Anthony Rieber: Want to watch East Meadow's Jenna Laird and the Athletes Unlimited Softball League? They're always on TV!

There’s nothing more annoying than trying to figure out what channel the game is on.

Unless you’re really happy the game is on to begin with.

That’s the situation facing the family of East Meadow native Jenna Laird, an infielder/outfielder in her first season with the Carolina Blaze in the Athletes Unlimited Softball League (AUSL).

And, apparently, it's the same situation for a lot of other people who want to watch pro softball.

Laird and her fellow players are on TV all the time as the second-year MLB-backed league has media contracts nationally with ESPN, MLB Network, MLB.TV and CBS Sports Network, and locally with MSG and YES.

“You can always be watching these games,” Laird told Newsday in a telephone interview, “which is the best part of it.”

So the Laird family, for example, are  able to see Jenna play for the Blaze last Saturday and again this Wednesday on YES or the Gotham Sports App.

Laird’s parents live in East Meadow, and she has two sisters, one of whom lives in Babylon and the other in Oakdale.

“Everyone's always asking, ‘What's the game on tonight?’ ” Laird said. “It's never like it's an annoyance that they have to go to somewhere else. No matter what, they're just like, ‘Hey, what's it on? I'm going to put it on. I’m going to find it. I'm going to figure out how to watch it.' "

As part of a three-year deal, ESPN platforms will air more than 50 AUSL games throughout the season. ABC will show the first game of the AUSL Championship series on July 25, marking the first time a professional softball game has been broadcast on over-the-air network television in the United States. The other games are scheduled for ESPN.

The season began in June. The league announced on June 29 that viewership was up 181% across ESPN’s platforms in the first two weeks.

“I mean, I get texts from random people I haven't talked to in a while,” Laird said, “and they're like, ‘It's just amazing that no matter what I'm sitting at a restaurant, I'm sitting at Texas Roadhouse, and the games are on.’ It's like, no matter what, wherever you are, you always have access to this, even if it's just in your phone, like on an app. It's not like you're like, ‘Oh, dang, I can't watch this game today.’

“We talk about that a lot as a league. It's what we need. Our fans want to watch the game, so we're going to do whatever we can to put it on all the platforms so that it's the most accessible. I mean, sitting down at family dinner, people are texting me: ‘We're at family dinner in our kitchen, but our kitchen TV has your game on.’ ”

Laird, 24, was drafted in the second round this year by the Blaze, one of six teams in the league. The Blaze play home games at Smith Family Stadium, which is located on Duke University's campus in Durham, North Carolina. The other teams are in Rosemont, Illinois; Oklahoma City; Hillsboro, Oregon; Round Rock, Texas; and Salt Lake City.

Laird previously played professionally for Long Island’s New York Rise in two other leagues for two seasons, played college softball at Missouri and was an assistant coach at Adelphi. Before that, she was a three-time Newsday All-Long Island selection and two-time player of the year.

Softball will be a medal sport at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. As the host country, the U.S. automatically qualifies. But that’s a ways away, and the players today are trying to make a living while bringing the sport into your living room — or your kitchen TV or a Texas Roadhouse — on a daily basis.

“It's awesome,” Laird said. “It's everything I've ever dreamed of. I mean, me as a little girl, thinking I'd be playing in this league, I would never have thought that. Just the growth from it. This really wasn't a thing when I was younger, when I was growing up. It just kind of blew up now. It's just awesome being here, awesome being able to represent New York in this league.”