Downers North's Ryndak back and better than ever
After a sophomore season as good as anyone's, Dale Ryndak had a beginning to her junior campaign in 2013 that was about as bad as anyone's.
The Downers Grove North standout suffered season-ending injuries in the first inning of the first game last spring, and she was understandably down in the dumps.
The all-state pitcher could either sit around and wonder why, or she could work harder than ever to come back stronger than ever. Ryndak, who has a full-ride scholarship to pitch at Pac 12 and NCAA power Arizona State beginning this fall, chose the latter. She rehabbed with fervor to do whatever it took to get back her magic. And she threw, and threw and threw some more.
"I got my MRI results back and I knew my year was done, and I kind of had a pity party for a while before my surgery," said Ryndak, who tore her meniscus and her ACL and fractured her femur in a freakish, non-contact injury while rounding third base in the Trojans' 2013 opener.
"It was very hard to get over and to even comprehend. I was never a kid that got hurt, and now all at once a bunch of things happened to me. I didn't want to believe it, but I had to get over it."
While she was lying in bed following surgery, Dale's father, Gary Ryndak, encouraged his daughter to quit the pity party and to get back to work. Before long she was throwing to Downers North assistant coach Mike Johnson - her godfather and a longtime family friend - and Ryndak was on her way back to greatness.
There may have been doubts in some people's minds - Dale's included - when the 2014 high school softball campaign began, but the fireballer erased them in a hurry. From Day 1 this season the Trojans senior was blowing away hitters at a record pace, piling up shutouts and strikeouts in impressive fashion and entering a regional final against Neuqua Valley with a miniscule ERA of 0.10 to go along with a 20-1 record.
"I don't think I ever worked harder in my life than that summer going into my senior year," said Ryndak, the 2014 Daily Herald All-Area Team Captain. "Then that fall and that winter of my senior year I don't think I ever threw more pitches in my life, or worked on so many things and worked on so many leg drills. Without my school trainers and without Mike (Johnson), I don't think I would have had as much success as I do now."
The work paid big dividends for Ryndak and Downers North, which claimed a fifth consecutive title in the strong West Suburban Conference while going 28-3-1 and winning a regional crown.
"I was so overprepared coming into this season because I was so fearful that I wasn't going to be on the same level as the other girls I was going to be playing against," she admitted.
Despite a bout with nerves, Ryndak went out and recorded double-digit strikeouts in the season opener against Reavis and never looked back. While sharing pitching duties with her older sister Kendall as a freshman in 2011, Ryndak went 13-3 with a 0.99 ERA and 108 strikeouts in 120 innings. As a sophomore, she went 12-2 with a 0.61 ERA and more strikeouts than innings pitched.
Then, after missing her junior season, Ryndak was better than ever this spring while going 22-2 with a 0.52 ERA, 17 shutouts and an amazing 219 strikeouts to just 11 walks in 159 innings pitched.
"Without a doubt Dale Ryndak is the most talented and impressive player I have come across," said Trojans coach Eric Landschoot. "Dale's focus on the game and the rapport she has developed with her teammates and classmates is something that I am confident I will never see again."
Ryndak was named the 2013-14 Gatorade Illinois Softball Player of the Year on June 5, the same day her Trojans had one bad inning while falling 7-4 in the Class 4A sectional semifinals to rival Downers Grove South.
The pitching numbers have always been out front for Ryndak, who tossed a perfect game, a no-hitter, 5 one-hitters and a pair of two-hitters in 2014, but the 5-foot-5 recent graduate batted third for Downers North all spring and hit .446 with 10 home runs and 41 RBI.
But Johnson, who has coached both Ryndak pitching sisters, thinks Dale is even better off the field. Not only has she excelled in the classroom (Ryndak has maintained a 3.84 weighted GPA and is a member of the German National Honor Society), but she has volunteered locally as a peer tutor and youth softball instructor as well as volunteering at a retirement facility and the West Suburban Humane Society.
"The injury to Dale became an opportunity to grow instead of a problem to endure," Johnson said. "Her attitude and determination to overcome this challenge established a strong foundation for her character. I have never seen anybody in my life work so passionately to achieve a goal. Dale is one of the most humble student-athletes I have encountered in my 19 years of coaching. She downplays her accomplishments and focuses on the team as opposed to the individual spotlight."
Ryndak began playing softball at a young age while trying to keep up with Kendall, who pitches at Division II Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Mo., and will serve as a graduate assistant coach next spring. Now the two sisters work summer camps together and also offer softball instructional lessons to kids.
But next up for Dale will be Arizona State, which landed the stellar player after Dale's original plans to play at Purdue University changed when that coaching staff was fired after Dale's sophomore high school campaign.
It didn't take Dale long to fall for the ASU campus, as well as be awed by the idea of playing there.
"The minute I got off the plane … the warmness, seeing the football stadium and seeing the girls practice at the softball stadium, it was eye-opening and I was like, I need to do that," said Ryndak, who grew up a fan of Pac 12 softball but never imagined she'd be a Sun Devil. "I never thought I was going there. It's unbelievable. It's a dream come true to say that I'm a part of that program. It didn't seem real. It was just such an honor to even be looked at by ASU, then saying they wanted me with a full ride.
"Just being on the team as a walk-on would have been awesome. But to be a pitcher with a major role on the team… . I don't even have words for it. I'm in awe that I am going to be a part of that program."
Kendall is just as excited for her sister.
"You have no idea how I excited I am," the older sibling said. "When I found out she was going to Arizona State I could not stop talking about it. I'm still bragging about her. Not only is it a huge honor to go to Arizona State but to come from the Midwest, and to go and compete and expect to start right away is huge. It's a miracle that this happened and I can not wait to watch her play."
There was a lot of hard work along the way, but to Ryndak it is all worth it. Playing softball just makes everything feel right, and she plans to stay involved in the sport for some time.
"I can't imagine doing anything else. I think about going to college and getting a job. It would be nice to get a high-paying job, but coaching sounds so much more appealing," she says, again wanting to big like her best friend and big sister. "I'm planning on getting a business marketing degree that would be nice to fall back on, but coaching is in my DNA. My sister is the same way. Some people say it's a softball high. It's like an adrenaline rush and it's like it's a miracle there's a game (to play) and there's nothing else like it. It's awesome."