ORLANDO – As announced by the league office Monday morning, UCF softball head coach Cindy Ball-Malone has been tabbed the next head coach of the AUSL’s Utah Talons. Ball-Malone will continue in her responsibilities with the program at UCF in conjunction with serving as the Talons’ leader this summer.
“Cindy is one of the most respected coaches in the game and has a proven ability to develop elite talent and build successful programs,” Talons General Manager Lisa Fernandez said in an AUSL release. “We’re excited to welcome her to the Talons.”
The AUSL, an official partner of Major League Baseball, is entering its second season following its inaugural campaign in 2025, with the Talons joining the Chicago Bandits, Carolina Blaze and Texas Volts as the four returning squads from a year ago. The league this season added a pair of expansion teams, in the Portland Cascade and the Oklahoma City Spark to round out the six-team league entering its summer 2026 season.
Ball-Malone joins the defending 2025 AUSL champion Talons, who finished the year with a league-best 18-6 mark and clinched the league’s first title with a pair of victories over the Bandits in the best-of-three championship series in Tuscaloosa, Alabama July 27.
The team was led in the circle last year by former South Florida All-American and 2022 NFCA Pitcher of the Year Georgina Corrick and former Alabama All-American and 2021 NFCA Pitcher of the Year Montana Fouts, and boasted the likes of former three-time UCLA All-American infielder Maya Brady to anchor its lineup.
Ball-Malone enters UCF’s next Big 12 Conference series against the Utah Utes this weekend the owner of 378 career wins spanning 11-plus seasons, and owns a .666 win percentage amid her eighth season in Orlando.
Under her leadership, UCF hosted the first NCAA Regional in program history, and subsequently advanced to the first Super Regional in program history, in 2022, and has the Knights on a program-record five straight seasons with an NCAA Tournament selection.
The Black and Gold have won at least 30 games in each of her first six full seasons at the helm (not including the COVID-19-shortened 2020 season that saw UCF off to a 21-5-1 start), including three 40-win seasons in 2021, 2022 and 2023.
About UCF Athletics
UCF is a proud member of the Big 12 Conference. Our mission is to positively transform the lives of our students academically, athletically, and personally through a nationally competitive intercollegiate athletics program that enhances the reputation and visibility of the University. We strive to be Florida's preeminent athletic program, representing UCF and our community with distinction on the national stage as "Orlando's Hometown Team". To learn more about UCF and Athletics, please visit our websites at www.ucf.edu and www.ucfknights.com.