Mary Iakopo

Mary Iakopo is a 5-foot-10 catcher from Carson, California. She was selected from the Reserve Athlete Pool by the Bandits on June 15, 2025.

Personal Life

Hobbies: Enjoys walking her dogs, Cinco and Saint, being outside and playing pickleball.

Background: Works for a digital marketing company and knows American Sign Language. Calls being the first girl in her family to graduate high school and college her proudest accomplishment. Threw the ceremonial first pitch at a Chicago White Sox game on April 26, 2026.

Family: Daughter of Falaniko and Lori Iakopo. Her brother, Landon, played football at Louisville.

Education: Pursuing a master's degree in digital strategy and audience engagement at Arizona State.

Professional Experience

Athletes Unlimited Softball League (2025–)

2026 AUSL All-Star Cup: Compiled 270 leaderboard points in two games.

2026 AUSL Postseason (Chicago Bandits): Iakopo started two of the Bandits' three postseason games, contributing a 1-for-3 effort in the Play-In Game victory over Portland.

2026 AUSL Regular Season (Chicago Bandits): Iakopo accumulated a .197 batting average with two home runs and 10 runs batted in, tying for fifth in the league after being hit by a pitch five times. She opened the season strong, hitting safely in eight consecutive games from June 9 to June 22, posting a .474 average (9-for-19) during that stretch with two home runs and five runs batted in. Iakopo posted a season-high two hits, including a home run, with two runs batted in against Oklahoma on June 16. On June 30, against Portland, she contributed a triple while driving in two runs.

2025 AUSL All-Star Cup: Collected 680 total leaderboard points, earning a starting assignment in five of seven games.

2025 AUSL Regular Season: Split time between the Volts and Bandits, seeing action in 14 games with 10 starts. Starting catcher for the Bandits in both AUSL Championship games.

Other Professional & International Experience (2022-2023)

WPF (2022–2023): Drafted No. 3 overall by the Smash It Sports Vipers and competed for them across two campaigns.

Team USA: Helped Team USA win Gold at the 2017 WBSC Junior Women's World Championship, and served as starting catcher for American Samoa at the 2026 International Cup.

College Experience: Oregon & Texas (2018–2022)

Iakopo started 266 career games, fashioning a .333 batting average with 50 home runs, 41 doubles, and 208 RBIs.

Senior Campaign (2022, Texas): Ranked third on the team with a .335 batting average, hitting 11 home runs and a team-best 58 RBIs.

Career Milestones: She ranks second on the Longhorns’ all-time list with 171 career RBIs and third with 43 home runs.

Awards & Honors

All-Conference: Three-time All-Big 12 Conference performer, including First-Team accolades in 2021 and 2022.

All-Region: Three-time NFCA All-Region selection.