More than an Athlete: Riley Goodridge

Riley Goodridge is a junior infielder on the Lady Flames softball team. More than that, she is a Spanish and political science double major who babysits her professor’s children. 

Goodridge hails from Oakdale, California and was originally interested in Lee’s softball program because her family was close to Natalie Yonan, a former assistant coach for the softball team. 

“At the time I knew I wanted to go to Christian School… so we're like okay, look [coach] Natalie loves it. Like it's obviously a good program. So I came to the coaches. I knew instantly when I met them, but I loved them,” Goodridge said.

Another contending point for Lee was the location.

“We lived in California at the time, so I really wanted to be in Tennessee. Honestly just the culture of not only the university but the state as a whole was really driven,” Goodridge said.

During her recruitment process, she also got to know the professors in her major. 

“I came on campus, loved it, met with some professors and met with the Spanish professors... I just knew it felt very homey, and it was very personable,” Goodridge said. 

Although being an athlete keeps her busy, Goodridge finds time to engage in her major.

“I went to Columbia with Dr. Stefanell, which was awesome… We got to see all of the country. It was like a vacation but we were also going to the depths of it and you just talking with the locals and you're getting immersed in the language and the culture and like seeing Columbia for itself and not like the American perception of it, which was so authentic and so refreshing,” Goodridge said.

Outside of the classroom, Goodridge has connected with her professor in a different way. 

“I have a really good relationship with one of my political science professors, Dr. Scully. He's great, I babysit his kids. It's so much fun,” Goodridge said. 

For Goodridge, being an athlete is more than what she does in the field.

“You don't really look back [and think] I batted like this or I fielded like this or I need to be better at this like; you remember your teammates. Like you're gonna remember your teammate that was battling cancer and came to your games that you got to hug for the first time in months or the teammates that you go and watch movies with on Friday nights. That's what you remember,” said Goodridge, "It's not about how many home runs you hit, it's like these are your best friends like these are your life friends.”

To support Goodridge and the rest of the softball team, download the Lee Flames app to stay up to date with the latest games and prior statistics.