Series 1 Captains Set for AUX Softball

Rachel Garcia, Dejah Mulipola, and Morgan Zerkle will lead Series 1 teams

Savanna Collins

Jun 06, 2023

The captain’s chairs are set for the opening series of AUX Softball Season 2.

Rachel Garcia, Dejah Mulipola and Morgan Zerkle will draft their Series 1 teams to kick off the 2023 season on Friday evening. Teams will be announced on the Athletes Unlimited website and social channels – drafts will not be streamed this season.

The final leaderboard standings from the previous year determine the captains for the start of each new AU season.

Inaugural AUX Champion Danielle O’Toole retired in 2022 so the second and third-place medalists in addition to Zerkle who finished fourth overall move into the captain’s spot for the start of the season.

Garcia did not serve as a captain at any point in AUX Season 1. Instead, she had a gradual climb series-to-series to the top of the leaderboard. She shifted from 27th to 20th and finally second overall in the final rankings.

Her impact was felt on both sides of the ball as a pitcher and in the box, earning her the most MVP honors of any athlete throughout the season. Garcia logged a 2-1 record appearing in the circle eight times with a league-high five starts. She ranked second in the league in strikeouts (25). As a hitter, Garcia recorded a .333 batting average with nine hits and a league-leading three home runs.

Savanna Collins chats with Athletes Unlimited Softball Pitcher, Rachel Garcia, ahead of the 2023 season.

Mulipola’s AUX performance was a preview of what was to come during her Championship run just a month later. She was clutch batting in seven runs with two outs on the board — they were a part of her 11 total RBIs to tie as the league leader.

She fashioned a hit in 7-of-12 games and shared the league-lead of three home runs with Garcia. In her 40 at-bats, Mulipola finished with a .325 average and a .625 slugging percentage – only second on the season to Garcia’s .667 SLG%.

Dejah Mulipola relives some of her biggest moments from 2023 on the softball field and the lessons she learned, especially as a captain

Zerkle is a staple at the top of the AU Softball leaderboard finishing fifth in 2020, sixth in 2021, and fourth at AUX for her best ranking yet. The outfielder was one of the league’s most consistent hitters throughout the season, logging a .385 average with six multi-hit outings in her 12 starts.

She scored at least one run in 8-of-12 games and served as a team captain during the final series of the season.