Hahnville head softball coach Jeremy Duplantis has a word he speaks to his team about – one he says his sophomore third baseman Rylee Villasenor exemplifies every time she takes the field.
“Mudita,” Duplantis said. “It means to have great joy in others’ success, and she is a perfect example of that. When somebody hits a home run, she’s the first one out the dugout jumping and celebrating for them. She’s definitely a team player and she wants success for everybody.”
Through a bit of her own success, Villasenor helped spur her teammates and coaches to the ultimate team success on Sunday. Her power was on display – two home runs, both of which put her team ahead at different points of the game, and five RBIs.
But so was her speed, the last of her three runs on the day seeing her race home from first base to score on Jordyn Chaix’s single in the bottom of the seventh inning to seal the Division I non-select state championship for the Lady Tigers.
Through it all, her expression remained relatively constant, a big smile, enjoying the moment throughout her team’s victory in Sulphur. It did change for a brief time, however, once the game was over – tears of joy streamed down her face as she embraced her coaches and teammates, overcome by emotion.
“I was not stopping (on the game-winning run),” Villasenor said. “This is once in a lifetime. Not everyone can say they made it to Sulphur and even fewer can say they won it all there. That’s something Coach (Jeremy) Duplantis preached … I think that was part of my fire coming around third, it was right there and I wasn’t going to stop. To have my name as a part of this, being a champion here at Sulphur, it’s absolutely amazing.”
Villasenor was named Outstanding Player of the state tournament. Though she’s just played two seasons of prep ball so far, she already has begun to stack up accolades: the tourney MVP and her state championship ring go with Offensive MVP honors that she earned in District 8-5A in 2025 after a stellar debut season.
But Villasenor ran into adversity early in the 2026 season. Her statistical pace was down from her previous year, and she admitted self-doubt crept into her outlook.
“My confidence was down at the beginning of the year and I brought that up,” Villasenor said. “And my teammates were a very big part of that every step of the way.”
Through 12 games, the slugger wasn’t able to fully lock in and the breakout game she was working for eluded her.
That began to change in the middle of March. Villasenor hit her first home run of the season on March 13 against Walker, then doubled against Sam Houston. Neither game seemed otherwise notable for the Tigers – it was a 9-4 loss at Walker and a 15-5 loss at Sam Houston, part of a 3-game losing streak for Hahnville.
But those games represented a huge turning point for the Tigers – Rylee Villasenor’s slump was over.
She drove in two runs in a 13-3 win over Oak Grove to snap the losing streak. Then she went 3-for-3 with a home run in a 19-2 victory over East St. John. She doubled, homered and drove in three runs in a 12-3 win over South Terrebonne. She hit a home run and four RBIs against Central Lafourche, then another home run against Berwick and another against Sterlington – all wins.
“You started seeing Rylee’s confidence come back,” Duplantis said.
Villasenor officially had her swagger back, and so did the Lady Tigers.
Hahnville went 7-7 through its first 14 games of the season. From the Oak Grove game onward, and with Villasenor on a tear in the middle of the Tigers’ order, HHS
went 17-5, including their five postseason victories.
And, of course, including the last of those victories – capped by Villasenor scoring the final, most critical run of the season.
“She had her ups and downs this year and she fought through them,” Duplantis said. “I was so happy for our team and for myself, but so very happy for her to have that moment.”
The Outstanding Player award was representative of just how much her determination to turn her season around paid off.
“I’m so proud (of the honor) and to be that player that I know I was when I arrived at Hahnville,” said Villasenor.
She said she has long drawn inspiration from her older brothers, who played football at Hahnville. She also gave a specific nod to her brother Cole, a talented rusher and pass receiver as a running back for the Tigers’ football team. His prep career ended prematurely due to a torn ACL suffered early in his senior season. When Villasenor was very young, she was determined to play football like her big brothers before giving softball a try and falling in love with the sport.
“My brother’s senior year, he tore his ACL and didn’t get to go where he wanted to go. And I honestly took that in and that’s part of my fire,” Villasenor said.
