Former Alabama All-American Montana Fouts was chosen in the inaugural Athletes Unlimited Softball League draft on Wednesday night.

The Talons acquired the pitcher in the ninth round with the draft’s 35th selection.

The Athletes Unlimited Softball League is a four-team, professional circuit that will take its game on tour in June, with each club playing 24 games.

Along with the Talons, the teams are the Bandits, Blaze and Volts. Athletes Unlimited plans to give each team a permanent home with city-based franchises in the 2026 season after taking its game on a season-long road trip in 2025.

The new softball league gives Athletes Unlimited a traditional-format product for the sport.

The AUSL will precede the Athletes Unlimited All-Star Cup competition, which will return with a four-week season featuring 60 players. The All-Star Cup has a weekly re-draft of the players into new teams by the top four players from the previous week’s play.

The Bandits chose former Oklahoma State pitcher Lexi Kilfoyl with the No. 1 pick in the AUSL Draft on Wednesday night. The draft lasted 12 rounds and 48 of the 80 players who made themselves available to the league were chosen.

Former Alabama standout Kelly Kretschman is the coach of the Volts.

A four-time All-American selection by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association – first team in 2021 and 2023 and second team in 2019 and 2022 — at Alabama, Fouts posted a 100-32 record with a 1.66 earned-run average in 160 games. In 852.2 innings, Fouts struck out 1,181 with the Crimson Tide.

The NFCA Pitcher of the Year in 2021, Fouts threw a no-hitter against UCLA in the Women’s College World Series that season.

In 2023, Fouts became the first Alabama player to win the Honda Sport Award for softball.

Fouts suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament during her final season at Alabama.

Fouts sustained the knee injury on May 11, 2023, during an SEC tournament game against Arkansas. She still pitched in four of the Crimson Tide’s nine NCAA tournament games as Alabama reached the Women’s College World Series for the 14th time.

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.