CORVALLIS, Ore. – Growing up, Riley Donovan always looked up to big sister Harlee. They both fell in love with softball at an early age, but they never got to play on the same team.
Years later, they still didn’t get a chance to take the field together at Southern Oregon University, but they each played a role in the Raiders’ back-to-back NAIA National Championships. Harlee helped her alma mater win its first national title in 2019 as a part of the coaching staff and two years later, little sister Riley helped the Raiders repeat the feat.
“I always looked up to her, especially since we played the same position,” said Riley. “She has taught me a lot of things throughout the years.”
Harlee transferred to SOU from San Mateo CC as a junior after falling in love with the campus community and softball coaching staff. Riley, who also started her collegiate career at San Mateo CC, also fell in love with the Raider softball program after seeing it from the inside with Harlee on the team.
“I chose SOU because of my coaches,” said Harlee. “[San Mateo CC] Coach Borg is someone I trust with everything, and I trusted that she would only set me up with options that were best for me. I also got to know Coach Pistole, and from our first conversation, I knew that she was a coach who meant business and was someone I wanted to play for. The town felt small (like home), and the class sizes were realistic for me to develop relationships with professors, which also played a major role in the decision-making process.”
“The environment that has been established within the program is just so welcoming and showed how hard everyone works to get where they want to be,” added Riley. “I also got kind of an inside look from my sister playing before me and that allowed me to have some perspective too.”
As a senior, Harlee became the first-ever NAIA Player of the Year to come from the Cascade Collegiate Conference and the first Raider to be named the CCC Player of the Year. Three years later, Riley was named the 2021 CCC Newcomer of the Year after helping the Raiders win the regular-season title and was named the NAIA World Series MVP.
It was a little déjà vu for Raider fans to see another Donovan behind the plate, but the sisters think they’re very different players.
“While many say we look the same on the softball field, we are actually extremely different players,” said Harlee. “We talk softball all the time, and we have found that we see the game differently and it's been really fun breaking down the game together and trying to teach each other a thing or two about those different perspectives.”
It’s hard not to draw similarities between the two considering the accolades both have racked up, but Riley tries not to let the pressure of following in her sister’s footsteps get to her.
“I mean I think there’s only as much pressure as I allow there to be,” said Riley. “It hasn’t always been easy for me to overcome that pressure. Over time, I’ve learned that we are completely different players and people, and there’s no reason any pressure should be put on me.”
Harlee and Riley might be different players on the dirt, but after living together once again, they’ve come to find out they have some similarities and also compliment each other well.
“Living together has definitely brought us closer,” said Riley. “I love having her here, I’m not sure I’d be where I am today if she wasn’t. She makes me dinners (I do dishes) and I just love having her and her perspective here with me.”
“I would say we have gotten extremely close,” added Harlee. “We have come to realize that we are so much more similar than I had ever thought. She is someone who is really great at keeping situations light and reminding me to laugh at myself and have fun. And I keep her honest in daily disciplines.”
When Harlee finished playing for SOU, she wasn’t ready to give up softball and joined the Raiders’ coaching staff.
“I wanted to coach because softball has always been a huge part of my life,” said Harlee. “Coach Pistole had asked me about halfway through my senior year what my plans were and I didn’t have anything that sounded as good as coaching did. When I finished playing, all I wanted to do was get back on the field, and coaching was the next best thing to playing. I came to find that it inspired a different passion for the game and the people a part of it.”
“It’s a really cool experience,” said Riley on having her sister help coach. “I mean she’s always been a coach for me in a sense, but for her to be officially one of my coaches is just icing on the cake because everyone else gets to know her in that light as well.”
This year, Harlee took a step back from coaching to pursue a second degree but popped her head in whenever she could to help out the catchers and hitters specifically. She wasn’t with the team in Georgia when SOU won the title, but she was there to celebrate with Riley and the Raiders got back home.
“I love that I was able to keep my mind and my heart with the team in a way that was a little bit different than I am used to,” said Harlee. “I stayed in the loop and showed my face as often as I could, all while pursuing my dream. I have never been more proud of my sister or the program. This year was really hard in so many ways. I know many of the struggles that were not seen in the public eye, so it was just amazing to see it all pay off.”
While they might not have played together, SOU brought the two closer together.
“Our relationship has grown, and we are now more than sisters,” said Harlee. “I can say we are actually friends, which I may not have said seven years ago – only kidding.”