OKC Spark's AUSL debut serves as reminder of franchise founder's impact
Article excerpt
The OKC Spark played their inaugural game in the Athletes Unlimited Softball League, marking the realization of founder Tina Floyd's years-long effort to bring professional softball to Oklahoma City. Floyd, who spent considerable time and resources advocating for a franchise in the league, saw her vision materialize as the team took the field. The Spark's debut serves as a testament to Floyd's determination and the growing visibility of professional women's softball. The team's entry into the AUSL expands the league's footprint while fulfilling Floyd's mission to establish a sustainable professional softball organization in Oklahoma.
Tina Floyd squatted down and locked her eyes on the big screen in right field as the Oklahoma City Spark’s pregame hype video rolled.
It might’ve been the only time the professional softball team’s founder stopped moving in the hour before the franchise made its AUSL debut. Wearing her blond hair back in a ponytail, her white Spark shirt and her sneakers, she was there to work. There was no time for reflection. No time for sentimentality.
“Later,” Floyd said.
But whenever that time came, after the mascot wrangling and the ticket system fixing and the million other things that Floyd found herself doing Tuesday night, here’s hoping she realized this: Oklahoma City wouldn’t have a seat on the pro softball rocket ship that is AUSL without her.
Four summers ago, Floyd decided she wanted to own a pro softball team in OKC, but the league the Spark first joined was on shaky ground and the first season was difficult. Floyd ultimately decided to leave Women’s Professional Fastpitch and be independent. Two more difficult years followed.
But this past offseason when the AUSL decided to capitalize on the success it had and add two more teams, the Spark was the league’s first call.
More: Meet 2026 Oklahoma City Spark players for inaugural AUSL season
“She took a leap of faith on her own and decided to start a pro team,” said Spark coach Amber Flores, who has been with the franchise from the start and has become close with Floyd. “We’ve been through the ups. We’ve been through the really hard times. We’ve been through the moments where we weren’t sure we would ever end up here.”
On Tuesday, the move to the AUSL became real.
Playing in front of a packed house at Oklahoma Christian University’s Tom Heath Field, the Spark made quite a statement in its season opener.
Spark 13, Volts 5 in six-inning, run-rule fashion.
Floyd, of course, was excited about the result, but really, the opener was about more than rookie Maya Johnson getting the complete-game win or superstar Maya Brady going 3 for 4 with a grand slam and five RBIs.
“Just seeing how well the athletes are treated and the difference in this next level has just been amazing for us to watch here,” Floyd said.
“They have good benefits. They have health insurance. They have everything to help them play this game longer and be more professional. That’s been probably the greatest thing for me to see.”
Player well-being has long been near and dear to Floyd’s heart.
Before the Spark’s first season in 2023, when funds were limited and futures were unknown, Floyd launched a nonprofit to pay for childcare for any player. That first year, she only had one taker: Keilani Ricketts, the former Oklahoma superstar who had just had her first child, Lizzo.
More: OU softball legend Tiare Jennings brings 'calming factor' to Volts in AUSL
But if not for Floyd and the Spark being willing to cover care, Ricketts might not have returned to competitive softball.
She is still playing, by the way, pitching now for the AUSL’s Blaze.
That’s exactly the type of impact Floyd hoped to have.
“I want that to be the standard,” she said back in 2023. “It should be a standard that women do not have to take a backseat just because they have a family.
“It’s not a soapbox. It’s a passion for me.”
Trying to do right by the players, no matter the circumstance, has been Floyd’s guiding light. It’s why she left the WPF. Why she went independent, then stayed that way for a second season, even when it was difficult to find opponents and sponsors, stability and optimism.
“I don’t think the Spark could’ve gone on much longer just independently,” Floyd said. “Just because that wasn’t world-class softball.”
She stopped herself.
“It was,” she corrected. “We faced some amazing opponents. But to have (the AUSL) behind us, it’s just going to keep growing our brand.”
More: Former OU softball star Sydney Romero savors facing sister in AUSL season debut
A few weeks ago, Floyd went to Texas to visit family, and as they were watching NCAA softball tournament games on ESPN, a commercial for the AUSL came on. Many of the league’s games will be broadcast on ESPN’s family of networks this summer.
During the spot, Floyd saw some familiar faces in familiar jerseys.
“That’s the Spark,” she suddenly realized. “That’s my team!”
That moment hit her like nothing else had.
“My dad, who can barely make it out to the ballpark, can now sit at home and watch the game,” she said. “It was such a weird a-ha moment.”
It was surreal and big and weighty.
But at the same time, the day-to-day of running a fledgling franchise in a still-up-and-coming league brought Floyd back to reality. There was a water leak at the office last week that had to be fixed.
Then on Tuesday night before the game when the ticket-taking software went down just as the gates were opening and the Oklahoma wind tried to pull the Sephora tent out of the ground, Floyd was in the middle of it all.
More: OKC Spark No. 1 overall pick Maya Brady is new face of AUSL entering 2026 season
“Oh, I saved some lives,” she joked when she told her staff how she grabbed one of the tent poles and held on for dear life.
And when she saw rookie pitcher Peja Goold’s dad looking anxious and standing at the gate to a restricted area of the park, Floyd immediately perked up. He wanted to see if Goold was in the bullpen but didn’t have the right credentials.
“Wait right here,” she said. “You’ll be with me.”
After taking the team mascot, Moxie, to meet with some young fans, Floyd returned and walked to the bullpen where waves were exchanged and photos were taken.
“Your daughter’s in the pros,” Floyd said to Goold’s dad when he thanked her for the access.
“I’m here for it.”
Truth be told, Tina Floyd has been here for all of it. All of OKC’s pro softball journey. All the ups and downs. All the milestones, too.
Nothing, though, has been bigger than this move to the AUSL.
“To see today, for it to all come together and know where we started and know what she built,” Flores, the Spark coach, said after the opener, “this one’s for her.
“She’s earned every moment of this.”
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 debut in AUSL has roots in franchise founder Tina Floyd's dream