Ballston Spa Native Shines in Pro Softball Inaugural Season

BALLSTON SPA — Six games into the debut season of the Athletes Unlimited Softball League (AUSL), Ballston Spa native Ana Gold was among her team’s leaders in a number of offensive stats, including hits, batting average, and OPS. The numbers tell a tale familiar to those who have followed Gold’s exceptional career at the high school, college, and now professional levels.

With the AUSL’s Blaze, Gold has thus far earned a .444 batting average and 1.085 OPS in 18 at-bats. On June 7, she smacked a double and drove in her team’s lone run. On June 14, the Duke University grad hit a triple, earning 2 RBI. Her fielding, meanwhile, has been flawless, with no errors recorded across all six games.

Despite the rookie’s best efforts, the Blaze have struggled collectively in the early going, ranking last among the league’s four teams with a 1-5 record.

Since April, when Gold was one of a handful of the top college softball players in the nation to be awarded a golden draft ticket by the AUSL, the nascent league has received the backing of Major League Baseball (MLB), which made a first-of-its-kind “strategic investment” in the organization. The AUSL also landed an impressive broadcasting deal, which includes televised games on ESPN2, ESPNU, MLB.com, and the MLB Network. Kim Ng, the former general manager of the Miami Marlins and a former assistant general manager for the New York Yankees, was also named commissioner of the AUSL shortly after presenting Gold with a golden ticket.

Gold was drafted 9th overall by the Blaze after an impressive college career at Duke, where she had a career slash line of .306/.408/.614. She hit 54 homers, 7 triples, and 29 doubles for the Blue Devils. She also stole 53 bases and totaled more than 200 hits in 666 at-bats. 

In 2024, she set a number of Duke softball records, including smashing two grand slams in one game and knocking in 8 runs in a single game. She also set the program’s all-time career home run record while helping to lead her squad to the NCAA Women’s College World Series.

At Ballston Spa High School, she was ranked the No. 39 prospect in the country (according to Extra Innings Softball), was named three times to the Suburban Council’s First Team, and was a two-time Second Team All-Stater. She batted .411 with 12 home runs and 33 RBI as a freshman before improving to .418 with nine home runs and 34 RBI as a sophomore.

Gold’s older brother Luke was an All-ACC baseball infielder at Boston College before being selected in the fifth round of the 2022 MLB Draft by the Detroit Tigers. Another brother, Joe, currently pitches for the Amsterdam Mohawks.