Rivas dominates in Marauders’ shutout
Monache blanks Porterville 16-0 behind Rivas’ 15 strikeouts
Of the 20 batters Monache High School’s Chloe Rivas faced in the Marauders’ 16-0 shutout of Porterville at home 15 were struckout.
Of the 20 batters Monache High School’s Chloe Rivas faced in the Marauders’ 16-0 shutout of Porterville at home — 15 were struckout.
And of the other five — three reached on hits while two were dealt walks in the second and fifth inning.
The Marauders (20-3, 4-0 EYL) only needed five innings to defeat the crosstown rival Panthers (11-9, 1-4 EYL) in Wednesday’s East Yosemite League game after taking a large 12-0 lead in the bottom of the first half.
Retiring batters in the double digits is nothing new for Rivas (2.05 ERA), who was ranked third in the CIF Central Section with 166 strikeouts and entered the game with eight double-digit strikeout games under her belt. But the scary, and also impressive, thing about Rivas’ performance so far this season is that MHS head coach Dave Koontz said she’s only just now getting into playoff form.
“She has to get into playoff form,” Koontz said. “She’s fresh, we haven’t over thrown her. She has her speed, which is always my desire at the end of the year - I want to her to have her arm strength at the end of the year. We don’t overthrow her. And it’s kind of the way I set up the schedule. I don’t intend to over throw her, I don’t intend to wear her down like some pitchers. She should be fresh as a daisy for the playoffs, which is what we want.”
And when the versatile Rivas wasn’t shutting down batters on the mound, she was at the plate raking. The senior went 4-for-4 with five RBIS, two triples, a double and three runs scored to lead the Marauders. The clean-up batter for the Marauders’ terrifyingly talented “Murderer’s Row” — a nickname given to the New York Yankee’s first six batters circa the 1920’s Babe Ruth era — is also ranked seventh in the Valley with a slugging percentage of 1.046.
Making up the Monache’s first six batters, in order, were: freshman Kaylin Castle, junior Evette Mendoza, senior Jessenia Castillo, Rivas, senior Taliann Hunter and senior Jasmin Castillo. The six totaled 11 RBIS with Jessenia Castillo going 2-for-3 with three RBIS, a double and a triple while Hunter went 2-for-3 with three RBIS and a run scored. Batting in the ninth spot, sophomore Kiyah Ramirez went 2-for-2 with two runs scored,an RBI and a double.
“That one through six, I just think that’s like a Murderer’s Row,” Koontz said. “It’s the best hitting lineup I’ve ever had. And I think it’s one or two, three best in the Valley. I don’t care who it is — Clovis schools included — that lineup is devastating. Those first six batters are just — I wouldn’t want to face them.”
Freshman Uniese Carrillo got the start on the mound for the Panthers but was pulled early after going through all nine Monache batters and giving up seven runs without an out. Carrillo was relieved by senior Josie Rios who allowed five more runs in the bottom of the first and four more in the second.
“We play Mission Oak tomorrow, we don’t have a day off,” PHS head coach Jennifer Schoonover said about starting Carrillo. “Josie is our No. 1 pitcher...i figured if I could save her as much as possible it would help benefit us tomorrow against Mission Oak, we’re on the road. My approach in this game was to start Uniese, see if she could give us at least two, three innings. We couldn’t make that happen so I ended up bringing in Josie.”
The only players to get hits off Rivas were senior Annisa Gomez who went 2-for-2 and sophomotr Cloey Loflin who went 1-for-3.
The Panthers 9-8 walkoff win over the Hawks (7-11, 1-3 EYL) was their lone EYL win in the first round of league. Under first-year head coach Schoonover, the team is still making adjustments but are going into the second round more prepared.
“For me it was learning each team — it’s my first year coaching so I got to see each team’s strength and where they probably need some work, so second round of league obviously I’m going to take different approaches against each team, each batter,” Schoonover said. “Defensively we’re still working on some positions too, so we don’t have a straight nine that we’re starting every game so we’re still moving around players, trying to figure out where the best nine would fit.”
The reigning Division II Valley Champion Marauders are ranked seventh in the Valley and preparing for another trip to the Valley finals, this time as a Div. I team. But before they get there, Koontz said the team needs to get through the rest of their schedule where they can’t overlook any team. Up next, first-place Monache host the EYL’S third-best team Tulare Union (12-6-1, 2-2 EYL) who the Marauders beat 9-0 in their first meeting.
“We’re not going to take them for granted,” Koontz said. “We’re going to hit them hard, we’re going to play them tight. That’s what we have to do to get ready for the playoffs. And we gotta start turning up the notch.”