Sam Landry will be pitching again at Love’s Field soon.
The former Oklahoma pitcher signed a professional contract to join the Athletes Unlimited Softball League as a member of the Volts, the league announced on Wednesday.
Landry was one of 12 athletes who was presented with a golden ticket to be drafted during the 2025 softball season.
Not only was she drafted, but Landry was the first-overall pitch in the college draft.
She’ll pitch alongside Rachel Garcia, Payton Gottshall, Mariah Mazon and Sam Show with the Volts.
“Before I got here, I was talking to coach, I probably didn’t have that much interest in going pro,” Landry said after receiving the AUSL Golden Ticket in April. “And then getting here and just falling in love with the sport again and being able to strengthen my strengths, I guess. It’s really made me more interested in doing it.
So getting that was very surreal. It’s a blessing and like coach always says, and had to remind me today, the end’s already written. So I’m just going with the flow right now.”
The AUSL is a professional softball league that is moving to a new format in 2025.
Previously, athletes competed in a fantasy sports-style format where teams would change week-to-week and players accrued individual points throughout games.
This summer, players will play on four teams — the Bandits, the Blaze, the Talons and the Volts — and the league will tour the country.
In 2026, the league will become city-based.
ESPN has signed on as a broadcast partner for the AUSL, and Major League Baseball announced significant investment in the league on May 29.
The Talons and the Volts will play four games at Love’s Field in Norman from June 20-23.
The contests on June 20 and June 21 will be broadcast on ESPNU, while the television designations for the other two games in Norman have yet to be determined.
Former Oklahoma star and current OU graduate assistant Tiare Jennings will also play alongside Landry on the Volts, while the Talons feature current Oregon assistant and former Sooner slugger Sydney Romero.
Landry’s collegiate career came to an end on Monday night when the 2-seeded Sooners lost to NiJaree Canady and the 12-seeded Texas Tech Red Raiders in the WCWS semifinals.
“Sam got that golden ticket, and she truly thought my career’s going to end at OU,” Gasso said on Monday. “When she got that golden ticket, it was such a big moment for her, and deservingly so. But she’s always going to be part of this program. I hope she’s not going to go far away, but she’s trying to go to med school here soon and try to do it here in Oklahoma.”
