07/30/2026
We recently had the pleasure of welcoming Taryn Kern 🥎, an infielder for the Chicago Bandits of the Athletes Unlimited Softball League (AUSL), to our space! 🎉 She stopped by for a visit — and naturally, we made sure she left feeling her best with a well-deserved massage. 💆♀️✨
About Taryn:
A 5-foot-7 infielder from San Jose, California, she was acquired by the Bandits with the No. 11 overall pick in the 2026 AUSL College Draft after a standout college career split between Indiana and Stanford — she earned NFCA All-America Second Team honors as a freshman at Indiana in 2023, along with Big Ten Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year recognition after hitting .404 with 23 home runs, then transferred to Stanford, where she capped her senior season batting .385 with a .897 slugging percentage and 1.428 OPS, earning NFCA All-West Region Second Team and All-ACC Third Team honors.
She signed with Chicago on May 26, 2026, reuniting with her former Indiana head coach Shonda Stanton, who doubles as the Bandits' head coach during the college softball offseason, and wasted no time making an impact, recording an RBI double in the very first inning of her pro debut against the Utah Talons.
Most recently, Kern was a key contributor in the Bandits' dramatic 11-inning, 6-5 win over the Portland Cascade to reach the 2026 AUSL Championship, delivering an RBI single in the eighth and a game-tying RBI double in the eleventh before a teammate sealed the win with a walk-off single.
