With the popularity of the Athletes Unlimited Softball League (AUSL), the crossover between college and pro has been magnified unlike any other sport. The main reason is there are many who coach collegiately and either play or coach in the AUSL.
It magnifies a couple of things. First, it shows how dedicated these women are to the game. Softball is not only a special game but a great community. The duty to grow the game is first and foremost in players’ and coaches’ minds.
So, for those such as Morgan Zerkle, who’s the head coach at Marshall while playing for the Chicago Bandits, the exposure is unique. Shonda Stanton leads the Bandits and Indiana University’s program as well. In addition, NC State’s head coach Lindsay Leftwich is the associate head coach of the Carolina Blaze. There are many more examples, and they give their programs a front-row seat to what they can aspire to.
“It’s honestly just super cool,” NC State pitcher Wynne Gore said in an interview earlier this week. “It’s funny to think that she’s coaching all these girls that I used to look up to, and she’s also my coach too.”
Leftwich now takes what she’s seen up close and personal back to Raleigh. It’s a great boost to continue stacking bricks inside the Wolfpack program.
“It’s just been cool watching her do that, and I know she’s going to come back with so much knowledge about the game,” Gore said. “She’s always learning, always bringing us new stuff. So obviously her spending time with All-Americans and all these great players, she’ll come back with a ton of stuff to bring us, which will be really cool.”
The second thing this magnifies is that pro softball still has a ton of growth to come. The most notable is salaries. Both players and coaches continue to carry these dual roles. It may not be feasible for everyone to live off what they are making in the AUSL. Hopefully one day that changes, and playing in this league will be a full-time thing.
“If you see whatever Major League Baseball is doing, that’s exactly what we want to do,” Devyn Netz of the Carolina Blaze said after the AUSL Pro Game. “And like I said, those little girls look up to us, and we want to inspire them to know that there’s pro ball coming, and pro ball is here, and it’s here to stay. If anything, we’re trying to make a career out of it. We want this to be something that you do that pays the bills, but also that makes a really steady living for someone.”
That is on everyone’s mind as Netz said. Pro softball is here to stay, and with that must come growth in all parts. Especially for these women to make nice careers out of it and live a good, sustainable life off their salaries.
Everyone knows that sustainable growth takes a while. Things don’t happen overnight. With the methodical approach that AUSL commissioner Kim Ng and the powers that be are taking, a little patience is needed. Therefore, reasonable people realize that.
For now, the crossover is doing the work. It keeps the best players and coaches in the game and shows the young ones what they can chase. The salaries and the full-time careers will come. The people running this league are building it to last, and that is worth the patience.
