The following is a spotlight on Aly Rayle, one of two George Mason 2023 nominees for the prestigious NCAA Woman of the Year award. The Atlantic 10 institutions nominated a total of 17 outstanding student-athletes for the award (READ MORE). The A-10 will spotlight each of the institutional nominees.
Aly Rayle Profile
Rayle's career volunteer and leadership work in the community includes helping with the Madison's House Cavaliers in the Classroom program, volunteering as a language consultant with VISAS and assisting with Boys and Girls Club summer camps. She also volunteered with the Girls on the Run races, was a pen-pal with elementary students and worked with the Capital Area Food Bank. She also particpated in community service projects with Green Athletics and with the Mason softball team, adopted Willow Springs Elementary School.
Aly Rayle joined George Mason softball as a graduate transfer and made an immediate impact, leading the Patriots to an A-10 title, earning Atlantic 10 Pitcher of the Year and All-Conference honors along the way. She was also name the A-10 Championship Most Outstanding Player in 2023 and earned National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Mid-Atlantic All-Region Second Team honors and a NFCA National Pitcher of the Week accolade.
Her career academic prowess includes earning A-10 Commissioner's Honor Roll Distinction in 2023. Previously, while at Virginia, she had been named to the ACC Softball All-Academic Team and earned a spot on the ACC Academic Honor Roll during all four undergraduate years.
Q & A
What would you consider the top moment of your college career?
I would consider the top moment of my college career to be winning A-10s this year. It was so rewarding to have all of our hard work pay off, and I’m so grateful to have ended my college career on that stage with such a great group of girls.
What hard goals have you set and/or accomplish?
Now that I’m done playing softball, I’ve turned my focus towards running and have set a hard goal of running my first marathon by the end of this fall.
What are three words your teammates would use to describe you, and why?
Three words teammates would use to describe me would be persistent, goofy, and passionate because while I was focused and intense on the field, when I was outside of that environment I’m easygoing and like to joke around.
What’s the best piece of advice you have ever received? The worst?
The best (sport specific) advice I’ve ever received was from the late Coach Randy Yates. When I was 10 years old and just getting into pitching, he told me that before every pitch, I should step onto the mound, close my eyes, take a deep breath, and smile. I stuck with that routine my entire career. The worst (sport specific) (completely unwarranted) advice I’ve ever received was, during my recruiting process, someone advised that I didn’t have the build to play D1 and should check out some D3 camps instead. Never listen to the haters.
Pick one song that would describe you and one that would describe your team
I’ve been told that the song “Walking on Sunshine” describes me because I tend to have a pretty lighthearted attitude about things. For the team I’d say, “Started From the Bottom” because preseason rankings didn’t have us making the conference tournament, let alone winning and breaking the records that we did.
What was your favorite class/professor and why?
My favorite class in undergrad was called Foreign Policy Mistakes, taught by Joshua Alley. I enjoyed it because whereas in most of my other classes I was studying and applying theories and formulas or memorizing content, in this class we reviewed select case studies in depth and were able to have debates about what led to some of the biggest mistakes in foreign policy. We also followed current events in Ukraine in real time and discussed that in class.
What are the top three things on your bucket list?
The top three things on my bucket list are to visit Japan, go skydiving, and sail around Greece (I’ve checked off 2/3 so far).
