Jennie Finch remembers the pleasure she had in taking part in for the Chicago Bandits and the way vital the crew was to girls’s softball in america.
Finch, now an adviser for the Athletes Limitless Softball League, is an Olympic gold medalist and one of the crucial embellished gamers of all time. She was a dominant power for Bandits of the Nationwide Professional Fastpitch league from 2005 to 2010. The crew received six championships between 2006 and 2019 earlier than the league disbanded in 2021.
Finch is thrilled that the Bandits title will return to the softball world as one of many 4 groups that may begin AUSL play in June 2025. The groups will not be but affiliated with cities, however Finch is aware of the Bandits title carries weight.
“The Chicago Bandits had excessive success, and so to have the ability to carry that on and to construct that connection from the Chicago Bandits to AU — what a thrill,” Finch mentioned. “And for me personally, being a Chicago Bandit, I couldn’t be extra excited to have the ability to carry and go the torch and and see them use what we’ve achieved earlier than and carry it with them to the long run and to what’s to return.”
The opposite groups would be the Blaze, Talons and Volts. The league will begin with a brand new touring format in June earlier than changing into city-based in 2026. Video games will probably be performed in a number of cities in 2025, together with Chicago and Wichita, Kansas.
The Bandits may have Jenny Dalton-Hill as basic supervisor and Stacey Nuveman-Deniz as coach. The Blaze may have Dana Sorensen as basic supervisor and Alisa Goler as head coach. The Talons may have Lisa Fernandez as basic supervisor and Howard Dobson as head coach. The Volts may have Cat Osterman as basic supervisor and Kelly Kretschman as coach.
The groups will select from a participant pool that may embody Tokyo Olympic silver medalist Dejah Mulipola, Carley Hoover, Erin Coffel, Payton Gottshall, Kayla Kowalik, Aubrey Leach, Mariah Mazon, Jordan Roberts, Anissa Urtez, Jessie Warren and Morgan Zerkle.
