Texas softball's Reese Atwood, Leighann Goode get picked in AUSL College Draft

Texas softball players Reese Atwood and Leighann Goode expect to play another month or so in their final collegiate season, but both seniors found out their professional fate after getting picked in Monday’s Athletes Unlimited Softball League draft.

Atwood, a four-year starting catcher who is the Longhorns’ all-time leader in home runs and RBIs, went to the Carolina Blaze with the seventh overall pick and the first pick of the second round. Goode, a versatile infielder who’s started at both shortstop and second base for Texas, went one pick later to the Round Rock-based Texas Volts.

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Texas Longhorns utility Reese Atwood (14) puts on her mask ahead of the Texas Longhorns game against the Oklahoma Sooners, the first of a three-game series, on Friday, April 10, 2026 at Red and Charline McCombs Field in Austin. (Sara Diggins/Austin American-Statesman)

Seventeen collegiate seniors received a coveted “golden ticket” from the AUSL last month, which meant they would get selected in this year’s draft by one of the league's six teams. Tennessee pitcher Karlyn Pickens went No. 1 overall to the Blaze while Texas Tech pitcher NiJaree Canady went with the second overall pick to the Volts.