Early Signing Day 2023: Austintown Fitch's Ayla Ray will continue family legacy at Youngstown State

Ayla Ray signed her National Letter of Intent to play softball at Youngstown State on Wednesday afternoon

AUSTINTOWN, Ohio -  It has been nearly 27 years since Renauld Ray sat in a cafeteria at Orrville High School and signed his National Letter of Intent to play football for Youngstown State before quickly heading back to class. 

On Wednesday, he sat in the gymnasium at Austintown Fitch and looked on with pride as his daughter Ayla Ray signed her National Letter of Intent to play softball at his alma mater.

"It means a lot," Renauld Ray said. "I'm so happy for her, number one, that she's getting a chance to chase her dream. Since a kid you just always knew that softball was what she enjoyed and the fact that she now gets to pursue it and go go on to the next level, only a certain percentage make that Division I jump. It's what she wanted, you know, and it's what she strived for and it's good for her and it's good for us."

Being able to stay close to home was important for Ayla Ray, but so was getting to follow in her father's footsteps, and that played a part in her decision to choose to play softball for the Penguins.

"My dad went there, so just carrying on his legacy (is important)," Ayla Ray said. "It's amazing. I am speechless. It's amazing."

While Renauld had made it a point throughout Ayla's life to not talk about his athletic achievements, which included catching the game-winning touchdown pass for Youngstown State in the 1997 college football Division I-AA national championship game and induction into the Wayne County Sports Hall of Fame, the dad might have slipped in some encouragement about where he would like to see her attend college.

"I may have put some subliminal messages in there every once in a while," Renauld Ray said with a grin. "A couple of little I remembers to just make it seem like it's just college stuff. But you're trying to you know, make it sound like hey, it was pretty fun here you know, and a lot of memories and things like that." 

Ayla Ray was one of the leaders of an Austintown Fitch softball team that took home the program's first state championship this past spring, playing shortstop and hitting .534 with seven doubles, four triples and six homers, none of which was more important than when she was on the sport's biggest stage.

With the Falcons tied 1-1 with Anthony Wayne in the fifth inning of the OHSAA Division I state title game at Akron's Firestone Stadium, Ayla Ray stepped up to the plate and launched a ball that easily cleared the fence in right field to give Fitch a 2-1 lead in what would eventually be a 6-1 win. 

Five months later, Ray shakes her head every time head coach Steve Ward shows the replay of the home run. Ward then tells her that it's one of the proudest moments of his coaching career.

"I'm sorry I like watching your home run," Ward jokes loudly in the gymnasium after Ray signed the NLI on Wednesday.

When Ray hit that home run, Ward admitted to doing his "happy dance" in the third base coaching box as he watched the ball fly over the fence that day in June and while he didn't break out any dance moves on Wednesday, the smile never left his face as he watched Ray sign her NLI.

"It's hard to put in words how much Ayla means to the program, to the coaching staff, to really everybody that she comes in contact with," Ward said.  "You see the number of students that show up for her and it's because she has high character and is a class act. To see her sign and she's going to be able to live her dream, very few things match that as a coach. That's the dream you have for your players is to be able to recognize where you want to go and then actualize your dream. And Ayla's gonna be living her dream."

With the NLI signing now done, Ray can focus on her senior season of softball at Fitch, which includes trying to defend the state title with her teammates, one of which is pitcher Sydnie Watts, who Ayla has played with since she was eight years old. Not only was Sydnie, who has committed to Georgia Tech, there to watch Ayla on Tuesday, but Sydnie's father Tommy was there as well. Tommy Watts coached the girls from a young age. 

"Tommy's had a huge impact in her growing up," Renauld Ray said. "I never played baseball, I played softball. My wife played at Westminster. The fact that from a youth, he saw the talent in her, and her and Syd, they were just from day one connected, so that was that was good, too."

There could also be another special moment for the senior this upcoming season as her sister Kaliana is a freshman this year and could take the field with her big sister at some point.

"It's exciting be able to share my last year with her," Ayla Ray said.

The younger sister was in the crowd when Ayla hit what turned out to be the game-winning home run in the state championship game and was also there to watch as Ayla signed on Wednesday. She hopes to have the same success for the Falcons. 

"I'm excited because softball is both of our number one sport," Kaliana Ray said. "I want to make sure that I can play for her senior year so that we can like do it together and hopefully make it to state."

Austintown Fitch senior Ayla Ray poses with her family after signing her National Letter of Intent to play softball at Youngstown State (Photo credit: Ryan Isley, SBLive Sports) / Ryan Isley, SBLive Sports

-- Ryan Isley | ryan@scorebooklive.com | @sbliveoh