Rylee Gaustad

Rylee Gaustad, junior, is the starting outfielder. Gaustad is mainly in this position for high school softball, but for club, she plays other positions. 

“I’m playing shortstop but for club, I play outfield so it’s kind of like a mix,” Gaustad said. “I think I definitely like the outfield. But shortstop is something new this year.”

Following last season, the head coach resigned and the assistant coach, Gina Garvey-Metzler, stepped up. This season, the former assistant coach is leading the team again. This year, Gaustad thinks she and her team are setting themselves up for success. 

“Yeah but I think it’s more just like the nerve-racking loss,” Gaustad said. “You know, coming into the season is like a way off. We also put a lot of pressure on ourselves this year. To go to state and yeah, go far.”

For Gaustad personally, she is focusing on playing softball in the future. 

“College,” Gaustad said. “That’s the goal.”

As far as Garvey-Metzler’s coaching, Gaustad thinks she focuses on building up the players and challenging them. 

“I was talking with her the other day, actually, you know, I think for positions she definitely makes it a competition,” Gaustad said. “So none of us are slacking. She definitely loves to have fun though so I think that’s great,” 

For the upcoming season, Gaustad predicts that Oregon City High School will be their biggest adversary to compete with. Gaustad thinks that their softball program has strong pitching, which Gaustaud sees as a large challenge for the team. Oregon City High School’s team has Lily Riley, junior, a pitcher and one of West Linn’s biggest anticipated challenges. 

“[Lily Riley] is committed to Utah,” Gaustad said. “She’s fast, she has some movement that she can locate really well. I feel like she definitely knows our team too, so I think that’s also a challenge because she knows what our weaknesses are.”