Rylee Deckard, a junior at Hartford High School, and a member of the Hartford Lady Indian softball team this spring, is the May 19, 2022 Tri-City Record Press Box Player of the Week.
Coming into this week’s games, the Lady Indians sit at 14-14 on the year, but Rylee has been a standout on both offense and defense for the team during the season thus far. During the team’s most recent stretch, which includes games against White Pigeon, Coloma, Centreville, Gobles and South Haven, she batted 15-for-27 (.556), with two doubles, two triples, two RBIs and scored ten runs. For the season, she’s currently batting .534, with a total of ten doubles, five triples, five home runs, thirty RBIs and has thirty-three total stolen bases. In the field from her catcher and center field positions, she has recorded 53-of-58 potential putouts, and yields a fielding percentage of .931.
Rylee has returned to the softball diamond this year with a vengeance and with a purpose, as she is in pursuit of bettering her second team all-conference status in the Southwest 10 Conference from last year.
In addition to her hitting and slick-fielding skills on the softball diamond, Rylee is an important player on both the Hartford Lady Indian volleyball and basketball teams, often times seen spiking the ball on the volleyball court and being an integral bench player on the ladies basketball team that won a second consecutive district championship last winter.
In terms of the student-athlete aspect, she maintains high standards of academic achievement, and along with her entire volleyball team from last fall, was awarded Team Academic All-State honors. She is also a member of the National Honor Society at Hartford High School.
Congratulations on this great honor, Rylee! We congratulate you on your achievements during the school year so far and look forward to what the remainder of your high school career brings!