Riley Dutt '26 Recruiting Profile

Hello My name is Riley Dutt and I would love to share my motivations and philosophies of life. To start a little bit about me is I have been playing travel for about 3 years now but I didn't find my team until the 24-25 season that I plan to finish my travel softball career with! Travel has been a tough journey but  you know when a place feels like home.

One philosophy of life for me is be the person or teammate you always wish you had in your life. Once you view life through this view your whole perspective will change. You will see your heart grow and your understanding become bigger!  Your daily actions will reflect more positive outcomes! You will attract more friends with genuine intent who strive for better.

Before learning this new way of life, I had many negative experiences however I began seeing myself in others eyes and that's when I knew I needed to change! I then slowly started getting a new mindset. It's something I continue to work on, but I have came so far and still so much to improve. As I continue to work for better, it allows me to reflect on how far I've come. That's a win in my books!

Another philosophy of mine in life is how life is like dirty water, the more water you add to it the clearer it gets. With negative experiences making the water dirty and pure clean water being the positives! Keep this in mind because I will continue to come back to this during this testimony.

My first real team, I had a hard time bonding because I was not the teammate that I had the potential to be and the coaches did not help contribute to a good mindset and creating the positive environment I needed. I ended up not playing softball for 8 months after this season but kept pitching lessons with my coach marc. I was at an all time low but I got through it and began to gain mental strength back until the summer of 2022. 

Unfortunately, I began getting extremely sick with Pneumonia multiple times and sick consistently limiting my physical abilities but I did not let this stop me and kept playing Rec ball to keep the activities in hopes of playing high school ball my freshman year! Unfortunately with physical health issues I had to tried out for high school ball with Pneumonia but i was very determined to play!

Tryouts went fantastic as I got many compliments from the Varsity players and we talked about how they were excited to play with me. Unfortunately though the coaches thought otherwise and I was cut my freshman year but I took their advice on what to work on for improvements. This made me furious because I knew my potential and my worth! At first I shut down but then about a month later I began working and working because I had a point to prove that I was better and had worth. I wanted to make the coaches regret all their decisions! 

I worked harder then anyone I knew and ended up hitting 61 as a pitching PR and low 70 average for bat velocity just a month after turning 15. I was angry and this showed in my improvements and my mental toughness and confidence was at an all time high! I was ready to prove a point so I joined travel on a 16u team! 

During this time, I was given a shot to help my asthma too so now my physical health was not a barrier anymore and I really became committed! The more time went on with this team I realized this team was mentally exhausting and this was added dirty water to my cup and eventually I wasn't committed to this team and was full of excuses but then on January 27th 2024, my coach said some extremely hurtful things to where I didn't even want to play softball again, so I left but then Coach Rob came along the night I walked away from the 16u team! 

Rob made me fall in love with softball again, my mind wasn't right at all but he found a way to make me fight for him and keep playing. God always found a way to bring the right people to me. He helped me make the water less dirty but I was still pretty bad. I needed a mental break and wasn't going to play travel for the 24-25 travel season. 

However I signed up for 2 tryouts. 1 for a 16u team in the organization Rob was in and the other being Charge Fastpitch. The 16u team did not take me due to the team being full so Charge was the only hope. I wasn't sure about playing and didn't want to go to the tryout due to the fear of being cut but I went to the tryout anyways! Showing up there and meeting 2 of the 3 coaches something felt different about their approach to coaching. 

I loved the environment but didn't know what to expect and wasn't sure if I could accept another team into my heart that had been hurt before and still dealing with mental blocks. I naturally have a huge heart and love hard for people. But after the tryout there was a huge rainbow over the field. As a Christian, I felt that was God's promise of this team and I felt as if maybe this is my team. Sure enough, I was asked to join Charge Fastpitch Organization so I committed to them For the 24/25 season!

As my water was still dirty, I kept showing up and began trusting again. I ended up falling in love with the team and really liked the coaches especially Natelea ; the pitching coach. 

Due to the past I was terrified of failing and being being cut. This was the huge mental block for me and it truly showed as I couldnt hit a spot or hit past 53 mph. However as she worked with me weekly and eventually got through to me and I began believing in me. I found my reason to fight again; for Natalea, Marc and Rob!

As Charge had a month break, I worked with her and Marc Little over and over and was seeing progress. I began throwing harder and getting better at spots and getting back to freshman Riley! With all the work and progress our first tournament of the winter I ended up killing it and gaining my strength back emotionally and mentally! Natalea, Rob and Marc all finally seen all the hard work and belief they put into me. They are a huge impact on me and had allowed me to develop in so many ways. I finally believe in myself so much and have seen a huge difference in my abilities because of them!

As I have been seeing my development, I Look back in time and realizing everything happens for a Reason and I'm glad I've had the experiences I've had because it created an unstoppable girl who fights for herself, her teammates, her father, her coaches and younger self who always wished of someone like the woman I am today! 

In the end you can start with dirty water but it's what you make of the dirty water that chooses your destiny and how much you will succeed!

Thank you for your time and consideration!