Ripon’s two seniors on the softball team were among the best of the Trans-Valley League and appropriately rewarded for their productive final season.
Shortstop Rylee Magazinovic was voted MVP, and versatile infielder Caitlyn Campbell is Offensive Player of the Year. Along with outgoing coach Robert Vernon, they’re the lone holdovers from the 2019 Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV championship team. Sophomore Mims Caratachea is Co-Pitcher of the Year.
The Indians (11-1 TVL., 19-5 overall) garnered the outright league championship but were unable to defend that SJS title the past two years because of the coronavirus pandemic. They were eliminated in the semifinal round of the SJS Division IV playoffs last month by top-seeded and eventual champion Dixon.
Vernon, the 2019 Cal-Hi Sports Small Schools Coach of the Year, has stepped down after 16 years. He was named Coach of the Year with assistant Tanner Jordan. Vernon goes out as the school’s most successful softball coach, leading the program to two SJS titles.
Magazinovic was the table setter for Ripon’s explosive offense and a defensive anchor in the middle of the infield. She was an on-base machine in league play, hitting for a .647 batting average with a .692 on-base percentage. Her 22 hits, 24 runs and 27 steals over 11 TVL games were also team-highs.
Campbell was often the one batting Magazinovic in. She was among the top power hitters in the state, finishing tied for the overall season lead in the SJS with 14 home runs, according to stats submitted to MaxPreps.
Eight of those jacks came in TVL games. Campbell hit .500, four doubles and a triple, plated 20 runs and drove in 20 more in 11 league contests.
Caratachea made 10 league appearances and started seven of those games, finishing with a 10-0 record, 2.07 ERA and 91 strikeouts in 54 innings. She was also one of Ripon’s most productive hitters with a .531 average, six doubles and two homers.
Also making the All-TVL team were Ripon junior outfielder Peyton Naranjo and freshman catcher Alana Hernandez. Naranjo held the team’s second best batting average in league with a .576. She drove in 15 runs and had eight steals. Hernandez hit .400 with three doubles, four triples and two homers.
Jenna Gomez of runner-up Hilmar (10-2, 18-9) shares Pitcher of the Year honors with Caratachea. Escalon first baseman Emily Vickers in Defensive Player of the Year. The Cougars (8-4, 17-11) placed third in league.
Baseball
Ripon (8-4, 16-12) totaled five all-league selections, two of whom were among the major award winners.
Sophomore Dawson Downs garnered Outstanding Offensive Player, while senior Chase Stephenson splits Outstanding Defensive Player with Hughson’s Paul Wagner.
Dawson paced Ripon with a .477 league average, 21 hits, 19 RBIs and eight doubles. Stephenson was also productive at the plate (.484, 10 RBIs) but had a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage in league. He led the Indians with 63 putouts.
Senior shortstop Korbin Hodgson (.325, 16 runs, 13 RBIs, eight steals), senior third baseman Damien Sandoval (.452, 10 RBIs; 3-3, 2.00 ERA) and sophomore Isaac Sandoval (.448, 15 runs) made all-league, as well.
Earning honorable mention were senior pitcher/outfielder Branden Molthen, sophomore second baseman Nate Dorn and sophomore corner infielder Owen Wilbur.
Other major award winners: Jeff Brown (Coach of the Year), John King King (MVP) and Jason Pimentel (Co-Outstanding Defensive Players) all of Hilmar; and Escalon’s Jason Pimentel (Most Outstanding Pitcher).
Boys volleyball
Spearheading the charge was senior setter Garrett Blight, the TVL’s Most Outstanding Player. Earning MVP was senior setter Dhillon Sartaj of league champion Livingston,
Jayson Ponce, Ripon’s other senior and also a setter, and made all-league. Junior middle Jalen Wilson received honorable mention.
