Jennie Finch remembers the pride she had in playing for the Chicago Bandits and how important the team was to women's softball in the United States.
Finch, now an adviser for the Athletes Unlimited Softball League, is an Olympic gold medalist and one of the most decorated players of all time. She was a dominant force for Bandits of the National Pro Fastpitch league from 2005 to 2010. The team won six championships between 2006 and 2019 before the league disbanded in 2021.
Finch is thrilled that the Bandits name will return to the softball world as one of the four teams that will start AUSL play in June 2025. The teams are not yet affiliated with cities, but Finch knows the Bandits name carries weight.
"The Chicago Bandits had extreme success, and so to be able to carry that on and to build that connection from the Chicago Bandits to AU — what a thrill," Finch said. "And for me personally, being a Chicago Bandit, I couldn't be more excited to be able to carry and pass the torch and and see them use what we've done before and carry it with them to the future and to what is to come."
The other teams will be the Blaze, Talons and Volts. The league will start with a new touring format in June before becoming city-based in 2026. Games will be played in several cities in 2025, including Chicago and Wichita, Kansas.
The Bandits will have Jenny Dalton-Hill as general manager and Stacey Nuveman-Deniz as coach. The Blaze will have Dana Sorensen as general manager and Alisa Goler as head coach. The Talons will have Lisa Fernandez as general manager and Howard Dobson as head coach. The Volts will have Cat Osterman as general manager and Kelly Kretschman as coach.
The teams will choose from a player pool that will include 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.
