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When the Athletes Unlimited Softball League begins its second season on Tuesday night, one of the sport’s biggest stars won’t be on the field.
NiJaree Canady, the Texas Tech pitcher who was drafted second overall by the Texas Volts, has not yet agreed to a contract with AUSL.
“While Nija has not yet signed, we are hopeful she will officially join the league in the near future,” an AUSL spokesperson told USA TODAY Sports.
Canady’s representation at THE·TEAM did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Multiple people familiar with the situation told USA TODAY Sports that the two sides have remained in communication this week. The AUSL does not have a traditional players’ association, and athletes sign contracts with the league rather than individual teams.
Canady wrapped up her collegiate career at Texas Tech last week by leading the Red Raiders to their second consecutive appearance in the Women’s College World Series final, where they lost to Texas. She was twice named USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year and was also the D1Softball National Pitcher of the Year last season.
Over four seasons at Stanford and Texas Tech, she piled up 104 wins, 1,127 strikeouts and 13 saves with a career ERA below 1.90. She’s been awarded countless All-American and all-conference nods and was the only active pitcher this past season with more than 1,000 strikeouts and 90 career wins. No player in history has made more pitching appearances in the Women’s College World Series than Canady.
Aside from the stats and accolades, Canady is arguably the most recognizable and marketable figure in softball right now. On Tuesday, Time Magazine released its list of the 100 Most Influential People in Sports, and Canady was the only softball player on it. She has more than 270,000 combined followers on Instagram, TikTok and X, and had NIL partnerships with Venmo and Adidas.
Canady was a trendsetter in college softball, pushing the sport into a new era with NIL and the transfer portal. Each year she was at Texas Tech, she was the highest-paid player in the sport, making more than $1 million annually from the Red Raiders’ NIL collectives.
Some of the most-watched college softball games ever have been ones that Canady was involved in. Last year’s Game 3 between Texas and Texas Tech was the most-watched college softball game on ESPN platforms, drawing in a peak of 2.7 million viewers. In this season’s World Series, Texas Tech’s matchups with Alabama (both games), Tennessee and UCLA were the second, third, fourth and fifth most-watched non-finals games in the history of the WCWS, each drawing in at least 2.2 million viewers.
Those are eyeballs that the fledging AUSL could use as it begins its second full season of professional softball. Tuesday night’s games will air on the CBS Sports Network and ESPN2.
Canady’s Texas Volts will play without her on Tuesday night at the OKC Spark, the first of a three-game series. The Volts then travel to Durham, North Carolina this weekend to face the Carolina Blaze, which drafted Tennessee’s Karlyn Pickens No. 1 overall.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: AUSL’s begins second season under a cloud: NiJaree Canady still unsigned
Continue reading...
NiJaree Canady, the Texas Tech pitcher who was drafted second overall by the Texas Volts, has not yet agreed to a contract with AUSL.
“While Nija has not yet signed, we are hopeful she will officially join the league in the near future,” an AUSL spokesperson told USA TODAY Sports.
Canady’s representation at THE·TEAM did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Multiple people familiar with the situation told USA TODAY Sports that the two sides have remained in communication this week. The AUSL does not have a traditional players’ association, and athletes sign contracts with the league rather than individual teams.
Canady wrapped up her collegiate career at Texas Tech last week by leading the Red Raiders to their second consecutive appearance in the Women’s College World Series final, where they lost to Texas. She was twice named USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year and was also the D1Softball National Pitcher of the Year last season.
Over four seasons at Stanford and Texas Tech, she piled up 104 wins, 1,127 strikeouts and 13 saves with a career ERA below 1.90. She’s been awarded countless All-American and all-conference nods and was the only active pitcher this past season with more than 1,000 strikeouts and 90 career wins. No player in history has made more pitching appearances in the Women’s College World Series than Canady.
Aside from the stats and accolades, Canady is arguably the most recognizable and marketable figure in softball right now. On Tuesday, Time Magazine released its list of the 100 Most Influential People in Sports, and Canady was the only softball player on it. She has more than 270,000 combined followers on Instagram, TikTok and X, and had NIL partnerships with Venmo and Adidas.
Canady was a trendsetter in college softball, pushing the sport into a new era with NIL and the transfer portal. Each year she was at Texas Tech, she was the highest-paid player in the sport, making more than $1 million annually from the Red Raiders’ NIL collectives.
Some of the most-watched college softball games ever have been ones that Canady was involved in. Last year’s Game 3 between Texas and Texas Tech was the most-watched college softball game on ESPN platforms, drawing in a peak of 2.7 million viewers. In this season’s World Series, Texas Tech’s matchups with Alabama (both games), Tennessee and UCLA were the second, third, fourth and fifth most-watched non-finals games in the history of the WCWS, each drawing in at least 2.2 million viewers.
Those are eyeballs that the fledging AUSL could use as it begins its second full season of professional softball. Tuesday night’s games will air on the CBS Sports Network and ESPN2.
Canady’s Texas Volts will play without her on Tuesday night at the OKC Spark, the first of a three-game series. The Volts then travel to Durham, North Carolina this weekend to face the Carolina Blaze, which drafted Tennessee’s Karlyn Pickens No. 1 overall.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: AUSL’s begins second season under a cloud: NiJaree Canady still unsigned
Continue reading...
