A light in the world: Kyleigh Reiter's positivity, love for life set to pay off in big ways

MADISON TOWNSHIP — The first thing people are greeted with when they see Kyleigh Reiter is an infectious smile that seems to manifest onto their own faces whether they realize it or not.

The second thing might be the day's bean prices, just incase they were curious.

"$11.56," Reiter said with a laugh that lights up a dugout on a bright spring day.

She was spot on.

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But, if you ask the Madison senior third baseman her batting average, she wouldn't have the slightest clue. It's a team-high .500 with 24 hits, 10 doubles, a triple, a home run, 16 RBIs and 17 runs scored, just for reference.

But those numbers are the furthest from her mind as she goes about her daily life. The hard-hitting lefty had the Rams sitting at 9-5 through their first 14 games and oozing confidence during a recent four-game winning streak where her team outscored its opponents 23-7. Those are the numbers she knows. The digits that describe team success, not individual glory.

"I generate through other people," Reiter said. "When someone is having a bad day, I focus on them and not on myself. I hardly think about myself because I want to make days better for other people because in the end, that makes me feel good without even thinking about it."

Last season, Reiter hit .526 with 41 hits, nine doubles, two home runs, 35 RBIs and 23 runs scored. Those stats should have been enough to give her All-Ohio honors. Instead, she was named second team All-Ohio Cardinal Conference and first team All-Northwest District.

As a sophomore, she was the second-best hitter on the team with a .405 average with 32 hits, four triples, a home run, 25 RBIs and 21 runs scored. Again, numbers that were sensational but only honorable mention All-OCC honors came her way. It was the same honor she received as a freshman when she hit .390 with 41 hits, 28 RBIs and 26 runs scored for the Division II district champions.

She has easily been the most underrated softball player in Richland County, and maybe even the entire state of Ohio, over her four-year varsity career, but the lack of personal glory doesn't bother Reiter one bit. She does love that 2021 district championship trophy and the Ohio Cardinal Conference title the Rams won last year, though.

"It makes her a lot different than the rest of us," Madison coach Tim Niswander said. "The lack of personal accolades for her bothers me more than it does her. It is nice to be recognized and feel good about what you are doing. The ability to put that behind her and keep doing what she is doing is rare. We see it on a daily basis with Kyleigh. A lot of kids are more worried about personal stuff and I have been lucky to coach a lot of kids like Kyleigh who worry more about team stuff. She is at the top of that list."

Family keeps Kyleigh Reiter grounded

It would be enough to make any high school softball player want to just pack it in and quit. To not earn All-Ohio honors after sporting a .465 career batting average midway through her senior year with 144 hits, four home runs, 104 RBIs and 87 runs scored is enough to frustrate anyone.

But not Reiter.

"I just go through every day like it is a new day and an opportunity to make it a better day than yesterday and be a light in the world," Reiter said. "When you stop thinking about yourself and start thinking about others, it is easy to make a difference. I give a lot of credit to my parents. They say I am not a flashy person and I'm not. I would rather see my teammates look good.

"My sister, Raygen, is also a huge motivator. She taught me how to be be humble with whatever life had to offer and has shown me how to be a team player and to never take anything for granted. She may be my younger sister, but I would not be the player of person I am today without her."

The simpler way of life Reiter lives also comes from another passion far away from the softball field. Her mother's cousins own a farm and Reiter is a regular visitor. It isn't for the homegrown meals or to even make a little extra cash for her services, Reiter won't take a dime, but it is all about getting away from everything. All the stresses that come with being a high school student during her senior year disappear when she is on the farm.

"I go out there regularly and help out any way I can," Reiter said. "I spend time in their garden or track the fields and pick up rocks. That is my all-time favorite thing to do in the summer is pick up rocks out of their fields.

"I just got out there and realized how much I loved it. I found out I loved flowers and just making things grow so I thought I could be a florist or be involved in agriculture or horticulture. I would be out there all the time when I am not at softball if I could. I call it my happy place."

Reiter's happy place in the summer is in the middle of a wide-open field, not a softball diamond. Strange for a kid who is on the verge of piecing together on of the most successful careers in Madison softball history.

"That isn't a bad thing," Niswander said. "Kids have to have other interests and that is OK. We have kids on the team who are multisport athletes and softball isn't their favorite sport and that is just fine as long as they come out here, give us everything they have and put in time in the offseason and Kyleigh does just that. That is all we ask."

And Reiter is always doing what is asked of her.

"It is OK to have other interests," Niswander said. "It makes you a well-rounded person and gives you something to talk about other than sports. Kyleigh is lucky enough to find something she loves that she can make a living with at such a young age. I tell the kids all the time to find something you love and find someone to pay you for it."

Reiter set to attend Dordt University in rural Sioux Center, Iowa

Reiter may not see a financial gain from her two passions colliding, or maybe she will with all of these Name, Image and Likeness deals going around college athletes, but she is soon set to merge her two worlds together.

Next year, Reiter will attend Dordt University in Sioux Center, Iowa, a private evangelical Christian university founded in 1955, on an athletic scholarship. She will play softball and study at one of the top agriculture universities in the nation. The Defenders are part of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics and the Great Plains Athletic Conference featuring teams from Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota.

"Dordt contacted me and I found out it was in Iowa and my first thought was how far away it was," Reiter said. "But, I also wanted to go to North Dakota so I thought I would give it a try. I went out for a camp and spent the night with some softball girls. It was in the middle of nowhere where I didn't know a single person and I was actually excited about that because I love people. It was fantastic and felt like I had been there forever. I was welcomed from Day 1."

Reiter had such a great time on her official visit that she committed shortly after returning home. But she had even more fun on the drive out to Iowa.

"On our way out there, I took a lot of naps, but every time I woke up, I was looking at the same field and it was wonderful," Reiter said. "You could tell they knew how to farm out there and it was awesome. If we go on a family vacation to Michigan or somewhere, I gripe about why they tilled the field when it was wet or it is going to rain tomorrow. Out there, it was all of these fields in the middle of nowhere and my dad said it was boring but I was like, 'This is awesome!'"

In Iowa, she will play softball and further her agriculture education with the hopes of turning one of those into a life-long career, a career she is embracing to the fullest.

"People always say it is honest work and it really is," Reiter said. "You won't always have great yields just like in softball, you won't have great games every single day. So, you flush it and hopefully your beans grow this year or you get a hit in your next at-bat."

It is there where she will continue to spread kindness, smile at everyone and give out the daily bean prices to whoever will listen. It is there where she will find a wide-open field and mosey through it with a bucket in hand picking up any rocks she can find. It is there where she will continue to hit frozen ropes on the softball diamond and make plays where ever she is asked to play on defense.

And it is there where she will continue to be a shining light in the world.

"It is a perfect place," Reiter said. "I have my softball and my agriculture and it just mixes so well. I didn't meet a single rude person. I met an old lady at Walmart and she said she loved the college kids. Small town, community focused where everyone does everything together. It is a Kyleigh Reiter place."

jfurr@gannett.com

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This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Kyleigh Reiter to attend Dordt University in Iowa to play softball, study agriculture