Bubba Nickles wins Athletes Unlimited AUX softball title; Jocelyn Alo finishes second

AP Sports Writer

Bubba Nickles captured the Athletes Unlimited AUX professional softball title when Jocelyn Alo was given an intentional walk with the title on the line.

Alo was on the verge of winning Tuesday night. One more hit for college softball’s all-time home run leader and one of the all-time greats in the sport would have won it. Instead, the former Oklahoma star was walked and finished second.

Nickles was the beneficiary. The former UCLA player surged from fourth place on the final day of action to win the individual title by six points in Wichita, Kansas.

Nickles finished second in the league with five home runs and had 11 RBIs.

“I wasn’t doing anything special other than showing up and doing the best I could for my team every day,” Nickles said. “There are a lot of players who did amazing things this season, and my goal was just to learn and get better with every at-bat.”

Alo, who led the league with six home runs, wished she had the chance to take a swing at the championship.

“I mean, it’s just part of the game, you know,” she said. “If I was in that situation on the other side, I probably would have done the same thing. But I don’t know, part of me just also feels like if you’re a competitor in that situation, you just compete. But it is what it is. I had a really good time here, and I’m not going to let just that one little thing take away all the fun that I had.”

Ex-UCLA player Delanie Wisz finished third among the 42 players. Former Florida State catcher Jessi Warren was the defensive MVP.

The Athletes Unlimited championship season starts July 26 in Rosemont, Illinois. Sixty players will compete for the fifth individual title.

AU Pro Softball will return to Wichita in 2025 in a new form. The city will be among multiple cities playing host to the inaugural season of the new Athletes Unlimited Softball League (AUSL), which will have a traditional team format.