County pummels City in All-Star softball
Tyler Takeda/The Madera Tribune
Madera County was well represented at the 40th annual City/County All-Star Softball Game at Washington Union on Wednesday. From left are Paige Chapman (Liberty), Erika Perez (Madera), Anna Garcia (Madera South), Liberty head coach Keith Davis, Alexis Galvan (Madera), Jolee Harvey (Chowchilla) and Lauren Chapman (Liberty). The County, led by Liberty and Chowchilla, defeated the City team, featuring Madera, 12-5.
EASTON — The County All-Stars banged out 20 hits and outplayed the City All-Stars in every category for a 12-5 romp at the 40th annual City/County All-Star Softball Game at Washington Union-Easton.
The County squad was helped by the Liberty trio of twins Paige and Lauren Chapman and head coach Keith Davis in Wednesday’s game. The Chapman twins combined for eight of the 12 runs by uitlizing the free-runner substitute rule. They stole three bases and had two hits.
Davis had a sore right arm after the game after waving around runners to score from the third base coaching box. He was on the field for the first seven City runs.
Madera’s Erika Perez went 1-for-2 with an RBI before exiting the game with an injury, which she hurt while playing the outfield for the first time in her high school career.
Perez was later the recipient of the game’s prestigious Jenny Eller Most Inspirational Player award.
Madera pitcher Alexis Galvan allowed the first three runs of the game, two were earned, in an inning-plus of pitching. She didn’t factor in the decision after allowing four hits with a strikeout.
Madera South’s Anna Garcia made some plays defensively at second base, but didn’t get an at-bat.
The County team opened the scoring in the top of the third inning. With one out, Paige Chapman forced a runner at second, but later stole second. She came in to score on a single by Nevaeh Reed (Coalinga) for the first run of the game.
Galvan allowed back-to-back doubles to open the top of the fourth inning. An error allowed pinch-runner Lauren Chapman to score the third run of the game. The City got out of the inning with a double play and a strikeout.
The City battled back to tie the score in the bottom of the fourth inning. Kaylee Grealey (Clovis North) led off with a single. Pinch-runner Brooke Brazill stole second and scored on Perez’s single to right.
Crysta Duenas (Clovis East) forced pinch runner Ashley Rocha (Clovis) at second, but stole second.
After a lineout, Maddy Henson (Clovis) drew a walk. Vanessa Robles (Clovis West) doubled home Duenas. After a walk by Brazill, Rocha singled to right to drive in pinch-runner Navay Gonzales (Roosevelt), but Madera South’s Garcia was thrown out at the plate trying to score pinch-running for Robles.
The County answered back with two runs on three hits in the top of the fifth with the Chapman twins accounting for both runs for a 5-3 lead.
Three more hits in the top of the sixth drove in two more runs with Paige Chapman scoring another run to extend the lead to 7-3.
The County put the game out of reach with five runs in the top of the seventh. Lauren Chapman scored two runs while Paige scored a run in the inning to extend the County lead to 12-3.
The City took advantage of a pair of County errors to score a pair of runs in the bottom of the ninth, but it wasn’t enough in a 12-5 loss.
