YORKTOWN — Valerie Cagle, a Yorktown native, will take her softball skills to the next level after being drafted by the Athlete Unlimited Softball League’s Blaze team.
The AUSL was established in 2024 and gives women the opportunity to play professional softball. AUSL teams play 24 games across the country during the season, culminating in the AUSL Championship.
Cagle played collegiate softball for the Clemson Tigers as a member of the team’s inaugural class. During her freshman year in 2020, Cagle started all 27 games and was the only freshman in the country with 10 home runs. However, the season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In her redshirt freshman season in 2021, Cagle racked up multiple honors, including being named the ACC Freshman of the Year and ACC Player of the Year. She also joined Team USA’s U-18 Junior Women’s National Team. In 2023, Cagle was named USA Softball’s Collegiate Player of the Year, Softball America’s Player of the Year and ACC Player of the Year for the second time.
She finished her collegiate career as the school’s all-time leader in games played, games started, batting average, at bats, hits, doubles, home runs, RBIs, slugging percentage, on-base percentage, walks, total bases, appearances in the circle, starts in the circle, victories, innings pitched, lowest opponent batting average, strikeouts, complete games, saves and solo shutouts.
During her senior year, Cagle was drafted as the overall number one pick in the 2024 AUSL College Draft. In 2025, Cagle was drafted again in the fourth round of the AUSL Allocation Draft to be a utility player for the Blaze.
To learn more about the AUSL, visit theausl.com.