High school baseball and softball players at Glencoe, Century, Hilhi and Liberty now have a free path to get in front of college coaches, thanks to a new recruiting platform built by two former Intel executives with deep Hillsboro roots.
Rule 42 Sports Technology Group launched Tuesday, Aug. 4, offering an AI-powered platform where athletes can upload profiles, game video and statistics at no cost. College coaches and scouts pay for access and analytical tools to find talent they'd otherwise miss.
The Rule 42 logo appeared at Hops Ballpark in June, weeks before the public launch, according to Reuters.
Intel veterans, Oregon athletes
Founder and CEO Renée James served as Intel's president before leading chip startup Ampere Computing, which SoftBank acquired in 2025 for $6.5 billion. She's self-funding Rule 42's launch.
President Michelle Johnston Holthaus started her career in 1996 as a program manager at Intel's Hillsboro campus. The Newberg native rose to interim co-CEO before leaving Intel in 2025. Together, the two bring nearly six decades of semiconductor industry experience to their new venture.
Both were athletes in school. James ran track at the University of Oregon; Holthaus played high school water polo in Newberg.
Why baseball and softball?
James conceived Rule 42 while watching her son Ryan Cooney play summer baseball on Cape Cod. Cooney, a versatile infielder at the University of Oregon, was selected 103rd overall by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 2026 MLB Draft in July, a pick valued at $762,900.
Getting recruited required expensive travel showcases and personal connections. James told OregonLive her family could afford that travel, but most families can't.
"What if you're not me? What if you can't afford to go to all these places?" James said. "Can't we do better for other people?"
The platform targets baseball and softball because scouting infrastructure in those sports lags behind football and men's basketball. James sees particular opportunity in women's sports, where scholarship slots are growing faster than coaches can fill them.
Local talent pool
The timing aligns with a strong stretch for Hillsboro diamond sports. Glencoe placed three softball players on the 6A All-State First Team in 2026: freshman infielder Amelia Bouska, senior infielder Makena Petrick and senior outfielder Tuesday Mevis. In baseball, Glencoe senior pitcher August Ware earned Third Team honors and Century senior infielder Damian Elizarraras received Honorable Mention.
Players like those could build free profiles on Rule 42, putting their stats and video in front of college programs that might never send a scout to a Metro League game.
Rule 42 has recruited Tara Henry, coach of Great Britain's women's national softball team, and Jed Lowrie, a 14-season MLB veteran, to help shape the platform. The Lake Oswego-based company has fewer than 30 employees and plans to share more details about its technology later in 2026. It does not plan to expand into football or men's basketball but may add other sports over time.
