Korbe Otis’ rise to professional softball: How former Columbine star became one of Division I’s best en route to AUSL

An A-minus in behavioral neuroscience left Korbe Otis restless.

En route to All-American honors at the University of Florida in 2024, the then-junior was fretting to her teammates about carrying a 93% in the class. Otis’ fellow Gators couldn’t help but laugh, if only because they knew exactly what was coming.

Otis demolished the final with a 112% … and finished the course with an A-plus.

“She was joking about having a really low A, and we were like, ‘Korbe, what are you talking about? It’s still an A,'” recalled Florida teammate Keagan Rothrock. “And she was like, ‘But it’s not good enough. It’s not high enough.’ We were like, ‘Korbe, it’s an A, sister, you’re okay.’

“When she ended up bringing that grade up by acing the final, we were like, ‘See, you had nothing to worry about. You prepare for everything.'”

Such is the approach for Otis, the Columbine High School alum whose blue-collar work ethic made her one of the best college players in the nation. In the final weeks of a Division I career that started at Louisville and ended in Gainesville, Otis was the sixth pick in the Athletes Unlimited Softball League’s inaugural college draft on May 3. After her Gators were eliminated in the Women’s College World Series last week, the 22-year-old began her professional career with the AUSL’s Blaze.

For Otis, playing professionally is likely just a detour en route to her ultimate career goal of becoming a surgeon. Otis graduated from Florida with a biology degree, earned the NCAA Elite 90 Award for having the highest GPA (4.0) at the WCWS, and is currently in the process of applying to medical schools.

So yeah, she’s prepared for everything. But even the meticulous Otis didn’t prepare for this: Having the chance to go pro in both her sport and as a doctor.

“Playing professional softball is never something I thought I would be able to do,” Otis said. “I’m so happy to be able to do it. Hopefully, I’ll be able to enroll in medical school in the fall of 2026. What that’s going to look like for my playing career, I’m not sure yet, but I’m just here along for the ride as long as I can be.”

Otis was a centerpiece of two straight Women’s College World Series teams at Florida, where the outfielder was a force in the middle of the lineup. She hit .377 with a .519 on-base percentage, 15 homers and 109 walks across her two seasons with the Gators.

This season, she hit a homer in her first at-bat, homered in her final at-bat at the Women’s College World Series, and also had a walk-off grand slam in between to punctuate a college career that seemed unlikely when she was young.

In her early seasons of travel ball when she was 10, 11 and 12 years old, the 5-foot-6 Otis was routinely told college softball was out of the question for her. Coaches said she was too small. Even as Otis progressed, emerging as an ace pitcher, there were still doubters as to whether she could play Division I.

But by the time she reached high school, she was committed to Louisville and well on her way to stardom.

“As a young kid, I was told I was going to have to pursue JuCo and D-III schools because I wasn’t good enough, strong enough or tall enough to play D-I,” Otis recalled. “Hearing that as a young kid can be discouraging, but my dad and I chose to fight, for as long as it was going to take, and as hard as it was going to take, to accomplish those dreams.”

So that’s what Otis did.

For about six years from age 12 through 18, she and her dad, Matt, traveled to California most weekends. She started with the Orange County Batbusters, then switched to the Corona Angels for her high school years. She arrived in Southern California on Fridays, did hitting lessons with Angels coach Marty Tyson that night, then practiced or played tournaments with the Angels all weekend.

“We found flights that were cheap, we rented rental cars for $28 a day, and my wife (Jami) found every hotel that was under construction in Southern California — with an elevator that was down, or something that had discounts every weekend,” Matt Otis said with a laugh. “Korbe would sit on the plane and do her homework, sit in the hotel room and do her homework.

“We just put our head down and were determined to build on her strengths, even though she was small. She was always a really fast kid, super intelligent, really hard working. We made the determination that if (college softball) was really what she wanted to do, we had to put our foot on the gas and outwork everybody.”

Otis often practiced six hours on Saturdays and Sundays, with her Angels team as well as the club’s older team. She started working with a mental coach. And when she was back home in Littleton, she spent hours each evening hitting and pitching in the cage that Matt built in their unfinished basement.

“I approached the sport like it was my job,” Otis said. “… I saw what my parents were investing in me and my career, so I needed to also invest the time and make the sacrifices to show the same investment.”

With the Angels, Otis had her first coming-out moment as a hitter at the final tournament in the fall of her freshman year.

She blasted a no-doubt homer, which made Tyson believe the two-way player was probably going to be a pure hitter at the Division I level. Tyson’s had an array of Colorado phenoms play in his program, most notably Legacy pitcher Rainey Gaffin, who went on to star at Tennessee, and most recently, Eaton catcher Emma Anderson.

“Korbe hit a ball about 250 feet, turned everybody’s heads, and I told her, ‘Your future is going to be in hitting,'” Tyson recalled.

While Otis continued pitching for the next couple of years, helping lead Columbine to the Class 5A title as a junior, the impetus for her switch to full-time outfielder came a few weeks before the start of her senior season. At a national club tournament, she dove back into second base on a back-pick, and the shortstop spiked Otis’ right pinkie.

It shattered the finger into three pieces, injured the ligament and sidelined Otis from playing for the Rebels that fall. Even when she got healthy again, she wasn’t able to grip the ball the same on her pitches.

“It was a sign for me that my pitching career was over,” Otis said.

The change in trajectory worked out for Otis — the lone Coloradan playing in softball’s new-look professional era.

The AUSL is the latest attempt at a professional women’s softball league, picking up where National Pro Fastpitch (2004-2019) left off and what the Women’s Pro Softball League (1997-2001) began.

The AUSL is a 24-game regular season across 10 cities with four teams in a barnstorming format, culminating in a championship series in Tuscaloosa from July 26-28. The average player salary is $45,000, according to the league’s website.

The league plans on becoming a city-based entity in ’26, and it’s arriving at a time of intense growth for the sport. Softball will return to the Olympics in 2028 and AUSL broadcast partner ESPN recently announced it had its highest-rated pre-finals Women’s College World Series games ever, with an average of 1.1 million viewers.

Perhaps most important to the league’s long-term sustainability, Major League Baseball recently announced its first partnership with a women’s professional sports league. MLB’s “strategic investment” as an equity partner in the AUSL includes joint sales and marketing efforts, promotional support and broadcasts on MLB Network and MLB.com. The AUSL is helmed by former Marlins GM Kim Ng, who is the league’s commissioner.

All of which points to the AUSL being the best chance yet for professional softball to find its footing.

“The coolest part to me is I get to be part of inspiring the next generation of players to play in the pros, and work toward that goal,” Otis said. “What the AUSL is doing to amplify the presence of professional softball is huge for all the little girls like I used to be, and with MLB’s backing, it makes that dream that much more tangible. To send the sport in that direction, it’s incredible to be a part of.”

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