Riglee Peterson is arguably having the best season of her high school career.
The Malad High junior has career highs in batting average (.554), slugging percentage (1.036), RBIs (42) and home runs (6). She just went 2-for-3 from the plate with a double and three RBIs in a 26-2 five-inning mercy rule win over Salmon Thursday on day one of the Class 2A State Tournament at Orofino High School
But it’s also been the hardest.
Peterson dealt with both a potential career-ending injury and the death of her grandmother. But she still has the Dragons in a familiar spot.
Four-time reigning state champion and No. 1 Malad (25-0-1) will look to continue another title defense against fourth-seeded Declo (13-7) at 11:15 a.m. Friday in the next round.
“She’s still processing it. I think it’s been really hard on her − harder than she shows. She’s one that kind of tends to bury how she’s feeling and hide how she’s really feeling,” Malad head coach Bri Adams said. “But I think it’s also motivated her to give it her all.”
A PROMISING FUTURE
It wasn’t always this way.
Peterson had just wrapped up back-to-back state championships and Class 2A Player of the Year honors during this time last year. She went a combined 44-1 with 296 strikeouts and an ERA of 0.93 in the circle during those first two years alone. Peterson had a batting average of .518 with a total of 72 RBIs and 12 home runs, as well.
This was nothing new, though.
Peterson was a star well before putting on the black and orange uniform.
It all started behind the outfield walls of Malad’s field. It was there where she learned how to pitch from her father Jason. They went there in between the at-bats of older sisters Kori and Oaklee, who inspired her to play in the first place.
Jason even set up a pitching net for her down in the basement during the long, cold winter months.
Before either one of them knew it, she was on an All-American team down in Florida and a member of USA Athletics − a premier softball league based out of California.
Peterson then joined the Lil Rebels − a national club team located in Las Vegas − last summer.
“I thought she was amazing. I watched her and I was like, ‘Holy cow, this kid is gifted in everything she does,” Adams said. “Her footwork is spectacular. She really is just a gifted athlete. And she’s put in the work to make it be even more so.”
GONE IN A FLASH
There was a preseason volleyball jamboree against Preston on July 5, 2023 at Malad High School. Peterson was just going up for the kill. The ball had been set a little too far to the outside. So it caused her to reach over and land at an odd angle on her left leg.
She heard the dreaded pop and immediately fell to the floor. Peterson laid there for a few minutes before having to be helped off the court. Trainers came over and put her through a series of tests. The team doctor then came over and told her he thought it was her ACL.
“I just remember my heart dropped and I started to tear up because that’s a six to 12 month recovery,” Peterson said. “It meant I would have to miss my volleyball season, my basketball season and I didn’t know what was going to happen with softball. I remember feeling very sad and having this pit in my stomach.”
All of those same feelings came rushing back when the news was officially confirmed at the hospital a few days later. But Peterson put on a brave face.
Days before a complete ACL reconstruction surgery on July 26, she was back on the field throwing the ball. However, Peterson was only able to do so by sitting on a bucket with her knee in a brace.
“Honestly, tearing my ACL is one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to go through mentally and physically,” Peterson said. “Because all I do is sports. That’s what I do. And now I can’t.”
She sat at the end of the bench and watched both the volleyball and basketball teams have some of their best seasons in recent memory. The volleyball team went 25-5 and took home a state trophy for the first time in four years with a runner-up finish. Basketball was a top-5 ranked team all season on its way to an 18-6 record − the best in seven years.
Peterson was more than happy for their success. But she still went to bed every night crying into her pillow.
“I saw a Riglee that I’d never seen before. Riglee is generally happy, upbeat, cheerful, the life of the party kind of girl. But she just stayed off to the side,” Adams said. “I tried giving her some workouts she could do and asking, ‘What can I do to help?’ But it was something she had to go through on her own. She didn’t want help. It was really hard to watch.”
Thankfully, Peterson was medically cleared right before the start of tryouts in late February. But she still had to convince Adams and her own dad, that she was ready.
A MUCH-NEEDED OUTLET
They both wanted her to continue rehabbing the knee and rest up for the end of the season when it really mattered.
“She hated it,” Jason said with a laugh. “When she first heard about it, she was so mad. I remember coming into the living room from work and she was just kind of expressing her frustrations.”
Because Peterson needed softball more than ever.
Her grandmother died just 18 days before the season opener against Snake River.
Aloa Ann Peterson was a bit of a local softball legend at Bear River High School in Garland, Utah. She also coached in the area for years. Aloa never quite gave up the game either even after she and her husband Mark moved their four children 33 miles north to Malad City.
“When I was little, she dragged me to the softball field playing her old lady softball,” Jason said with a laugh. “My mom was always into that.”
So she never missed any of her granddaughter’s games. Peterson knew just where to find her, too. Aloa always parked and sat right behind the home dugout, patiently waiting to give Peterson a piece of chocolate licorice afterwards.
“I don’t think I ever saw them without,” Peterson said with a laugh. “It was something I looked forward to every time.”
But with a simple phone call that quickly turned into just another memory. Peterson’s heart dropped once again. Only this time it was the news from her father that Aloa was in the hospital and might not make it through the night.
Peterson immediately raced home from a friend’s house. They arrived in Pocatello at around 1 a.m. and spent the next four days there. She was holding her hand when Aloa took her last breath.
She was 76.
“It was just a horrible, sad feeling,” Peterson said. “Like it just hurt super bad and I remember just being so sad. I don’t even know how to explain how I felt. It was just awful.”
Aloa was buried five days later with signed softballs and little notes from each family member.
Peterson’s read:
“I love you forever and always grandma. I miss you already. Thank you for everything. You’re the best. I’ll play for you always. I love you.”
A GRAND RETURN
She started in the circle in that season opener on March 20 at home against Snake River − the only team that has ever handed her a loss. Right before throwing out the first pitch, Peterson looked over at her grandma’s old spot. It was just grandpa this time around.
But she was still right there with her as Peterson calmly struck out the first two batters. She then felt a soothing presence once again down 0-2 in the count during her first at-bat in eight months. Two pitches later, Peterson tripled to left field on a line drive shot for Malad’s first run of the season. She finished that game 2-for-3 from the plate. Peterson also picked the win in the circle by allowing just three earned runs and five hits while still donning that same knee brace in the 14-3 victory.
“The next day, I had a former head coach call me up and be like, ‘What were you thinking? Why did you let her base run?,’” Adams said. “And I’m, ‘Dude, she wanted to.’ Yeah, maybe I shouldn’t have let her, but she was pretty darn set on it.
“It was hard to figure out the limits during those first few games with her.”
There quickly became none as the season progressed.
She’s thrown nearly 1,200 pitches and gone up against 342 batters. That’s more than double the amount of the next closest pitcher. Peterson is also a perfect 17-0 with 120 strikeouts and a 1.87 ERA.
Peterson is even playing shortstop when not in the circle.
“She was in her own head quite a bit this year about whether or not she was going to be the same player. But she’s just that athlete where even struggling, she’s doing well,” Jason said. “I tell everybody all the time, I don’t think she’s even reached her potential. Every team that she’s ever played on, and she’s played on really top-end travel teams, she’s always one of the better players. It just drives her. She’s always wanting to be the best.”
Which means winning another state championship.
No team in Idaho history has ever won five consecutive state titles. Malad, which has more banners (seven) over the last decade than any other program in the state and eight overall, already owns the only four-peat ever.
It is the overwhelming favorite to do so, too. The Dragons enter with the state’s longest unbeaten streak at 57 games and counting. That dates all the way back to April 27, 2022.
They’ve played only three seven-inning games all season and are beating opponents by more than 11 runs per game. Their only blemish − if it can really be called that − was an 8-8 tie to Declo on April 19. But Malad beat that same team 20-8 just three days later.
“We’ve worked hard and we deserve it. I can only speak for myself, but I hope we go in knowing that we’re beatable. But we want it more,” Peterson said. “The other teams are great. But we’re better and we’re going to prove it. And we’re not going to give up.”
Peterson especially.
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