AUSL debuts in Rosemont with sellout crowd and big dreams for pro softball

Erin Coffel wasn’t surprised when she heard her coach Stacey Nuveman Deniz say postgame that Saturday’s Athletes Unlimited Softball League opener in Rosemont was sold out.

Coffel had a pretty good idea it was in the first inning when she looked around the stadium and saw the outfield bleachers and infield seats packed with fans.

“It was an awesome environment,” Coffel said. “I was talking to someone on the way over here [to the media room], I could feel the energy and I could feel like this league is going to be so cool. I’m so happy to be a part of it.”

Coffel had a two-run triple in the third inning to lead the Bandits to a 3-1 win Saturday over the Talons in front of an announced crowd of 2,013 at the Stadium at the Parkway Bank Sports Complex. The details of the game, however, were secondary to what the matchup between two barnstorming teams represented.

Backed by Major League Baseball and helmed by commissioner Kim Ng, the AUSL is confident it can benefit from the current boom in women’s sports.

Natasha Watley, a league advisor and member of the United States’ 2004 Olympic champions, did not need to be reminded about the growth of the WNBA, the impressive start of the PWHL and the longevity of the NWSL. She sees no reason for softball not to follow that path, especially considering the interest in the Women’s College World Series.

“We are right on the brink of breaking the door of having this mass following,” Watley told the Sun-Times. “We can see, looking over our shoulder is that women’s basketball. We see the possibilities. They have started this movement, and I think we’re right behind them. It would mean the world to be able to follow in those footsteps and to be able to have that following. I know that we’re capable because we’ve got a great sport.”

Jennie Finch echoed Watley’s thoughts to the Sun-Times, saying “this is it. The time is now.”

And like Watley and fellow league advisor Jessica Mendoza, Finch was busy for much of the proceedings. She did interviews, participated in activations and signed autographs for fans, all to help this project get off to a strong start. “That’s what excites us the most, is we have all hands on deck,” said Finch, a former member of the Chicago Bandits of the old National Pro Fastpitch league and for whom the street outside the stadium is named. “Of course I want to be here. We all would be here supporting this day and wouldn’t miss it for the world. So much groundwork has been laid and the foundation to get here, but now it’s go time.”

Coffel knows her role in AUSL’s inaugural year. While she keeps an eye on her own performance, she understands that she’s part of something bigger.

“Just trying to show what softball’s all about and show why we deserve to be noticed on the professional level, because this sport is awesome,” Coffel said. “You saw at the World Series, [with] Patrick Mahomes [in attendance]. Just incredible. This sport is really going somewhere. What they’re doing here is super incredible.”

In attendance for Saturday’s game were Hall of Fame manager Joe Torre, former White Sox executive Kenny Williams and Sue Enquist, who won 11 national championships as a player and coach at UCLA.

The hope is that they witnessed the start of something important for women’s softball.

“I’ve seen professional softball in a lot of different iterations and there’s no doubt that this is our time,” Nuveman Deniz said.