Tayler Biehl has long-term plans of becoming a nurse. That doesn’t mean the former Arizona softball shortstop can’t spend some time this summer playing in the AUSL. Biehl was announced as the latest addition to the Utah Talons out of the reserve pool on Sunday afternoon.
Biehl spent four years at Arizona, primarily patrolling shortstop. Her range and athletic plays earned her Pac-12 co-Defensive Player of the Year honors as a sophomore in 2024. It was one of many
honors she earned during her time as a Wildcat, despite being mostly a glove-first player for most of her time in Tucson.
As a freshman, Biehl was a bit of a Swiss Army knife for head coach Caitlin Lowe. The team suffered numerous injuries in 2023, so Biehl not only played shortstop, but she also took over right field at times and was the back-up catcher. She was named to the Pac-12 All-Freshman team and earned the first of four NFCA All-America Scholar Athlete honors.
During her sophomore year, Biehl’s defense made a huge impression on everyone who watched her, including opposing coaches. Not only did she share the final Pac-12 DPOY award with Oregon’s Paige Snicki, but she was also All-Pac-12 Third Team and CSC Academic All-District
As a junior, Biehl’s honors primarily focused on her work in the classroom. She earned her third NFCA All-America Scholar Athlete award, her second CSC Academic All-District nod, and her first Spring Academic All-Big 12 honor.
Biehl finally shook off the “glove-first” reputation in her final season. She ended with a .328 batting average, blowing by her previous high of .295 her freshman season. Her eight doubles were twice as many as her previous career high, which was set in 2023 and matched in 2024. She fell one shy of her career high for home runs in a season with five. Her .511 slugging percentage was 70 points higher than her previous high, which she set in 2024 as a sophomore.
The achievements on both sides of the game earned her All-Big 23 First Team and NFCA All-District Second Team honors. She also received honors as the Big 12 Scholar Athlete of the Year for softball, CSC Academic All-District, and NFCA All-America Scholar-Athlete.
The AUSL reserve pool provides players who can fill in when a regular member of a team has to be away for oversea or national team commitments. Biehl is one of there Wildcats who have made teams out of the reserve pool this season. Both catcher/utility Grace Jenkins and pitcher Jalen Adams were on opening day rosters out of the pool.
That trio joins catcher Sydney Stewart as Arizona graduating seniors who made the AUSL this season. Stewart received a Golden Ticket to the draft and was selected by the Portland Cascade. Arizona has a total of eight players who graduated as Wildcats on rosters this season. Three more who spent at least half their careers at Arizona before transferring also made rosters.
In addition to Biehl, Adams, Jenkins, and Stewart, former Wildcats Dejah Mulipola, Alyssa Denham, Taylor McQuillin, and Devyn Netz made rosters. Sharlize Palacios, who spent three years at Arizona before finishing her final two at UCLA, Bella Dayton, who spent two years at Arizona and two years at Texas, and Dakota Kennedy, who spent three years at Arizona and one at Arkansas, are also in the league. Arizona is represented on all six teams in the AUSL.
