Softball On SI

Athletes Unlimited Inaugural Member, Former Olympian to Retire After 2025 Season

Allison Smith|
Victoria Hayward was a member of the Canadian Women's National Team since 2009, beginning at the age of 16.
Victoria Hayward was a member of the Canadian Women's National Team since 2009, beginning at the age of 16. | NSN Nevada SportsNet

Former Washington Husky and Canadian Olympian outfielder Victoria Hayward has announced her retirement from professional softball following the 2025 Athletes Unlimited Softball League season.

Hayward was a four-year collegiate starter for the Washington Huskies, where she earned All-Pac-12 honors each year of her career.

In her senior season campaign in 2014, Hayward was named to the NFCA All-America First Team. As a leader for the Huskies, Hayward helped propel the program to four NCAA Regionals and reached the Women's College World Series in 2013.

Victoria Hayward extended to snag a ball in the outfield while she played for the University of Washington.
Victoria Hayward extended to snag a ball in the outfield while she played for the University of Washington. | University of Washington Athletics

While in college and after, Hayward played and represented Canada. She earned silver medals for Canada at the 2011 and 2019 Pan-Am Games and was part of Canada’s 2020 Olympic bronze medal team in Tokyo.

In 2020 when Athletes Unlimited was founded and began in Rosemont, Illinois, Hayward was the first player signed to the new professional softball format. Hayward has played in AU since its inception and is playing this year for AUSL, marking her last professional softball stint.

Victoria Hayward poses in her AUSL Talons uniform.
Victoria Hayward poses in her AUSL Talons uniform. | AUSL

However, Hayward isn't exiting the game all together, instead, focusing on running the helm at the University of Nevada where in her first year she took the program to a 41-14 record which included a Mountain West conference regular season title.

Victoria Hayward was named the head coach of Nevada softball on May 23, 2024.
Victoria Hayward was named the head coach of Nevada softball on May 23, 2024. | Nevada Athletics

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Allison Smith
ALLISON SMITH

Allison Smith is an expert in leadership and organizational behavior in collegiate and professional women’s sports. Smith is a professor (Georgia State University), researcher, and writer. Smith holds a Ph.D. from the University of Tennessee in Kinesiology and Sport Studies. Smith’s research centers on combatting the underrepresentation of women leaders in sport, lack of organizational structure for work life integration for sport employees, and lack of programming and oversight for preparing athletes to transition to life after sport. Since graduating with a bachelor’s in journalism in 2011, Smith has sought opportunities to write about sports as a contributing writer focused on the growth of women’s collegiate, Olympic, and professional sports in this new age and movement for multiple outlets including Athletic Director U, and now Forbes.com. As a former Division I and II pitcher and Division III pitching coach Smith will bring unique insight and expertise to Softball on SI.

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