Former UCLA star Maya Brady was selected first overall by the Oklahoma City Spark in this week's Unlimited Sportsmen's Softball League expansion draft.
That's 18 spots higher than she was selected by the Talons in the first League Two draft in January and 198 spots higher than she was selected. her uncle was drafted by the New England Patriots in the 2000 NFL Draft.
Tom Brady won seven Super Bowls (six with the Patriots, one with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers) and three league MVP awards, holds several major NFL passing records and is considered by many one of the greatest football players of all time.
Maya Brady has a long way to go before reaching the same status in softball, but she has been steadily making a name for herself for a long time. Her mother, Maureen Brady (Tom's older sister), went 111-10 as a pitcher at San Mateo Hillsdale High from 1988-91 and then became an All-American at Fresno State.
Playing softball since age 4, Maya Brady joined the prestigious Orange County Batbusters club program when she was 10 years old. star buddy at oaks christian highwhere she was a two-time Marmonte League MVP and helped the Lions win three league titles.
Brady, who committed to UCLA as a freshman in high school, began her career with the Bruins in 2020 and led the defending national champions with seven home runs that spring before the rest of the season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
After Brady hit her first home run the following season, her NFL legend uncle declared on social media that his softball star niece was “the most dominant athlete in the Brady family…by far!”
Brady led the Pac-12 with a .456 batting average in 2023 and was named the conference Player of the Year that season and in 2024. After four-plus seasons with the Bruins, the shortstop/outfielder ranks second in team history in home runs (71), RBIs (246), total bases (550) and slugging percentage (.757). She is also fourth all-time in points scored (229) and 10th in batting average (.384).
In January, Brady was drafted in the fifth round (19th overall) by the Talons, one of four teams in the inaugural AUSL season. The Talons' general manager is Olympic medalist Lisa Fernandez, who has been a member of the UCLA coaching staff since 2017.
Brady had been battling a hamstring injury for most of the season, and made the most of her 22 games with the Talons, hitting .500 and reaching base in her first 10 plate appearances (seven hits, three walks). She also plays for the Toyota Red Terriers of the Japan Diamond Softball League.
The Oklahoma City Spark launched in 2023 as part of the Women's Professional Fastpitch League and will join the AUSL as one of two expansion teams in 2026. While the team's front office and personnel remain in place, the team's roster is starting from scratch beginning with Monday's expansion draft.
The four original AUSL teams were able to secure five players from their roster early in the draft. Brady will be reunited with general manager Kirk Walker, who was also a member of the Bruins' coaching staff during Brady's college days.
In May, Major League Baseball announced a “strategic investment” in the AUSL. Kim Ngsoftball league commissioner, was previously senior vice president of baseball operations for MLB and the first female general manager of a major American men's professional sports team (the Miami Marlins). She was an assistant general manager for the Dodgers from 2002-2011.
