Maya Brady doesn’t remember what she was doing when the Oklahoma City Spark made her the No. 1 overall pick in the AUSL Expansion Draft.

“I was probably at Target or something,” she said with a laugh.

But she has a very clear recollection of the street cred she earned that night.

“I was definitely able to brag that I was the first No. 1 pick in my whole family, so it was a victorious moment for me.”

Brady’s family, of course, has a few notable athletes. Her uncle Tom Brady is arguably the best football player to ever walk the planet, while another uncle, Kevin Youkilis, spent a decade in Major League Baseball, winning two World Series with the Boston Red Sox. 

And Brady’s mom, Maureen, was actually the family’s first star athlete. She played for Fresno State in the early 1990s when the Bulldogs were a power, becoming an All-American pitcher and twice leading the team to the Women’s College World Series.

More: Meet 2026 Oklahoma City Spark players for inaugural AUSL season

But no one in the family had ever been a top overall draft pick until Maya.

Later this week, she will make her debut with the Spark as it makes its debut in the AUSL. The Athletes Unlimited Softball League added the Oklahoma City franchise when it decided to expand this past offseason, and with a new league comes a new face.

Sorta.

Brady became well-known in our neck of the woods during her career at UCLA. Thrice she brought the Bruins to OKC for the WCWS.

Now, she’s not just coming back to play for the Spark. She’s returning as a face of the league, the sport and maybe even the American squad that hopes to win Olympic gold in our fair city in two summers.

Brady believes that, for her, they’re all interconnected.

Ever since she was little, she wanted to play in the Olympics, and being in the AUSL in general and with the Spark in specific is the perfect storm for her.

“I think we’re super lucky in the AUSL because we have such a level of high competition,” Brady said in an interview with The Oklahoman. “We have the ability to compete against some of the best players in the entire world, so the transition into playing international makes it a little bit more seamless just because we are challenged throughout the summer.”

More: Former OU softball star Kinzie Hansen-McKinzie will miss OKC Spark season with pregnancy

Still, because the AUSL season is short — only a couple of months long — Brady has gone overseas to play, too, while also playing the past two summers for Athletes Unlimited. Finding a balance between two pro seasons and training hasn’t been easy.

Brady called it one of the more difficult things she’s had to do since graduating from UCLA in 2024.

“How do I continue to level up and just continue to train at a high level?” she said. “Playing in AU has given me a little bit more of a schedule, but I think just during that offseason, just trying to work with my former team and work with Coach Kirk (Walker, former UCLA assistant and current Spark general manager).

“I’ve even gone out to Norman a couple times.”

Norman, of course, is the home base for Patty Gasso, the legendary OU coach who will lead Team USA in the 2028 Olympics. 

Over the past decade, Gasso and her Sooners have become the gold standard in college softball. Even though Brady played for the most storied of programs at UCLA, she admitted that everyone around the sport looks to OU.

Asks about it, too.

“What are you doing that we don’t do?” Brady remembers thinking. “What do you know that we don’t know?”

More: OKC Spark releases full 2026 AUSL schedule as single-game tickets go on sale

Since February 2025 when Gasso took over Team USA and its Olympic preparation, the Sooners’ training methods have been shared. Whenever players in the national-team pipeline are in Oklahoma City, either formally for USA Softball events or informally on their own, they are welcome in Norman. Doors have been opened. Curtains have been pulled back.

Brady sees the same openness from the assistants Gasso has pulled in from other programs to help with Team USA. But Gasso opening the physical doors of her college program and offering the expertise of her staff to outsiders resonates.

“They’re so willing to help,” Brady said, “and they’ve opened their doors to all of us and welcomed us into their circle. It is obviously a risk when you let in 20 new strangers.”

Brady is taking full advantage, even though some might believe she already has a leg up in the Olympic selection process. Gasso has talked from the day she was announced as the Team USA coach that versatility is huge.

You want versatility?

Brady was an All-American at UCLA at center field, then at second base. Never before, in all the decades of excellence, had a Bruin earned that honor at different positions.

Even though it seems she could do a lot for Team USA, she isn’t taking anything for granted.

“I’m definitely someone that loves to learn, so I try to soak up literally every single thing that they try to say,” Brady said of Gasso and her assistants, both at OU and in the USA Softball pipeline. 

“A big misconception is that at this level, players don’t want to learn. But I think it’s the complete opposite. I think right now we’re the most…” 

More: Who's No. 1 in way-too-early 2027 college softball rankings? Here's our post-WCWS Super 16

She paused.

“Not desperate, but we’re the most willing to just learn and get our games that much better. Whatever you can do. If I can get an inch better, if I can hit the ball an inch further… I think it goes a long way.”

Now playing for the Spark, Brady will be that much closer to Gasso, OU and USA Softball. Add the benefit of that to playing in the top pro softball league in the country, and she sees great potential for growth.

For herself, yes.

But for the game, too.

She knows softball is already wildly popular in Oklahoma — those WCWS crowds are seared into her memory — but why not take things higher? What if the ticket sales were the highest and the TV ratings were the best? Why couldn’t there be more fans engaging and more young players dreaming?

Brady believes there’s a perfect storm brewing with the Spark moving to the AUSL and the Olympics coming in two years.

It is good for Oklahoma at the same time it’s good for her.

“To be back in the blue and yellow,” she said of wearing Spark colors very much like her UCLA ones, “it’s just super exciting for me.”

Blue and yellow now may well lead to red, white and blue later.

Jenni Carlson: Jenni can be reached at jcarlson@oklahoman.com. Like her at facebook.com/JenniCarlsonOK, follow her at @jennicarlsonok.bsky.social and twitter.com/jennicarlson_ok, and support her work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OKC Spark's Maya Brady sees path to Olympics through AUSL

Maya Brady doesn’t remember what she was doing when the Oklahoma City Spark made her the No. 1 overall pick in the AUSL Expansion Draft.

“I was probably at Target or something,” she said with a laugh.

But she has a very clear recollection of the street cred she earned that night.

“I was definitely able to brag that I was the first No. 1 pick in my whole family, so it was a victorious moment for me.”

Brady’s family, of course, has a few notable athletes. Her uncle Tom Brady is arguably the best football player to ever walk the planet, while another uncle, Kevin Youkilis, spent a decade in Major League Baseball, winning two World Series with the Boston Red Sox. 

And Brady’s mom, Maureen, was actually the family’s first star athlete. She played for Fresno State in the early 1990s when the Bulldogs were a power, becoming an All-American pitcher and twice leading the team to the Women’s College World Series.

More: Meet 2026 Oklahoma City Spark players for inaugural AUSL season

But no one in the family had ever been a top overall draft pick until Maya.

Later this week, she will make her debut with the Spark as it makes its debut in the AUSL. The Athletes Unlimited Softball League added the Oklahoma City franchise when it decided to expand this past offseason, and with a new league comes a new face.

Sorta.

Brady became well-known in our neck of the woods during her career at UCLA. Thrice she brought the Bruins to OKC for the WCWS.

Now, she’s not just coming back to play for the Spark. She’s returning as a face of the league, the sport and maybe even the American squad that hopes to win Olympic gold in our fair city in two summers.

Brady believes that, for her, they’re all interconnected.

Ever since she was little, she wanted to play in the Olympics, and being in the AUSL in general and with the Spark in specific is the perfect storm for her.

“I think we’re super lucky in the AUSL because we have such a level of high competition,” Brady said in an interview with The Oklahoman. “We have the ability to compete against some of the best players in the entire world, so the transition into playing international makes it a little bit more seamless just because we are challenged throughout the summer.”

More: Former OU softball star Kinzie Hansen-McKinzie will miss OKC Spark season with pregnancy

Still, because the AUSL season is short — only a couple of months long — Brady has gone overseas to play, too, while also playing the past two summers for Athletes Unlimited. Finding a balance between two pro seasons and training hasn’t been easy.

Brady called it one of the more difficult things she’s had to do since graduating from UCLA in 2024.

“How do I continue to level up and just continue to train at a high level?” she said. “Playing in AU has given me a little bit more of a schedule, but I think just during that offseason, just trying to work with my former team and work with Coach Kirk (Walker, former UCLA assistant and current Spark general manager).

“I’ve even gone out to Norman a couple times.”

Norman, of course, is the home base for Patty Gasso, the legendary OU coach who will lead Team USA in the 2028 Olympics. 

Over the past decade, Gasso and her Sooners have become the gold standard in college softball. Even though Brady played for the most storied of programs at UCLA, she admitted that everyone around the sport looks to OU.

Asks about it, too.

“What are you doing that we don’t do?” Brady remembers thinking. “What do you know that we don’t know?”

More: OKC Spark releases full 2026 AUSL schedule as single-game tickets go on sale

Since February 2025 when Gasso took over Team USA and its Olympic preparation, the Sooners’ training methods have been shared. Whenever players in the national-team pipeline are in Oklahoma City, either formally for USA Softball events or informally on their own, they are welcome in Norman. Doors have been opened. Curtains have been pulled back.

Brady sees the same openness from the assistants Gasso has pulled in from other programs to help with Team USA. But Gasso opening the physical doors of her college program and offering the expertise of her staff to outsiders resonates.

“They’re so willing to help,” Brady said, “and they’ve opened their doors to all of us and welcomed us into their circle. It is obviously a risk when you let in 20 new strangers.”

Brady is taking full advantage, even though some might believe she already has a leg up in the Olympic selection process. Gasso has talked from the day she was announced as the Team USA coach that versatility is huge.

You want versatility?

Brady was an All-American at UCLA at center field, then at second base. Never before, in all the decades of excellence, had a Bruin earned that honor at different positions.

Even though it seems she could do a lot for Team USA, she isn’t taking anything for granted.

“I’m definitely someone that loves to learn, so I try to soak up literally every single thing that they try to say,” Brady said of Gasso and her assistants, both at OU and in the USA Softball pipeline. 

“A big misconception is that at this level, players don’t want to learn. But I think it’s the complete opposite. I think right now we’re the most…” 

More: Who's No. 1 in way-too-early 2027 college softball rankings? Here's our post-WCWS Super 16

She paused.

“Not desperate, but we’re the most willing to just learn and get our games that much better. Whatever you can do. If I can get an inch better, if I can hit the ball an inch further… I think it goes a long way.”

Now playing for the Spark, Brady will be that much closer to Gasso, OU and USA Softball. Add the benefit of that to playing in the top pro softball league in the country, and she sees great potential for growth.

For herself, yes.

But for the game, too.

She knows softball is already wildly popular in Oklahoma — those WCWS crowds are seared into her memory — but why not take things higher? What if the ticket sales were the highest and the TV ratings were the best? Why couldn’t there be more fans engaging and more young players dreaming?

Brady believes there’s a perfect storm brewing with the Spark moving to the AUSL and the Olympics coming in two years.

It is good for Oklahoma at the same time it’s good for her.

“To be back in the blue and yellow,” she said of wearing Spark colors very much like her UCLA ones, “it’s just super exciting for me.”

Blue and yellow now may well lead to red, white and blue later.

Jenni Carlson: Jenni can be reached at jcarlson@oklahoman.com. Like her at facebook.com/JenniCarlsonOK, follow her at @jennicarlsonok.bsky.social and twitter.com/jennicarlson_ok, and support her work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OKC Spark's Maya Brady sees path to Olympics through AUSL