Persistence Helps Ella Reynolds Overcome Early Hurdles

Ella Reynolds didn't let rejection discourage her from playing softball. Reynolds was 11 when she first tried out for a local league in New Jersey. She got cut and didn't make the team.

Determined to work harder, Reynolds made plans to practice all summer to improve. A few days later, the league called and said a girl was injured and they were hoping Reynolds was still available to play. 

“I played that season mostly running for people and barely hitting,” said Reynolds, the daughter of former Major League Baseball player and current MLB analyst Harold Reynolds. “But I remember the season ended and I went to my dad and said, ‘I don't want to have to run for people. I want to be able to hit and I want to be good. Like, I want to be really good at this.'”

Reynolds achieved her goal. The 2027 recruit has committed to the University of Oregon. Her dad was born and raised in Oregon, and Reynolds grew up attending many football games in Eugene because her cousin played for the Ducks.

“When I was on campus, I just knew that it was the right place,” said Reynolds, who plays for Jersey Intensity KOD National 16U. “The coaches are amazing, and the community is great. All the sports are connected, and everyone knows each other. I just feel like it's very homey. Even though it is across the country, it didn't really feel like it.”

Reynolds played soccer, basketball, volleyball and lacrosse before she decided to play softball. She started at shortstop, but found a home in the outfield after arriving at an Intensity practice and seeing players from the older teams in the infield.

“I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I cannot mess up their infield.' So I ran to the outfield, started playing outfield, and I've been an outfielder since then,” Reynolds said. “I love the outfield. It's really great.”

Reynolds is lefty dominant in life, but not in softball because she didn't want to be typecast for her speed.

“My dad was like, ‘you're going to be a right-handed hitter and a right-handed thrower, because I don't want to see them try to turn you into a slapper because you're fast,'” she said. “I like swinging as hard as I can swing and being very direct to the ball. A couple months ago, I hit 81 exit velo, which I was really hyped about.”

Although it can be tricky to have a parent who has been a professional athlete because of expectations, Reynolds believes her father's guidance has been influential. The two-time All-Star and three-time Gold Glove second baseman has given Reynolds the space to find her own love for the diamond while always providing support. 

“He's advanced my development by so much just from being there and being able to hear his stories. I definitely think he lets me do my own thing. It's not like he tells me what to do. But we'll talk about hitting all the time,” she said. “That's something I really cherish. We'll just talk with each other about everything and he's great with that. I'm not just doing what he wants me to do. It's really a collaboration. He's taught me so much that I don't think a lot of people could teach.”

Reynolds was extremely shy when she first started playing travel ball. As the youngest person on the team, she felt she couldn't be herself until she began performing well.

“It was really rough in the beginning, because I was just so hard on myself, and I was like, ‘no one likes me. I don't want to be here,'” Reynolds said. “But the biggest change was just my confidence in myself and having a season where I did okay. It's just crazy to look back on that part of my life, because it doesn't even feel like that was me.”

Reynolds learned a valuable lesson from the experience.

“It's important to be yourself even when you're not doing well. Because I honestly think I delayed my success by a year and a half, just because I believed once I start doing good, then I could be myself,” she said. “But if I would have just been myself from the beginning, I think I would have been fine. I would have started doing well a lot earlier, because I wouldn't be worrying about so many things.”

Reynolds, who has a 4.3 GPA and wants to pursue a career in sports broadcasting, loves reading the classics and history books when she's not on the field or doing homework. 

“I like reading books that aren't easy to read and that are up to interpretation, like you have to actually read it to really understand and comprehend it,” she said. “That's something I've been really trying to think about more, because I feel like I got into reading books that were just like dopamine hits, but they're not actually fulfilling and interesting. So I've been trying to get more into books that are harder to read and that require more comprehension.”

Reynolds and the other captains from her high school team have started coaching a local 14U team. She loves helping younger kids develop and providing them with advice whenever needed.

“It doesn't matter when you start playing, the most important thing is that you're having fun and being smart with getting better,” she said. “You don't have to be killing yourself to get better. You need to just be having fun and being smart with what you do and the success will come.”