Ryan Stovall

LIVE OAK — A record-setting baseball player turned All-World softball player, Ryan Stovall has now powered his way into the Suwannee High School Hall of Fame.

Stovall was the third member of the SHS Hall’s 2020 induction class to be named Wednesday by the Hall of Fame committee. The class will be inducted during ceremonies Sept. 17-18.

A four-year starter at shortstop for coach Ronnie Gray’s Bulldogs, Stovall was a three-time All-State performer. He ranks second in school history in career home runs, RBIs and games played. As a junior in 2004, Stovall hit .390 with eight home runs.

After graduating from SHS in 2005, Stovall embarked on a record-setting collegiate career. As a senior at Thomas University in Thomasville, Georgia, Stovall set single-season school records for batting average (.487), home runs (20) and slugging percentage (1.032) and earned conference Player of the Year and NAIA All-American accolades.

Drafted by the Kansas City Royals, Stovall then played three years in the KC organization and was the Burlington (N.C.) Royals’ Player of the Year in 2010 and named to the Midwest League All-Star game in 2011. He reached Class AAA with the Reno Aces in the Arizona Diamondbacks’ organization in 2013.

Following his 2015 retirement from baseball, Stovall became a professional slow-pitch softball player and was named All-World in 2016, 2018 and 2019. Louisville Slugger introduced the Ryan Stovall Z1000 USSSA softball bat in 2018.