Castillo leads Riverview past rival East Bay, 11-5

By Bob Bellone, Senior Staff Writer

RIVERVIEW – Shortstop Farah Castillo is back as Riverview team captain, and Thursday night he typically led the Sharks by example in an 11-5 victory against rival East Bay in a non-district game.
Castillo was solid on defense and stood out offensively, collecting three hits and driving in five runs. He capped a six-run second inning with a three-run double and delivered two more runners with another two-base hit in the fifth. He also reached on a single and a walk and scored twice.

Afterward, the senior wasn’t eager to elaborate on his individual contributions.

“I’m just glad we got the win,” Castillo said. “I don’t really care about my personal stats. I’m just glad to do something for the team.”

He went on to explain what that “something” was all about.

“We came in here trying to get revenge from last year,” he said, referring to a bitter 10-9 extra-inning loss at East Bay, where the host Indians rallied to overcome deficits with three runs each in the seventh and eighth innings. “We didn’t want it to happen again, especially on our home turf. … It left a bad taste in our mouths.”

Riverview (1-1) had only four other hits, all singles, but no shortage of base runners. Four batters were struck by pitches – Ronald Blake sustained a gash on a hit that cracked his helmet – and seven drew bases on balls. Dominic Terrell walked four times in as many plate appearances.

“One of the major points I was working on this offseason was getting better timing with higher-level pitching, working on my eye,” the junior catcher said. “I’m glad to see the results out here, being able to go out there and get in the pitcher’s head, having him work around me instead of me trying to get the fastball. It’s just good to see.”

East Bay (0-2) was led by sophomore Rory Beauford, who went 2-for-4 and drove in three runs.

Sharks starting pitcher Michael Gallagher earned the victory, allowing one run in four innings. Robert Hayes managed the only hit off the junior right-hander, who had four strikeouts and walked a pair. Hayes led off the third with a single for the Indians, advanced on two stolen bases and crossed on an infield groundout to the right side.

Interestingly, the teams met in a preseason tournament on the same field 10 days earlier, and Riverview rallied from a 6-0 deficit to salvage a tie. In Thursday’s rematch, East Bay trailed by the identical score and trimmed the margin to 6-4 with three more runs in the fifth.

Riverview coach Jason Smith breathed a sigh of relief when his team responded with five more of its own in the bottom half of the inning, having witnessed multiple late collapses last season.

“It was every game we were like scared to death that a team was going to come back on us and beat us,” Smith said, “so when that started tonight … my mind starts going, not again. I can’t do it. I’m too old. I can’t be dealing with these kinds of things all year long.”

Smith certainly can deal with his second-year captain. “He might be one of the best players I’ve ever coached,” he said of Castillo. “He is a relentlessly hard worker. If you open up those cages at any time, he’s here. He lives here.”

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Riverview 11, East Bay 5

We’ll have a full write-up from the Sharks-Indians game Friday afternoon.

EB 001|030|1 – |5|5|2
R   060|050|x – |11|6|1
W – Jacquez (1-0); L – Beams (0-1)
2B – Hayes, Roush, Bendever (EB); Castillo (R). Records – EB (0-2); R (1-1).

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