"We're gonna see a huge spike" in interest with AUSL, LA28

The 2026 NCAA collegiate season in women's softball is underway — and its players are playing for more than just the national title, which will be decided at the Women's College World Series in May and June.

This summer marks just two years until the sport's return to the Olympic Games programme at LA28, and the second season of the Athletes Unlimited Softball League (AUSL), a league in which Major League Baseball (MLB) has invested.

The AUSL has expanded to a six-team league, with each team playing 25 regular-season games in June and July before heading into playoffs.

"It's what we've been waiting for," Athens 2004 softball Olympic champion Jessica Mendoza told Olympics.com of the AUSL. "For us, it was always about the Olympics. College softball and the Olympics. And even though there was pro softball, no one talked about it, no one knew it existed.

"So we've known that this is a great thing, and the sport does so well on the college level. It's been so great at the Olympic level, but like, what is in between? And where do these athletes play when there isn't the Olympics and that's taken away," she added, referring to softball's status as an Olympic sport — it was played until Beijing 2008 and then again at Tokyo 2020, but was absent in 2012, 2016, and 2024.

"That's where I think the timing of Athletes Unlimited is so important because we're gonna see just a huge spike leading to (the Olympic Games in LA in) 2028 and a little bit after 2028, but we don't know what's going to happen in Australia for 2032. And to sit here and count every four years for the sake of our sport is not healthy and it's not realistic.

"So Athletes Unlimited is where the best softball is. It's where the pinnacle of the sport is and will be in the future. To have the backing of Major League Baseball for the first time ever, the timing couldn't be better, and it's something that I look back on thinking that's all we wanted. We just wanted everyone to know what we were doing after college, and now it exists."

Part 1 of interview: Broadcaster Jessica Mendoza talks about the future for women in baseball

Why the MLB backing AUSL is so big for softball — and what the sport can do to raise its profile more

College softball is one of the pinnacles of the sport, alongside the Olympic Games whenever softball is a part of it. Mendoza hopes the AUSL, with MLB investment, can become the future peak of softball for pros.

"You think about the WNBA over 30 years ago and how long it took that (to grow) with the NBA's backing," she said of North America's top women's basketball league and the support it receives from the men's National Basketball Association.

"So how quickly the AUSL, in its first year, just skyrocketed — and I think it helps now because we're in a digital age where those that don't know about it can see it, it can show up on your home screen if you're following Major League Baseball — all of a sudden you're hearing about this AUSL.

"I think about where women's sports, especially basketball, soccer, women's hockey, all of it is booming in a way that we've never seen, and it's across the board. And we get to be a part of this. Athletes Unlimited is at the forefront of that."

With softball now able to occupy more of a space in the crowded women's pro sports landscape, Mendoza was asked to consider if her sport needed a "Banana Ball" moment.

Men's baseball had been losing interest among the general U.S. public before recent rule changes were introduced to the MLB. At the same time, a touring group of athletes formed a team known as the Savannah Bananas and has sold out MLB and college football stadiums across the U.S. playing a modified version of baseball known as "Banana Ball", with entertainment-first singing and dancing included.

"That's a really good question," Mendoza responded. "I think baseball needed it more as far as just the fun goes — because Major League Baseball is 162 games, so it's just this like monotonous, same thing over and over — if you're just trying to dabble and you want to take your five-year-old, the Savannah bananas have done a great job of just making it entertainment. You watch a regular ground out to the shortstop and he's bouncing it between his legs, just the coolest stuff, right?

"So, of course, I think softball could use some of that as well. But I also think for us, we're still trying to validate the talent of women. And so you wanna be careful. I think it's different with women's sports because you're still trying to validate, you know, well women can play, period. first. Then we can also have fun and throw balls between our legs and do a cartwheel and do all of that stuff too."

Instead, Mendoza hopes to see the sport market its stars, just as how MLB has turned Mike Trout and Aaron Judge into household names across the U.S.

"Our best athletes are also just astonishing to watch, and we're still trying to build that up," she said.

"We're trying to build our brand and our names of legit, ridiculously amazing athletes like Tiare Jennings, like just these athletes who you're watching them and you're just like, 'Holy smoke, this girl can play.'"

What to expect from softball at LA28

Softball's return at LA28 will be the sport's sixth appearance at the Olympic Games, and returning to the country where it was first added to the Olympic programme at Atlanta 1996.

"It's kind of a full circle," Mendoza said. "[Atlanta 1996 was] really what put softball as a sport on the map. I remember watching them as a kid and being like, 'this is my sport on television'.

"And now we're kind of fighting to stay as a sport [in the Olympics]. Really the birthplace of softball is Southern California — it's all over the country, but when I think about kind of where most of fast pitch softball players come from, they come from Southern California."

However, games at LA28 will be played at a softball-specific stadium in Oklahoma City. "It's kind of the home place for softball in our country, but I do feel for the players because there is something so special about being with all the other athletes, with all the other sports in Southern California.

"But we know that Oklahoma City, we've seen the stadium, it's the biggest softball stadium in our country. It's sell out for college softball. I cannot imagine trying to get a ticket for that venue for the Olympic Games in 2028."

For those unfamiliar with the sport for now, Mendoza selected a few players to watch on Team USA in 2028.

"Tokyo (in 2021) was hard because it was such a long drought without an Olympic Games, now we have some momentum. We have players that have been able to continue to play.

"Amanda Lorenz is a player that's been, she went to the University of Florida, she's been on the national team. She's one of the best contact hitters that you'll see, and honestly she's turned into a real leader. We've seen her, with Athletes Unlimited, actually win the whole thing as like the best player to come out of there.

"Tiare Jennings is a superstar player out of the University of Oklahoma; Jayda Coleman, who was her teammate. I think about a veteran like Ally Carda, who was on the Tokyo team, who's a pitcher, who's going to be just a huge leader leading up to those Games, if she's able to still be a part of it. I can go on and on."

While Team USA will have high expectations on their shoulders at home, Mendoza wants them to thrive under that and regain the Olympic title from Japan.

"[My advice is] that you want the pressure. It's not just about having fun and enjoying the experience, but you should really crave what it means to wear USA across your chest.

"If you want to be at this level, it's so great for a reason, and there's a reason why many don't make it to that level, and it's because it comes with a lot of pressure and a lot of history.

"I remember feeling that at the time I was playing, we'd never lost. It was like you don't lose a game, let alone an Olympics, you win everything. And that is pressure I had never known before. But, to quote Billie Jean King, pressure is a privilege, and you're privileged to be able to wear that USA uniform.

"They want fans and everyone to say there is only one medal that you can win and that is a gold, and that's all that USA wants."

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