Aubrey Leach

Personal: Leach serves as the chairperson of the Athletes Unlimited Softball League’s Player Executive Committee. She majored in political science at Tennessee and earned her law degree from the same university in May 2024. On August 21, 2024, she was named director of player development at Tennessee after spending three seasons as a graduate assistant coach for the Lady Vols softball team. Leach threw out the ceremonial first pitch at a Chicago Cubs game against Cincinnati on July 31, 2023. She was named to the USA Softball Board of Directors as an athlete representative on February 19, 2025. Her grandmother, Wilma Ann Williams-Leach, played professional baseball for the Rockford Peaches in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. She has a gecko named Little J and lists Tennessee softball coach Karen Weekly as a person who has made a difference in her life. If she were not playing softball, she says she would be a gymnast or golfer. As a child, she participated in art, gymnastics, golf, volleyball, and track and field. Her hobbies include CrossFit, art, and cooking. Leach wears No. 75, a number her father recommended in honor of the Marine Corps’ birthday (November 10, 1775). Her walk-up song is “Dance Her Home” by Cody Johnson, and she models her game after Natasha Watley. She is engaged to be married to Zach Gartner in December 2025.

2024 Championship Season: Leach tallied 1,140 leaderboard points, including 810 win points, during her sixth Athletes Unlimited Pro Softball campaign. She shared 10th place in the league standings with 290 stat points and earned her first career selection to the AU Pro Softball All-Defensive Team. As a starter in all 15 games, Leach tied for the league lead with a .373 batting average and 19 hits, including a double and a triple. She finished second in the league with 12 runs scored, also driving in four runs and drawing seven walks. Leach stole two bases in three attempts and led all hitters with a .448 on-base percentage, ranking sixth on the league's OPS chart (.879). She hit safely in 13 of her 15 games, including the final 12 games in a row. Leach earned MVP 2 accolades in the Week Two finale against Team Kilfoyl, posting a season-high three hits and driving in three runs to collect a season-high 170 leaderboard points. She authored back-to-back two-hit games against Team Kilfoyl and Team Lorenz to finish the season. Leach accumulated 100 or more leaderboard points in a game six times, including five straight outings from August 4-16.

2024 AUX Season: Leach finished in 14th place during the second Athletes Unlimited Pro Softball AUX campaign. She collected a total of 1,040 leaderboard points, including 680 win points and 280 stat points. Leach was honored as the Game MVP twice and compiled a 2-2 record as a team captain during the opening series of the season. She accumulated 100 or more leaderboard points in 6 out of 12 games, including two impressive 150-point performances. Leach was the second-leading hitter in the league with a .395 batting average and started all 12 contests. She had 17 hits, including two doubles, and scored 11 runs while also drawing six walks. On June 17 against Team Alo, Leach garnered MVP 2 plaudits and earned a season-high 170 leaderboard points by going 2-for-4 with two runs scored and a walk. Additionally, she received MVP 2 distinction after going 3-for-4 with 150 leaderboard points against Team Alo in the Series Three opener. Leach finished the season with an impressive eight-game hitting streak.

2023 Championship Season: Leach posted a 23rd-place showing in the final league standings with 1,224 leaderboard points. She was a starter in all 15 games and hit .205 with eight hits, including a pair of doubles. She scored a run in four of her first five outings. Leach opened the season with a two-hit performance and a run scored against Team Denham on July 29. She went 1-for-4 with a double against Team Romero on August 5. She also belted a double and scored twice against Team Flippen in the season finale on August 27. She authored seven games with 100 or more leaderboard points. 

2023 AUX Season: Leach secured second place on the final leaderboard with a total of 1,158 points. This included 620 win points and 338 stat points. She ranked second in the league with 200 MVP points, earning four Game MVP honors and two MVP 1 commendations. Leach led all players with 494 leaderboard points during Series One. She had an impressive batting average of .405, which was one of the best in the league. She recorded 15 hits, including two home runs, five doubles, and a triple. Leach also contributed eight RBIs and tied for second in the league with 10 runs scored. She had a streak of hitting safely in 8 out of 10 games, with four multi-hit games. In the opening series, Leach had a standout performance, going 4-for-4 against Team Zerkle on June 14. She also had a notable game against Team Warren on June 24, going 3-for-4 with a double, a triple, and three RBIs. Leach started the season strong with a 2-for-4 outing, including a home run, against Team Garcia on June 12.

2022 Championship Season: Leach finished 12th on the leaderboard with 1,450 points. She tied for third in the league with 1,160 win points and 14 runs scored and started in 12-of-14 games, posting a .383 batting average. Leach also claimed a share of fourth place in the league with 18 hits and scored a season-high three runs against Team Chidester in Week Four. She posted six multi-hit games, including a season-high three hits against Team Chidester on August 14th, and hit safely in 11-of-15 games, including four straight outings from August 5th-12th.

2020 Championship Season: Leach finished in 17th place on the leaderboard with 1,430 points. She tied for 12th in the league with 1,120 win points and started in all 15 games, hitting .346 with two doubles and eight runs batted in. Leach tied with Hannah Flippen for seventh place with 18 hits, also scoring 12 runs and drawing two walks. She led the circuit with three sacrifice hits and stole six bases in six attempts, good for second among all players. Leach tied for fourth in Athletes Unlimited with 52 at-bats.

Other Professional Experience: Leach is a member of the This Is Us softball team, which was formed in June 2020, and also played for Scrap Yard Fastpitch in 2019.

International Experience: Leach was a member of Team USA at the 2022 WBSC Pan American Championships, where she tied for the team lead with 11 hits during round-robin play while scoring 10 runs. Leach also tallied eight extra-base hits, including six doubles, a triple, and a home run. She went 3-for-3 with a double and two runs batted in during the Gold Medal Game victory over Canada. Leach also tallied three hits with three RBI against Cuba in the semifinal win after going 2-for-4 with three runs scored in the playoff-round triumph over Canada. She was a member of the Team USA roster for the 2023 WBSC World Cup Group A event in Dublin, Ireland, and hit .412 (7-for-17) with a triple, three runs batted in and four runs scored. She guided Team USA to a gold medal at the 2023 Pan American Games, scoring two runs in five plate appearances.

At Tennessee: Leach attended the University of Tennessee where she was a four-year letter winner and started 240 games from 2016-2019. Leach has a .385 career batting average with six home runs and 88 runs batted in. She ranks fifth in school history for career batting average and tallied 269 hits, including 30 doubles and seven triples, while scoring a school-record 255 runs. Leach stole 77 bases in 84 attempts during her career, the eighth-highest marks in Tennessee history, and drew a program-record 84 career walks. She posted a .503 on-base percentage, good for second on UT career list.