The 2026 AUSL Season is underway, and one pitcher stands out as the best in the pro game right now– Montana Fouts.
Fouts grew up in Kentucky, and committed to Alabama in 2014 as a freshman in high school. She and Alabama must have known something we did not, because Fouts was later named Kentucky’s Gatorade Player of the Year in 2016, 2017, and 2018.
In 2019, as a freshman in college, she led the Crimson Tide to the WCWS semi finals before losing to eventual champion Oklahoma.
In 2021, her junior year, she and the Crimson Tide were back in the WCWS, and Fouts pitched only the 6th ever perfect game in the WCWS against Arizona. But the Tide were again eliminated in the WCWS semifinals, this time to Florida State.
In 2023, her redshirt senior year and by far her best year statistically, she went 25-11 with a 1.49 ERA and 323 strike outs and was named the Pitcher of the Year by Softball America, and the Honda Sports Award winner for softball.
In 2025, she was drafted 35th overall by the Talons, and in her first year as a pro she posted a 4-2 record, 2.21 ERA and 33 strike outs in 28 innings, and threw a complete game shut out with 7 strike outs to help the Talons win the first ever AUSL championship.
In 2026, Fouts has completely committed to the pro game and is exceling above all others.
She leads the league in innings pitched with 44, ERA for pitchers with more than 20 innings with 1.91, and strike outs with 41 Most importantly, she has a league leading 6-1 record and the Talons are in 1st with a 12-4 record.
10 pitchers were chosen before Fouts in the AUSL’s 2025 inaugural draft. Clearly that did not sit well with Fouts, who proving herself to be #1 at the pro level.
