Tom Brady’s niece is top pick in pro softball league’s expansion draft

Top-tier athletes run in the Brady family as the niece of the legendary NFL quarterback reached an achievement that her uncle never did – go No. 1 in a professional sports draft.

Maya Brady was selected No. 1 overall in the Athletes Unlimited Softball League’s expansion and allocation drafts on Monday. The Oklahoma City Spark chose the former UCLA Bruins star shortstop. Brady’s mother is Maureen Brady, the sister of Tom Brady. Her mother was also a star softball player for the Fresno State Bulldogs.

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Brady was a superstar when she was with the Bruins. She was a two-time Pac-12 Player of the Year Award winner, two-time USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year finalist and a three-time First Team National Fastpitch Coaches Association First Team All-American.

She wrapped her collegiate career in 2024, finishing second all-time in the program in home runs (71), RBI (246) and slugging percentage (.757).

Being in the Brady family may come with a certain kind of pressure, but in an interview with The Athletic, she suggested that she understood that pressure makes diamonds.

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UCLA shortstop Maya Brady (7) reacts during an NCAA softball game against Washington on March 17, 2023, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Kyusung Gong, File)

“For me, knowing that my family is very successful, I think it puts a lot of good pressure on me,” she said in 2021. “It’s not pressure like … I’m going to put shame on the Brady family name. It’s just good pressure. I love bearing the last name. I’m just really proud of it.”

The Cascade took former Oklahoma Sooners pitcher Sam Landry No. 2 and then followed up with former Oklahoma State Cowgirls pitcher Kelly Maxwell as the top pick in the allocation draft.

Former Sooner slugger Jocelyn Alo went to the Bandits at No. 10 in the allocation draft.

Oklahoma’s Sam Landry (21) throws a pitch during the Women’s College World Series softball game between the Oklahoma Sooners and the Oregon Ducks at Devon Park in Oklahoma City, Sunday, June, 1, 2025. (SARAH PHIPPS/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)

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The AUSL was founded in 2024. The Talons defeated the Bandits in the 2025 championship earlier this year. The league has six teams in total.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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