Former UCLA Softball All-American Rachel Garcia Joins Athletes Unlimited, Signs 2-Year Deal
The premiere league in professional softball is expanding, and they have added one of the biggest names in the sport as part of their celebration.
Athletes Unlimited Softball, entering its third-ever season, has added a new arena of competition – AUX Softball, a standalone tournament that will be played from June 13 to 26, 2022. That event will coincide with the 50th anniversary of Title IX going into effect, which opened doors across the country for women in sports by codifying financial and general gender equity in United States institutions.
Joining the league for the upcoming campaign and additional tournament is former UCLA softball right-handed pitcher and slugger Rachel Garcia, who signed on for both the 2022 and 2023 seasons. While AUX Softball will have 48 players on three teams for 18 games, the regular season will go back to 60 players on four teams for a total of 30 games.
Garcia was one of 35 players announced to be in the roster pool Tuesday, and this will be her first professional appearance since attending UCLA from 2017 to 2021 and competing in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics this past summer.
“After taking some time following the Olympics, I am excited to begin my professional career with Athletes Unlimited next season," Garcia said in a statement put out by the league. "I’ve enjoyed watching several teammates and friends compete in AU, and I look forward to competing on the same field with the best players in the game. AU is growing the game for professional female athletes and I look forward to being a part of something special.”
Garcia is no stranger to playing high-stakes contests in June – the AUX Softball tournament will start the week after the Women's College World Series ends. Garcia won the Most Outstanding Player at the 2019 Women's College World Series, leading UCLA to its 13th NCAA championship in the process.
Over the course of her career in Westwood, Garcia was a four-time All-American, three-time Honda Sports Award winner, two-time Pac-12 Player of the Year and one-time Pac-12 Pitcher of the Year, among countless other honors. Garcia hit .337 with 43 home runs, 175 RBIs and a 1.024 OPS as a Bruin, while also boasting a 99-17 record, 1.43 ERA and 0.849 WHIP in the circle.
Garcia most recently competed in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, just weeks after graduating from UCLA. Although she did not play in Team USA's loss in the finals at the hands of Japan, she still returned home with a silver medal.
As one of softball's biggest and brightest icons, Garcia immediately lends credence to the young Athletes Unlimited league. The AUX Softball tournament and ensuing regular season campaign are going to be broadcast in America and around the world, and the league's new media partners will be announced at some point in 2022.
“We hope that during college softball that people will learn a lot about AUX, really through the players that are rostered and through us getting the schedule out there and the location out there and the platform out there,” said senior softball advisor Cheri Kempf in an interview with D1Softball. “If you look back at history, at the professional level, we need to have fans looking forward to the professional season. I think that’s exactly what’s going to happen with the positioning of AUX.”
AUX Softball taking place 50 years after the implementation of Title IX also lines up with UCLA Athletics' recently-announced fundraising and awareness campaign, "Women of Westwood," which starts June 23.
Athletes Unlimited's standard championship season, which will take place between July 29 to August 28, will be played at the Parkway Bank Sports Complex in Rosemont, Illinois. A location for AUX Softball has not yet been announced.
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