trailblazer both as a player and in retirement. Retiring from softball in 2010, her last professional contribution to the game was helping Team USA win its seventh straight World Championship title. Just two years prior, Finch headlined a pitching staff that would go on to claim silver at the Beijing Olympics in 2008. Finch played in the NPF from 2005-2009 for the Chicago Bandits, collecting NPF Co-Pitcher of the Year in 2005 after pitching to a .88 ERA with 144 strikeouts and hitting six home runs at the plate.

At the University of Arizona, Finch put together an illustrious career with numerous awards such as back-to-back Pac-10 Pitcher of the Year and Honda Awards in 2001 and 2002. She set an NCAA record with 60 consecutive wins and was later honored with her jersey number retired by the program. In high school, Finch embodied the true meaning of ‘unhittable,’ throwing six perfect games and 13 no-hitters.

Now retired, Finch spends time with her family, but she is not too far from the game. Finch has a travel fastpitch softball program called “Finch’s Aces” in New Jersey that is focused on developing the next wave of young softball players. She is also involved in many charitable foundations focused on addressing a multitude of needs such as the Wounded Warrior Amputee Softball Team, Women’s Sports Foundation, and the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

“With women’s sports finally getting the attention we deserve, and softball exploding in popularity at the youth and collegiate levels, the AU Softball League is a welcome addition at the professional level,” Finch said. “I believe in what Athletes Unlimited is building, and I am looking forward to doing my part to help continue to grow the game and provide more opportunities for the best players in the world to compete at the highest level.”

“One of the most influential, impactful, and decorated athletes in the history of softball, Jennie Finch will be an invaluable asset to us as we work towards launching the AUSL in the spring,” said Ng. “With Jennie, Cat, Jess, and Natasha on our side, the AUSL continues to be well-positioned for success.” 

The AUSL is part of Athletes Unlimited, which was named one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies in 2023 and features an Advisory Board comprised of an illustrious group of high-profile contributors from the worlds of sports, business, and entertainment including Mendoza, Osterman, basketball legend Sheryl Swoopes, U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team superstar Abby Wambach; and two-time NBA champion and entrepreneur Kevin Durant, among many others. 

Athletes Unlimited launched in 2020 with its first AU Pro Softball Championship Season later adding pro women’s lacrosse, volleyball and basketball leagues as well as AU Pro Softball AUX, an additional two-week softball season. The AUSL marks the latest expansion of Athletes Unlimited’s presence in softball.