Sharlize Palacios

Sharlize Palacios is a 5-foot-7 professional softball catcher from Chula Vista, California. She was acquired in the 3rd Round of the 2025 Inaugural Draft following a collegiate career at UCLA and Arizona.

Personal Life

Hobbies: Hobbies include traveling, shopping and going to the beach.

Background: Majored in sociology at UCLA and serves on the AUSL Player Executive Committee. Served as a game analyst for the Big Ten Network in 2025. Wears No. 13 in honor of her sister, Sashel, who wore the number during her career.

Family: Daughter of Soida and Francisco Palacios. Father was picked in the 1992 and 1993 MLB Drafts. Sister, Sashel, competed for Mexico at the 2020 Olympics and played in Athletes Unlimited.

Professional Experience

Athletes Unlimited Softball League (2024–)

2026 AUSL Postseason (Utah Talons): Palacios earned the starting assignment in both games of the AUSL Championship. She helped the Talons to a Game One victory over Chicago by going 2-for-2 with an RBI single in the first inning.

2026 AUSL Regular Season (Utah Talons): Palacios composed a .326 batting average with one home run and 10 runs batted in, totaling 14 hits, including three doubles and a triple, while contributing three runs. She hit safely in 10 of her final 11 games, including a seven-game streak from June 14 to July 11. On July 11, against Oklahoma City, Palacios went 3-for-4 with a double and a home run. Earlier in the season, on June 14, against Portland, she logged two hits, including a double.

2025 AUSL All-Star Cup: Compiled 580 total leaderboard points. Earned a pair of Defensive MVP citations, hitting .217 with one home run.

2025 AUSL Regular Season (Talons): Member of the AUSL All-Defensive Team who started 22-of-24 games. Authored a .265 batting average with two home runs and seven RBIs.

2024 Championship Season: Compiled 1,098 leaderboard points. Tied for the league lead with three home runs and ranked second with 12 RBIs.

Other Professional & International Experience

Mexican Softball League: Led Sultanes Femenil to the 2026 Mexican Softball League title.

Team USA: Helped Team USA win the 2022 Canada Cup by hitting .571. Competed at the 2022 Japan All-Star Series and is a member of the 2026 National Team pool.

College Experience: Arizona & UCLA (2020–2024)

Career Statistics: Earned a starting assignment in 228-of-229 games. Compiled a .338 batting average with 72 home runs and 218 RBIs.

UCLA (2023–2024): Hit .366 with a team-best 20 home runs as a senior. Did not commit an error in 321 chances behind the plate during the 2024 campaign.

Arizona (2020–2022): Hit 20 home runs and 64 RBIs in 2022. Belted 18 home runs in 2021.

Awards & Honors

All-America: Consensus All-America honoree as a redshirt senior (First-Team from D1Softball).

Conference Honors: Four-time All-Pac-12 Conference honoree (three First-Team commendations). Named Pac-12 Tournament MVP in 2024.