Liberty-led City beats Madera-led County

Tyler Takeda/The Madera Tribune

The County All-Stars defeated the City All-Stars at the 44th annual City/County Softball All-Star game June 17 at Margie Wright Field at Fresno State. Liberty represented the County while Madera, Madera South and Matilda Torres played for City. From left are Malea Ricks (Madera), Carly Jimenez (Liberty), Xochil Miranda (Madera South), Destinee Avila (Madera), Ariana Garcia, (Torres) and Macie Webster (Liberty).

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FRESNO — Capitalizing on seven County errors, the City team pulled out a 15-14 victory in the highest scoring game in the 44 years of the City/County All-Star Softball game. 

The City team, led by Liberty Hawk standouts Carly Jimenez and Macie Webster did just enough to edge the County last Wednesday at Fresno State’s Margie Wright Diamond. The Madera duo of Malea Ricks and Destinee Avila, along with Madera South’s Xochil Miranda and Matilda Torres’ Ariana Garcia battled for the County. 

Webster, Ricks and Avila also had rare stints in left field. 

In the highest scoring game in history, the City used a seven-run fourth inning to jump out to the lead and did just enough to keep it. Chowchilla’s Heaven Moore was the winning pitcher and also earned the save. 

In the 18 combined half innings, the teams scored in 14 of them with multiple runs in seven half innings. 

Jimenez had five plate appearances with two hits. She hit a triple and a single with two RBIs, two runs scored and a stolen base. 

Ricks also had five at-bats, and had a pair of bunt hits. She stole a base and scored a run. 

The County got the scoring started in the top of the first inning off of Clovis North ace Jocelynn Gonzalez. 

Hanford West’s Karman Vasquez singled and pinch-runner Jamilah Taylor stole second and scored on a double by Immanuel’s Natalia Delgadillo.

The City responded in the bottom of the first. With one out, Zoey Thomas (Clovis North) drew a walk. Bullard’s Hannah Lakovich split the right-centerfield gap for a triple to drive in Thomas to tie the game at one. 

The County added a run with a two-out, nobody on rally in the second. Sarah Urbieta (Kingsburg) reached on an infield single. Taylor reached on an infield single while Urbieta scored on a throwing error for a 2-1 lead. 

The City came back off of Webster, scoring three runs on four hits. Ricks was the third in four straight singles allowed by Webster. Miranda got the rally started with a single to right. Her pinch-runner came in to score on a double by Kyla Lujan (Bullard). Ricks reached on a bunt single and Lujan scored on the throw to try to get Ricks, and Ricks took second. 

Thomas followed with a single up the middle to drive in Ricks for a 4-2 lead. Webster got out of the inning with a double play. 

The County scored two runs in the top of the third. Ava Ingram (Hanford) led off with a double over Ricks’ head in left field. Jimenez split the right-centerfield gap for a triple to drive in Ingram. Jimenez came in to score on a single by Delgadillo to tie the score at four. 

The City put four runs on the board in the bottom of the third. The inning started with three straight hits, starting with a single off the centerfield fence by Alexys Busch (Clovis West). Peyton Pasma (Bullard) tripled to right field to score pinch-runner Reagan Chavez (Sanger West). Pasma scored on a misplayed pop up behind first base off the bat of Mia Cordero (Edison). Cordero ended up with a double. 

After a pair of strikeouts, Gonzalez doubled to right to score Cordero. Lujan singled to left to drive in Gonzalez for an 8-4 lead. 

The County sent 12 batters to the plate in the top of the fourth inning. They banged out seven hits, but were also helped by four City errors. Two singles opened the inning, and an error drove in a run. A single and another error allowed another run to score. 

Another single and error allowed a fifth run to score. After a pop out, Three singles and two errors scored two more runs for an 11-8 lead. 

The County fought back in the bottom of the fourth. Ricks led off with a bunt single, but she was thrown out at second. Thomas drew a one-out walk. Garcia came in to pinch-run and tried to steal second. The ball went into centerfield, and Garcia scampered to third. 

Lakovich drew a walk. On a pitch to Busch, the County threw wild. Garcia beat the tag at the plate to score a run. A sacrifice fly scored another run to cut the County lead to one. 

Aliya Swillis (Clovis West) tossed the game’s first scoreless inning in the top of the fifth. 

The City took the lead in the bottom of the inning. Two singles and two County errors allowed two runs to score for a 12-11 lead. 

The County pushed over a run in the top of the sixth with a throwing error and a single to tie the score. 

Webster took the circle in the sixth, and got a ground out and a fly out to open the inning. She allowed a two-out single and a walk before getting a fly ball to left to end the inning without allowing a run. 

The County took the lead in the top of the seventh with two runs. A single and a walk opened the inning. 

Jimenez singled up the middle to drive in the game’s go-ahead run. Delgadillo drove in the second run on a ground out, and the County led 14-12.

After a scoreless bottom of the seventh for the City, Gonzalez pitched the only 1-2-3 inning of the game in the top of the eighth.

The City cut the lead to one in the bottom of the eighth after a walk, single and throwing error. The inning ended on a sinking liner to left. Webster, who was playing left field for the first time since she can remember, raced in for a sno-cone catch for the out. 

The County added a run in the top of the ninth after a lead-off double by Urbieta. A pair of passed balls allowed Urbieta to score. Jimenez drew a two-out walk, and stole second, but a ground out ended the inning with a 15-13 lead. 

Ricks led off the bottom of the ninth with a bouncer to second. She appeared to have beat the throw, but the call was out for the first out of the inning. After a strikeout, Busch gave County some life with a line drive home run over the centerfield fence. 

However, Moore struck out the next batter to end the game with a 15-14 victory.