The tears came before the shock set in.
After Texas softball beat Texas A&M 3-2 last Saturday, the Athletes Unlimited Softball League gave two seniors a promise for the future.
Texas senior catcher Reese Atwood and senior infielder Leighann Goode were each handed an AUSL Golden Ticket — a guarantee that they could play softball on the professional level.
“I just initially started crying, just like all my hard work has paid off,” Goode said. “I’ve dreamed of going to pro softball, whether that’s been that league or the Olympics, and just being able to be on that stage and possibly play with people I used to play with.”
While Goode has been a defining part of the team this year, nabbing the No. 2 spot in the batting order this season, she hasn’t always been the rock-solid batter the Longhorns lean on in the two-hole spot.
During her sophomore season, Goode registered a .244 batting average across 78 at-bats. During the 2024 season, she experienced a nine-game hitting drought in 11 at-bats. Knowing what she knows now, Goode has some kind words for her younger self.
“Just to tell her that I still have two more years and that it’s all going to work out,” Goode said.
Through 33 games in 2026, Goode is batting .442 through 77 appearances at the plate with 16 games left in the regular season. While five home runs are impressive, her ability to get on base and set up power hitters like Atwood and junior infielder and catcher Katie Stewart is what allows Texas to dominate its opponents.
Head coach Mike White sees the changes Goode’s made in her game, not so much physically, but mentally. He would notice the unrealistic pressure she put on herself in years past and is proud to see her mental growth.
“She’d been really a perfectionist and had expected to be on base every single time, which is unrealistic,” White said. “I think she was able to change that around and just get more confidence in her abilities and just not be so hard on herself.”
The AUSL began rolling out the “Golden Tickets,” starting in Lubbock with Texas Tech’s senior pitcher NiJaree Canady. The ticket means that the players have already been privately drafted by one of the six teams in the league, and will find out which one during the AUSL College Draft on May 4.
Atwood was already surprised when the first ticket came out, so when the AUSL Commissioner Kim Ng pulled out a second, all she felt was joy. Atwood is looking forward to the opportunity to take her game to the next level, especially with another fellow Longhorn.
“Leighann (Goode) is great, so is our entire senior class, so honestly it could have gone to anybody,” Atwood said. “Just to be able to be surrounded by greatness is my class, (I’m) just extremely grateful.”
The pair is looking forward to the future. They’re still in the dark about whether they’ll be teammates again, but even if they’re on different teams, Goode will have a friend behind home plate when she steps into the batter’s box.
“We were just talking about it in pregame hitting,” Goode said. “We were like, ‘Do we want to be on the same team again?’ and we were like, ‘It would be pretty cool if we were.’”
