Liberty University softball Head Coach Dot Richardson helped turn 10-year-old Ryleigh Patience’s dream into reality during the Lady Flames’ Feb. 13-16 tournament in Florida.
“When I received a phone call from Make-A-Wish America, it was so humbling to know that there was a young girl who wanted to meet me, and as soon as I heard, I said, ‘I’m all in,’” Richardson said during an interview with “Game On,” a 30-minute television sports program produced by the Liberty Flames Sports Network (LFSN) and broadcast nationally.
Ryleigh, an avid softball fan, has Hurler’s Syndrome, a disease caused by the lack of an enzyme that breaks down complex sugar molecules, leaving them in her body to adhere to bones, joints, muscles, and organs. It affects only one in 100,000 people, and many die before the age of 10. Ryleigh has beaten the odds through treatments at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Mo., where she has received an experimental synthetic enzyme.
Ryleigh traveled with her family from Independence, Mo., to Clermont, Fla., for the Dot Richardson National Collegiate Softball Invitational (Richardson formerly served as the executive director and medical director of the National Training Center located there).
Richardson, the two-time Olympic gold medalist, four-time Pan American gold medalist, five-time World Champion, and five-time collegiate All-American, has served as an inspiration to Ryleigh.
“It’s kind of like meeting the Michael Jordan of softball,” said Jerome Patience, Ryleigh’s father. “For the career she’s had, and the influence she’s had on the sport, you couldn’t ask to meet anybody better.”
Ryleigh threw out the first pitch before Liberty’s opener against Cleveland State University and served as the honorary bat girl for the Lady Flames, wearing Richardson’s Team USA Olympic helmet.
“She told me that whenever I dream about doing something, I need to get out of the box and do it,” Ryleigh said. “She said if I can’t run, just walk. I like that.”
Liberty went 3-2 in the early-season tournament, starting with a 3-0 win over Cleveland State.
“What’s really amazing is that she was able to embrace her opportunity to be the best bat girl she could be,” Richardson said. “Bringing us to victory over Cleveland State — it’s a shout-out to Ryleigh.”
