“A volt is a surge of power created by individuals and made stronger by the collective force…” 

…and in the inaugural season of Athletes Unlimited Softball League, this is what the team led by general manager Cat Osterman and head coach Kelly Kretschman is trying to create with the roster they have put together. 

“I’m a hitter and Cat’s a pitcher,” Kretschman said. “My mentality was we have to score a lot of runs, and Cat’s mentality was we can’t give up a lot of runs.”

Their structuring of the Volts also went beyond the tangible and physical aspects of the game. 

“I told the players that I want our team to be something that young kids look at and go ‘I want to be on that team,’” said Volts head coach Kelly Kretschman. “I want our team to have the most energy and most passion in everything that we do.”

When the group in purple and green takes the field for the first time, spectators will get to see the passion that Kretschman is talking about, and they will probably see a lot of power. Offensively, the Volts have some of the most pop in the entire league. Their lineup features players like Amanda Lorenz, the 2024 AU Pro Softball champion (now known as the All-Star Cup), Sierra Romero, the 2016 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year, and Tiare Jennings, who had 98 career home runs in her time at Oklahoma. 

“I wouldn’t wanna pitch our lineup if I was on the other team,” says Kretschman. “I was just thinking about how I was gonna do our lineup for the first game, and players I would usually have in a three or four hole are in the six or seven spot because of the depth of the offense.” 

The Volts want to be a team that scores a lot of runs, and they’re hoping that the lineup they’ve put together can do just that. Kretschman said that at this level, the other team is eventually going to score, so she wanted players who can push runs across. 

Even though much of the conversation surrounding the team in purple and green has been about offense, their head coach has been pleasantly surprised by the defense, too. 

“We have a lot more versatility than I initially thought as far as being able to play people in a lot of other different positions,” she said. 

They don’t lack in pitching either. The Volts selected Rachel Garcia, a UCLA standout and member of Team USA, who was the No. 4 overall pick in the Allocation Draft. The versatile two-way player has had success in AU and every level of softball, and she’s only gotten better, according to Kretschman. 

“’She’s pumping up in the seventies right now,” she said. “That’s going to add to her repertoire and make her more of an explosive pitcher for us.” 

Kretschman also gave credit to the rest of the staff that including Payton Gottshall, Mariah Mazon, Sam Landry, Sam Show, and reserve Miranda Stoddard, who she said will all complement each other well. 

The Volts will need to use that staff and their power in their first series of the AUSL that takes place June 7-9 against the Blaze, a team with tons of speed. In a lot of ways, the Blaze is the direct contrast to Kretschman’s squad. They feature players like Aubrey Leach, Aliyah Andrews, and Kayla Kowalik, all of whom have dominated the basepaths at both the collegiate and professional levels. 

“They have speed. We have power,” Kretschman said in regards to the matchup. “We worked a lot on bunt and slap defense in training camp to prepare.”

Overall, though, the Volts’ head coach wants this opening weekend to be about learning how the team fits together and getting better every single game. She and her team are also just excited to get this season started. 

“The excitement of this league and what it is has built in the last couple of months, and it’s just so exciting to see it get going,” the long-time pro said. “Training camp went so fast, and now the players are just ready to get out there and play.”

The Volts will open the season versus the Blaze on June 7 in Wichita, Kan. Tickets are on sale now.

Maria Trivelpiece is currently the Director of Video Communications and Reporter at the American Athletic Conference and a softball color analyst. Trivelpiece was an outfielder at Fordham University and still stays involved with the game through coaching and covering the sport. You can follow her on X M_Trivelpiece or Instagram @_mariatrivelpiece