Rude ‘immediately fell in love’ with Grace, signs to play softball

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Caston senior Myli Rude signs with Grace College to continue her softball and academic careers. From left – Rutledge Rude, Myli’s brother; Jake Rude, Myli’s father; Myli; Shalena Rude, Myli’s mother; Jamison Rude, Myli’s brother.

FULTON — Myli Rude said that softball has always been her sport, and it will continue to be her sport for the next four years after the Caston senior signed with Grace College to continue her athletic and academic careers Wednesday.

Rude was asked how many schools she was considering during the recruiting process.

“Well, honestly, I wasn’t considering very many just because I was looking for strictly a Christian school,” Rude said. “And Grace was one of the first ones that I looked at and immediately fell in love with it with the Christian atmosphere and just how welcoming everybody was, and I heard the program was really awesome too, so it just closed the deal.”

Rude also described Grace coach Amanda Jones as “very, very determined.”

“She is willing to do what it takes to win, and I wanted to be a part of it,” Rude said.

Rude said she has been playing softball since she was 6 and that she has “always” loved it. She was a freshman reserve on the 2023 Caston team that made school history by winning the first regional and semistate titles in any team sport in school history.

The season would eventually end with a loss to Tecumseh in the Class 1A state title game.

“It definitely made me want to work harder because I could see all the time that the coaches and the players at the time that were starting and playing to get to that point,” Rude said when asked what she learned during Caston’s postseason run. “It really made me realize that I wanted to get to that level someday.”

Caston won five games last year, but they already have seven wins this year. Caston just entered the Class 1A coaches poll rankings this week at No. 12.

“Honestly, I wouldn’t say it’s a huge thought in my head,” Rude said of the team’s ranking. “Because I just go game by game and do what I can and help the team as I can, and I know that all the players go out there and do their best, so whatever our ranking is, I enjoy playing with the team, and I know that the team enjoys playing with each other.”

Rude currently plays first base for the Lady Comets but also plays in the outfield for her travel team, Driven Fast Pitch 18-and-Under, which is based out of Greentown.

Her travel team helped Grace notice her, Rude said. She also said it improved her drive and her mindset.

“It was a really big deal because my coach Brad (Smith), he was the one who really got me started into looking at colleges because that wasn’t originally my plan,” Rude said. “It was really all him who got me into looking and pushing me, and the travel team has really gotten me to a different level of the sport.”

Rude said she wants to major in medical imaging with hopes of becoming a pediatric cardiac stenographer. Rude said she was diagnosed with myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle, when she was a sophomore and was introduced to cardiac stenography while she was a patient at Riley Children’s Hospital in Indianapolis.

“It’s basically an ultrasound tech that will focus on taking ultrasounds of the heart,” Rude said. “The girl who was doing my echo(cardiogram) really inspired me and made me realize that’s what I wanted to do.”