Daily Pilot High School Athlete of the Week: Reynolds continues to inspire

Rachelle Reynolds is the top player on the Estancia High softball team.

She is a juggernaut on offense for the Eagles.

And she’s not one to sit around and mope.

On the afternoon of March 2, the Estancia senior was at Hoag Hospital to say a final goodbye to her mother, Raquel, who passed away at the age of 54.

Rachelle Reynolds, better known as “Ray,” returned home. Elsewhere in Costa Mesa, Reynolds’ Estancia softball team was beginning its second game of the day at the Costa Mesa tournament against the rival Mustangs.

Two of Reynolds’ best friends on the team, seniors Leticia Ortega and Kayla Hayes, went to go check on her.

“We drove to her house,” Ortega said. “She was on the curb, and we just sat with her. We didn’t really know what to say, because we really don’t know anything about someone dying close to you. We just sat with her and kept her company.”

It was then that Ray made a powerful decision. Just hours after her mom’s passing, she wanted to suit up. Her reasoning was simple.

“That’s what my mom would have wanted me to do,” Ray Reynolds said. “We were playing Mesa.”

Estancia Coach Carrie Lester got the phone call in the third inning, saying that Ray wanted to come back and play. The problem was, she wasn’t listed on the lineup card.

“I talked to the umpire,” Lester recalled. “I said, ‘She’s not on the list, but she just lost her mom and she wants to play. She wants to hit the ball. Can I put her in? Can you ask the Mesa coach if that’s OK with her?’

“The umpire was so great. He said, ‘I’ll tell her. I’m not going to ask the other coach, I’ll tell her that [Reynolds] is going to play.’”

She entered the game, went one for two and scored a run. The Eagles topped the Mustangs, 7-2.

It was an inspiring moment to Reynolds’ teammates, who are trying to help her get into the CIF Southern Section Division 4 playoffs for the first time in her sparkling prep career. Estancia entered the final week of the regular season at 4-4 in league, tied for third with Laguna Beach.

It would mean plenty for Reynolds to make the postseason, something Estancia hasn’t done since 2009. If there will be anyone to lead them there, it will be her.

Ray Reynolds proved it on that Saturday afternoon in early March.

“We were all shocked when it happened,” said Ortega, the team’s center fielder. “For her to come back to the game on the same day? Everyone knew that if something like that happened to them, they wouldn’t be able to come back and play. I think that was a big moment for all of us, that she actually came back and gave it her all in that game. I think that’s really inspiring.”

Reynolds, who plays first base, has been one of the best players in Newport-Mesa for most of her time at Estancia. A two-time Newport-Mesa Dream Team selection, she entered this week batting .525 with seven home runs and 28 runs batted in. She also leads Estancia in triples (six), runs scored (33) and walks (16). She reaches base safely more than 63% of the time.

Reynolds said she was aiming for the school-record numbers of Taylor West, a two-time Newport-Mesa Player of the Year who had 15 home runs and 50 RBIs in 2008.Those records appear safe, but Reynolds still is putting up huge numbers. And teams need to be careful when they try to pitch around her, too.

“One time, [the pitcher] threw a ball that was up here,” she said, gesturing toward her face. “I hit it over the fence. I didn’t want to walk.”

But Lester, the Eagles’ first-year head coach, is at least as impressed by the character Reynolds displays. This is the girl who cared for her mother, who had diabetes and had both legs amputated, while her father, Steven, went to work.

Reynolds, who plans to play next year at Orange Coast College, is similarly driven on the field.

“She’s a hitter, but not only that, she’s a leader,” Lester said. “When the girls get down, she doesn’t join them. She keeps her head up, all the time. She battles.”

Lester said that soon after her mother passed away, Ray Reynolds put up a Facebook status update.

The update read, “It was always difficult for my mom to get a good spot to see me at the games, but now she can see all of them. She has the best view.”