Madison De Graaf was in mid-season form to start the 2020 campaign — the final act of her sparkling four-year career with Ripon Christian's championship softball team.

The Knights were able to get three games in before the Coronavirus pandemic halted and ultimately canceled spring sports, winning two while taking a 1-0 loss to Sac-Joaquin Section Division VII titlist Stone Ridge Christian. 

De Graaf and the Knights were on a mission to capture a second straight Southern Athletic League crown and third SJS banner in four years. She was batting .750 (9 for 12, two doubles, triple, homer, four RBIs), and the southpaw hurler held a 1.50 earned run average.

“It was my senior season and I had been looking forward to it,” De Graaf said. “It was going to be one of the highlights of my high school career, so when my coach told me (the season) is over I just broke down. I know God has a plan for it all, but it was tough to hear.”

De Graaf goes out as the most accomplished two-way player to come out of Ripon Christian, compiling a .458 career batting average with five homers and 89 RBIs along with a 56-12 pitching record, 2.10 ERA and 457 strikeouts in 453 innings. 

She helped lead the Knights to their first SJS titles in 2017 and 2018, and in 2019 they topped the Southern League for the second league crown (1993) in program history. Winning an outright SAL championship forced them to play in up in competition for the postseason after winning their section titles in Division VII. Ripon Christian proved itself in reaching the Division VI final, where it fell to Woodland Christian.

“I feel like we could have had accomplished a lot this season,” De Graaf said. “We had more potential to grow, especially with the younger girls we had coming into the team. With their raw potential and the experienced players we had to help guide them, that may have allowed us to achieve more than we have in the past.

“It was super awesome to be part of that (historic run) and to grow together with my team as individuals,” she added. “It's been a wonderful experience to enjoy softball and excel at it with everyone around me.”

While denied another chance at achieving personal and team glory, De Graaf is mostly saddened that her time with friends and teammates had been limited. She's part of a senior class the drove the drastic turnaround for a program that had  little success in its history. Also among the six four-year seniors is Elizabeth Thomas, De Graaf's catcher and one of her closest friends.

“I almost consider her my second sister,” De Graaf said of Thomas, the state's leading RBI producer in 2019 and reigning All-

SAL MVP. “She keeps me in check and calls me out on my stuff but also encourages me and allows me to be who I am without judging. 

“We enjoy our time together, and to be able to share the sport we both love has been 10 times more than I expected. We've known each other since middle school we got to be a lot closer over the last four years. It has been a blessing to have her in my life.”

Ripon Christian's groundbreaking battery will soon be separated — Thomas is taking her talents to Cottey College in Missouri, while De Graaf will play for Trinity Christian College in Illinois. Both schools are affiliated with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics.

De Graaf is studying to become a nurse.

“I grew up loving the sport and I want to keep doing it as long as I possibly can,” she said. “It's a great school and I know I'll get a good education. On my visit I met the softball coach (Amanda Fazzari) and she's a sweetheart — she really cares about the game and each individual on the team.”