Zerkle, Wiggins & Hayward return for AUX, Season 4
Athletes Unlimited Softball signed three outfielders for the upcoming seasons this summer. Victoria Hayward, Megan Wiggins and Morgan Zerkle signed to compete in the 2023 AUX and Championship Seasons.
Victoria Hayward is a staple within AU Softball as a player and a leader; she enters her fourth year with the league and is the first-ever chairperson of the Player Executive Committee.
In 2022, Hayward opened up her season with a nine-game hitting streak. She finished with 1,302 leaderboard points and set a league record with 56 at-bats. She also stole league-best five bases in six attempts. She holds a career batting average of .357 with 56 hits and 19 stolen bases in her three years with AU.
She was on familiar turf for the inaugural season of AUX in San Diego as Hayward serves as the associate head softball coach at San Diego State. She is the youngest person ever named to the Canadian Senior National Team after joining the team at 16 years old in 2009. Hayward led Canada to its first-ever Olympic medal with a Bronze medal performance in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Nobody steals like @VictoriaHayward 🤩
Over 3 seasons, Hayward leads the league with 19 stolen bases in 20 attempts 👀#AUSB | #BeUnlimited pic.twitter.com/L1Yl7uG544
— Athletes Unlimited (@AUProSports) September 23, 2022
Megan Wiggins is a seasoned veteran with over a decade of pro experience. She has competed with AU since its inception and in 2022, finished her season on a high note. Wiggins posted 100 or more leaderboard points in a game six times, including each of the final three outings.
At AUX, she had her best season yet, ranking 19th on the final leaderboard. A starter in 11-of-12 games, Wiggins batted .372 and was third in the league with 16 hits, including a double and league-high three home runs. She tied for fourth place with five multi-hit games.
She has 41 hits on 136 career appearances at the plate.
TWO BOMBS IN TWO GAMES 💣@TheMeganWiggins goes yard… AGAIN. We have ourselves a tied ballgame 🤯#AUX | 📺: ESPN2 pic.twitter.com/79bOZUl3o5
— Athletes Unlimited (@AUProSports) June 14, 2022
Morgan Zerkle has found continuous success in her three seasons with AU. Zerkle has finished in the Top 10 every season she has competed. She was a starter in every game of the 2022 Championship and AUX seasons. At AUX, she finished fourth overall in the league standings, batting .385. Zerkle recorded six multi-hit and scored at least one run in 8-of-12 games. She served as a team captain during the final series of the season.
She carried that success over to championship season where she hit .319 with an on-base percentage of .400.
Speed + Power = @mzerkleee
Small ball. Long ball. Morgan Zerkle can do it all 😤#AUX | 📺: ESPNU pic.twitter.com/I6tv32LJI2
— Athletes Unlimited (@AUProSports) June 18, 2022
Athletes Unlimited Softball returns with the start of AUX on June 12. Tickets are available now.
Savanna Collins is the Digital Media Reporter at Athletes Unlimited. You can follow her on Twitter @savannaecollins.
