Professional softball coming to Oregon

The Athletes Unlimited Softball League (AUSL), a women’s professional softball league that was founded and began play in 2024, announced on Tuesday that one of its new teams will call Oregon home during the 2025 season.

AUSL Cascade was added during the fall as the newest addition to a now six-team league, along with the AUSL Spark.

Tuesday’s announcement provided insight into where each of the six teams will call home in 2026. The Cascade will be playing at Hillsboro Ballpark, formerly Ron Tonkin Field, in Hillsboro.

The Cascade roster includes former University of Oklahoma stars Kelly Maxwell, a three-time All-American pitcher, and Sam Landry, who was the No. 1 overall pick in 2025.

University of Oregon alumnus Paige Sinicki also joins the roster as an infielder for the Cascade. Sis Bates, a three-time Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year from the Washington Huskies, also joins the team as a representative of the Pacific Northwest.

Additional players will be added in the spring through a college draft.

Season two of the AUSL will run in June and July with 25 games and the championship being decided in a best-of-three series on ESPN.

The Cascade will host 12 games in Hillsboro, beginning with a three-game series against the Spark from June 18-21.

The league’s five other franchises include the Spark (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma), Talons (Salt Lake City, Utah), Volts (Round Rock, Texas), Blaze (Durham, North Carolina) and Bandits (Chicago, Illinois).