Randi Pauly

Randi Pauly – Lindenhurst, IL

Randi Pauly grew up in Deerfield, Illinois, with parents Marc and Babs and older siblings Amy and Paul. Growing up Randi was a baseball player — she played with the boys and kept up with the boys. In high school she was a three-sport athlete, playing volleyball, basketball, and softball. Recruited to play at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, she transferred after a quick semester to NIU, where she continued playing softball.

After years of softball throughout her youth, high school, and college, Pauly stumbled into a women's slow pitch league in Elgin and a slo-pitch coed league in Schaumburg. A teammate, Tracy Timberlake, convinced her to try out for a USSSA tournament team — now Hall of Honor team — Made to Order (MTO), led by Hugo Donado, Steve Gill, and Daryl Bones. She made the team, and the tryout truly changed the trajectory of her life.

For nearly a decade, Pauly spent almost every weekend with MTO traveling around the country to play. A lefty catcher growing up, the MTO coaches put her at shortstop, where she landed for many years before moving to the outfield and filling in as a pitcher. As a player on MTO, Pauly received many accolades including state and national awards. MTO finished 3rd at the B Worlds in 2018 — where she earned an All-Tournament award — and finished 5th at the A Worlds in 2019 and 2020. A core group of players and coaches carried the team from C level to an A-level team playing in the USSSA Women's Conference.

Within that decade, Pauly was playing four days a week and on weekends. While playing with one of her coed teams, Hangrite, she was introduced to her now husband, Michael Pauly — himself a player on successful USSSA Hall of Fame teams including Joe Blacks and Precision.

Pauly later made the difficult decision to leave MTO and join the long-standing Conference Major team Low Bob's out of Kentucky, then landed spots on Team 24 out of Florida and Classic Glass out of Washington, both Major teams in the Conference. She earned several All-Tournament awards and All-Conference honors three out of four years. When Classic Glass folded after the 2023 season, Pauly landed on the prestigious Derby Girls out of Washington for 2024 and converted to a full-time pitcher for 2025. The 2024 season saw her garner over ten All-Tournament awards and 2nd team All-Conference honors — and the Derby Girls won the Major World Series in Florida, where she earned Defensive MVP honors.

Having been on the USA slow pitch Futures Team from 2022-2024, Pauly was chosen as a member of the USA slo-pitch National Team for 2025, where the team won the border battle against Canada in Oklahoma City.

Throughout 16 years of USSSA slowpitch softball, Pauly is forever grateful to Made to Order for the opportunity to continue to play competitively as an adult — it introduced her to lifelong friends and paved the way for her to play at the Major level at the age of 38. She resides in Lindenhurst with husband Mike, bonus daughter Bree, and dog Ozzy, and is honored to join the ranks of this talented group of players, coaches, sponsors, and umpires in the Illinois USSSA Hall of Fame.