When college softball players receive their “golden tickets” on their home fields, they know they will be drafted into the AUSL. They just don’t know where.
Arizona All-American catcher Sydney Stewart found out where on Monday evening during the 2026 AUSL College Draft. She was taken midway through the second round by the expansion Portland Cascade as the ninth overall pick.
The AUSL played its first season last year as a four-team
league that traveled to different cities around the country. This year, they will go to a more traditional format with six teams anchored to their own home cities. The Carolina Blaze, Texas Volts, Chicago Bandits, and Utah Talons were joined by the Cascade and the Oklahoma City Spark. The Spark have operated as part of previous leagues and as an independent organization, but they joined the AUSL for the 2026 season.
The draft had three total rounds, but the Cascade were the only franchise to select a player in all four. Stewart will join a group of players who once faced off as members of the Pac-12. Portland took UCLA’s Megan Grant at No. 4 overall in the first round. Stewart followed, then Arizona State pitcher Kenzie Brown had her name called by the Cascade at No. 15 in the third round. Florida’s Kenleigh Cahalan was the sole pick in the fourth round. The Cascade took her at No. 17.
Stewart and Florida’s Jocelyn Erickson were the only catchers taken in the draft. Erickson went to the Chicago Bandits at No. 5.
The top overall pick was a pitcher, but she didn’t come from the Big 12. Tennessee’s Karlyn Pickens went first to the Carolina Blaze where she will join former Arizona pitcher/infielder Devyn Netz.
The Blaze also drafted former Arizona outfielder Dakota Kennedy, who transferred to Arkansas for her senior season. Kennedy was selected with the 16th overall pick.
Texas Tech’s NiJaree Canady was selected second by the Texas Volts.
The additions of Stewart and Kennedy give Arizona eight players in the AUSL who spent at least two years in the Wildcats’ program. The others are Netz (5 years), Dejah Mulipola (5 years), Taylor McQuillin (4 years), Alyssa Denham (4 years), Sharlize Palacios (3 years), and Bella Dayton (2 years).
Netz and Kennedy aren’t the only two former Wildcats who will be teaming up again. Mulipola and Denham are both on the Volts. McQuillin and Dayton are with the Bandits. Palacios plays for the Talons.
The group of eight may be joined by two more players who wore cardinal and navy. Utility player Grace Jenkins was named to the reserve pool for the AUSL, as was former Wildcat Kaiah Altmeyer.
Members of the reserve pool step in when a regular player is injured, with her national team, or otherwise absent. Several AUSL players spend most of their careers playing overseas, so they are unavailable at the start of the season.
Last year former Wildcat Miranda Stoddard played several games as a reserve player. One of the players who required a reserve to temporarily fill her spot was Mulipola, who has played professionally in Japan for several years.
