CHICAGO — Many rookies would be nervous in their first at-bat as a professional. But for Danieca Coffey, playing for the Volts in the Athletes Unlimited Softball League (AUSL), nerves did not appear to be a problem. In her first at-bat on June 8, Coffey slapped a grounder to left field, getting a hit and the go-ahead RBI in a win over the Blaze. Since then, the LSU alumna has been on a tear in AUSL’s first season.

Coffey has made a name for herself as one of the standout rookies for the AUSL this season, and she was helped in that first weekend by a coach she knew well. Howard Dobson, an assistant coach for Coffey at LSU who is now coaching in AUSL, reminded her that she’s already hit one of her goals by making it to the league.

“Dobby had reminded me, you’ve made it to the 1 percent, so you don’t have to try to prove yourself at this point. So just be you,” Coffey told Yahoo Sports in Rosemont on Tuesday night. “So when I got in the box, I was like, You know what? I hit off somebody that throws 65 and throws curveballs like [that]. I can do this. It’s just like, one step a little bit higher. Just don’t think about it.”

She ended up going 3-for-3 in that first game, and then hitting .800 in the series. For the season, Coffey is batting .306/.359/.444 for the 5-10 Volts, and she knocked in her first home run two weeks ago.

Coffey was drafted to the Volts after a standout career at LSU, where she helped her team to the NCAA Super Regional twice while hitting .366. She ranked second all-time with a .457 on-base percentage and fifth in batting average (.366) and walks (121) during her five seasons with the Tigers. 

Now, she continues to lean on those LSU connections while she’s playing in the AUSL, which is playing its first season in softball-hungry locations around the country before shifting to a city-based model in 2026. In addition to Dobson, she has sought out the advice of the Blaze’s Aliyah Andrews, who was a senior at LSU when Coffey was a freshman.

“She was a big help for me, because she came back to LSU a lot, so just going underneath the wing, listening to her, taking her advice, and just using my resources from LSU,” Coffey said.

AUSL players across the league get to know each other well as they travel to cities like Sulphur Springs, Louisiana; Norman, Oklahoma; and Seattle, Washington, to play. Coffey said this allows for a sisterhood among the players, regardless of their individual teams.

“Everyone’s positive in a game that could seem so negative at some times,” she said. “And I think the way that everyone goes about it, like they make negative things turn positive really fast. And I’ve never really kind of been around that.”

Coffey hopes to continue to play softball, but she is already laying the groundwork for another career. While at LSU, she majored in social work, and she plans on returning to school for a master’s degree in the spring.

“In college, I did an internship at LSU where I worked with young adults with autism,” she said. “And so just being around them and realizing that people bring good energy, and I love being around people, it just fulfills me. Yeah, so knowing I just want to be around people in any capacity, I really enjoy it.”

One day, she hopes to open her own social work practice, but in the meantime, Coffey will just keep getting hits for the Volts.