Blue beats Red in All-star softball game
Rivas selected Player of the game
With two medals around her neck, Monache High School’s Chloe Rivas once again reminded everyone why she is one of the top softball players in the Central Valley with another sharp pitching performance on the mound in the 2nd Annual Rural County All-star Game at Reedley College on Wednesday.
Rivas helped lead the Red team to a 5-2 win over the Blue team in the All-star game made up of players of different grade levels from the southern half of the Valley. Official stats were not available for the game, but Rivas pitched the first, second and final innings of the game. She closed the game with a onehit, three-strikeout inning and was awarded the Player of the Game medal.
“It feels good just knowing that all my extra work is finally paying off and I’m leaving to college soon,” Rivas said about winning Player of the Game. The Monache senior is bound for New Mexico State University in the fall where she’ll pitch for the NCAA Division I Aggies.
The Blue team was coached by Corcoran head coach Matthew Romero and also included Monache freshman Kailyn Castle and senior Jessenia Castillo, as well as Lindsay senior Danielle Jauregui. On the Red team coached by Golden West’s Rod Schonbachler were Porterville seniors Annisa Gomez and Molly Mulvaney, along with Strathmore senior Beatrice Mata. Each player was announced and awarded an All-star medal following the game.
All three Monache players got a hit in every at-bat. Castle went 3-for3, Rivas 2-for-2 and Castillo went 2-for-2 with a run scored in the third and a RBI in the fifth.
The Red team struck first with a two-out bases loaded, two-run Rbisingle to left field from Mulvaney in the top of the second inning but the Blue team got a run back the next inning to cut the lead to 2-1. In the third, a two-run RBI scored Castillo and extended the Blue team’s lead to 4-2 while Castillo’s RBI in the fifth brought in the final run of the game.
Like Rivas, Castillo is set to play at another NCAA D1 softball program — the University of Detroit Mercy.
The only local Red player to get a hit, Mulvaney also played third base where she assisted on a rundown and a successful pickoff at third.
“I felt very accomplished when I got to hit off a Chloe,” Mulvaney said about her performance. “That was actually pretty nice. And those two RBIS. The other pitcher, she gave me a low one and she was a really good pitcher too. There was none hit to me but I had faith in my
team and I knew they were going to make the plays.”
Mulvaney is headed to Cuesta College in San Luis Obispo next fall where she’ll work to obtain a degree in nursing while hopefully playing softball for the Cougars.
On the experience Mulvaney said, “I thought it was very exciting. It was great to see a whole bunch of other players from different teams. They all have something to bring to the table and we all just kind of connected through softball. It was great.”