Seattle Mariners Promote New Pro Softball League With Former Washington Standouts

SEATTLE — The business of women's sports is booming.

The WNBA has reached historic highs in popularity and the Professional Women's Hockey League is growing. An expansion team in Seattle is expected to be announced soon.

Former University of Washington softball players Sis Bates and Baylee Klingler were both at T-Mobile Park on Friday to throw out the first pitch and represent another new league: Athletes Unlimited Softball League (AUSL).

"We're like kids in a candy store right now," Klingler said Friday. "We're so excited to be back in front of our people and just connecting with everyone has been really fun. And to share a part of our love, which is (Athletes Unlimited) and softball and all the fun things, and to come back with such a full heart for the game and just growing it is so fun."

Bates played shortstop for Washington from 2017-2021. She was a multi-time All-American, All-Pac-12 selection and Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year during her college career. She was named the greatest softball shortstop of all time by ESPN in 2020. In five seasons (including the 2020 COVID-19 shortened year) she had a .980 fielding percentage with 16 errors in 792 total chances.

Sis Bates isn’t your average shortstop 🔥 pic.twitter.com/1YOFJEtvZS
— Baseball Bros (@BaseballBros) August 11, 2022

Klingler was at Washington from 2020-23 after beginning her career with Texas A&M in 2019. She was also a multi-time All-American and All-Pac-12 selection. She was named the Pac-12 Player of the Year in 2022 and finished in the top three for the USA Softball Collegiate Player of The Year the same season. Klingler had a career batting average of .420 with the Huskies with 57 home runs and 204 RBIs in four seasons.

Rumor has it that this NUKE from Baylee Klingler made it all the way across the water pic.twitter.com/7qcTUSt0av
— Barstool Huskies (@Barstoolhuskies) March 12, 2023

Bates and Klingler have both returned to the program as members of the coaching staff since concluding their playing careers.

The AUSL features four teams: the Bandits, Blaze, Talons and Volts. Bates plays for the Volts and Klingler plays for the Blaze.

Bates was picked in the seventh round of the inaugural AUSL draft and Klingler was selected in the eighth round of the draft.

The four teams will travel around the country to 10 cities and will play 24 regular season games. Opening Day will be June 7. One of the stops on the tour will be from July 11-13 at Bates' and Klingler's old home of Husky Softball Stadium in Seattle. The Blaze and Volts will play each other in a three-game series.

Seattle is a city that prides itself on its support for a variety of sports. The Seattle Storm is consistently near the top of the WNBA in fan attendance. The city's sports teams, including the Mariners, consistently highlight and support each other. And both Bates and Klingler, who are well -versed with the support the city puts into its athletics, got another dose of that Friday.

"We feel it even now," Bates said. "We've been out of Seattle for a little while. But our fans — they love us. And it's so cool. They will come at all of our things still and now we get to come home and see them and see the girls that we used to give lessons to hopefully will come to our games. And it's like, man. What a full-circle moment for us."

The AUSL will adopt a city format in 2026 and the four teams will have base locations.

The Washington softball program has been well-represented for some of the most prominent teams and moments in the sport over the last several years. Both Bates and Klingler have been on Team USA rosters for international competitions. Another Husky softball alum, Angie Mentink, is a radio and television broadcaster for the Mariners and played for the Colorado Silver Bullets — the first professional women's baseball team since 1954 — from 1995-96.

Both Bates and Klingler credited Washington softball coach Heather Tarr as an inspiration for both to continue to advocate for the growth of women's sports and be leaders — something that undoubtedly carries over to other Washington softball alum.

"She's the perfect example of a strong female leader," Klingler said. "So it inspires us to do the same. Whenever I go home to Texas, Sis goes home to Texas, we want to teach all the little ones what we've learned all the way in Seattle. So it's really cool to be inspired from the top and keep spreading that."

The AUSL is still in its infancy. But with how supportive the city has been about various different sports, maybe there's a future where one of the teams get assigned to Seattle in 2026.

"When I was little, I would've loved to see someone who looked like me in a space that I wanted to thrive in," Bates said. "When I was young — I looked up to baseball players. There wasn't many softball influences on TV. So how cool that we now get to be in that space where we can hopefully inspire the next generation to really do this."

The AUSL season takes place June 7-July 23 and will have 33 total games broadcast on ESPN platforms, including 30 on linear television. The full AUSL schedule can be found here and fans interested in buying tickets to watch Bates, Klingler and other AUSL games can be found here.

Follow Seattle Mariners on SI on social media

Continue to follow our Inside the Mariners coverage on social media by liking us on Facebook and by following Teren Kowatsch and Brady Farkas on "X" @Teren_Kowatsch and @RefuseToLosePod. You can subscribe to the "Refuse to Lose" podcast by clicking HERE.

Related Stories on Seattle Mariners

Follow Seattle Mariners on SI on social media