GALT, CA (MPG) - When the CIF all-league softball rosters were released following the conclusion of the 2025-26 spring campaign, the small Sacramento Valley community of Galt could point to its two high schools with considerable pride. Liberty Ranch High School placed three players on the all-league team – catcher Bella Granata, pitcher Laura Quinn and infielder Shelby Duarte – while crosstown Galt High School earned two selections of its own in junior Rianna Mayer and sophomore Zoe Sanchez. Between them, the five honorees represent the depth of talent that has made Galt a quietly formidable softball town, and their numbers tell a story of power, precision and promise that extends well beyond the local diamonds.

Of the five all-league selections, none carries a more complete résumé than Bella Granata, the Liberty Ranch senior backstop who signed a National Letter of Intent with San Diego State University on Nov. 12, 2025, joining Head Coach Stacey Nuveman Deniz’s freshman class of 2027.

Granata will trade the Hawks’ scarlet and gold for the scarlet and black of the Aztecs, who are preparing for their inaugural Pac-12 conference season, and she arrives in San Diego with a prep career that reads like a recruiting profile come to life.

Granata played varsity softball for all four years at Liberty Ranch, though her posted statistics cover her junior and senior seasons: a body of work spanning 45 games that is nonetheless staggering in its scope. She compiled a career varsity batting average of .497, reaching base at a .597 clip while slugging an eye-popping 1.048 and posting an OPS of 1.645. Across those 45 contests she amassed 72 hits, drove in 70 runs and crossed the plate 57 times, collecting 24 doubles, seven triples and 14 home runs along the way. Perhaps most striking for a power hitter of her caliber, she drew 31 walks against just nine strikeouts in 145 at-bats, an extraordinary ratio of discipline to production that speaks to a hitter who was feared and respected in equal measure by opposing pitching staffs.

Her senior season was the capstone. Over 22 games in 2025-26, Granata hit .533 with a .607 on-base percentage, a 1.053 slugging mark and a 1.660 OPS, delivering 40 hits, 34 RBIs and 27 runs scored while hammering seven home runs and legging out 12 doubles and three triples. Behind the plate she was flawless, recording a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage on 80 total chances with 79 putouts and one assist and not a single error. Her junior campaign had been nearly as dominant, with a .457 average, 32 hits, 36 RBIs, and 30 runs, paired with a .947 fielding mark. Granata’s career varsity fielding percentage of .978 – 132 putouts, two assists and only three errors across 137 total chances – rounds out the profile of a two-way catcher whose glovework matches her thunder at the plate.

The San Diego State coaching staff cited Granata’s leadership in its signing announcement, noting her role as a two-year captain who helped Liberty Ranch to a pair of league championships and a second-place finish, as well as her selection to the MaxPreps All-Sac-Joaquin Section Team during her junior season. The honor roll regular and multi-sport club veteran – she has competed for Universal Fastpitch, the Sorcerers, Lady Magic and NorCal Rising – will join a program that posted a 38-19 record last year and won the Mountain West Tournament, and she steps onto a national stage with the credentials to compete for immediate playing time.

If Granata was the thunder in Liberty Ranch’s lineup, Laura Quinn was the steady hand that navigated the Hawks through the season from the circle. The senior right-hander served as Liberty’s primary pitcher across the 2025-26 campaign, and while her batting contributions were modest – a .182 career average with four hits, one RBI and four runs scored over 43 games – her value to the program was measured in innings, outs and the trust she earned from her coaching staff to take the ball game after game.

Quinn threw 188 career innings across 38 appearances, compiling a 13-4 record with a .765 winning percentage and a 3.54 earned-run average. She surrendered 215 hits and 95 earned runs while striking out 171 batters against 50 walks, facing 839 hitters in total. Opponents managed a .276 batting average and a .327 on-base percentage against her, and she limited the damage to just six home runs over her two posted seasons. Her workload was substantial – she threw 2,811 pitches across her varsity tenure – and her durability was a defining feature of the Hawks’ competitive identity.

Her senior season was the heavier of the two in terms of volume. Quinn logged 102.2 innings in 19 appearances in 2025-26, posting an 11-4 record with a .733 winning percentage and a 4.30 ERA, striking out 87 while walking 32 over 482 batters faced. She surrendered 126 hits and 63 earned runs in that span, and her 1,636 pitches thrown reflect the central role she played down the stretch. The previous spring, as a junior, she had been even more efficient, posting a 2.63 ERA with a 2-0 record across 85.1 innings, fanning 84 against just 18 walks and yielding 89 hits and 32 earned runs over 357 batters faced. The contrast between the two seasons – a near-unhittable junior year followed by a high-volume senior campaign in which she shouldered the bulk of the pitching load – paints the picture of a competitor who answered every call her team made.

Shelby Duarte: A Three-Year Climber in the Hawks’ Infield

The third Liberty Ranch selection, Shelby Duarte, authored one of the more quietly impressive developmental arcs of the group. A junior in 2025-26, Duarte has played varsity softball for three consecutive seasons, and her year-over-year improvement traces a steady upward line from a promising freshman to a polished junior who now anchors the Hawks’ infield.

Duarte’s career varsity totals across 63 games include a .374 batting average, a .450 on-base percentage, a .443 slugging mark and an .893 OPS, built on 65 hits, 45 RBIs and 44 runs scored, with eight doubles and two triples. Her progression is the defining feature of her profile: As a freshman she hit .293 with a .373 on-base percentage and a .735 OPS; as a sophomore she elevated to .380 with a .456 OBP and a .916 OPS; and as a junior she broke through to a .439 average, a .513 on-base percentage and a 1.013 OPS, delivering 29 hits, 18 RBIs and 15 runs scored over 21 games. Her senior year now looms as an opportunity to cement her status as one of the section’s premier infield bats, and her all-league recognition this spring suggests that trajectory is well underway.

In the field, Duarte has grown into reliability as well. Her career fielding percentage sits at .834 across 145 total chances, with 104 putouts and 17 assists, but her junior season saw her raise that mark to .904 on 52 chances with just three errors: a meaningful jump from her freshman campaign’s .782. As she enters her final prep season, the consistency she has built at the plate and in the field positions her as a cornerstone of whatever Liberty Ranch fields next spring.

Rianna Mayer: Galt’s Steadiest Bat Across Three Seasons

Across town at Galt High School, Rianna Mayer earned all-league honors on the strength of a three-year varsity career defined by remarkable consistency and dependable defense. The junior has been a fixture in the Warriors’ lineup since her freshman season, and her career numbers reflect a player who has produced at a high level in every campaign without the dramatic peaks and valleys that often define prep careers.

Mayer’s varsity totals across 66 games include a .362 batting average and a .434 on-base percentage, with 68 hits, 33 RBIs and 45 runs scored. She has contributed six doubles, eight triples and two home runs, and her defensive work has been exemplary: a .955 career fielding percentage built on 267 total chances, 237 putouts, 18 assists and just 12 errors. That defensive reliability, particularly her sophomore and junior seasons in which she posted fielding marks of .936 and .971, respectively, has made her a stabilizing presence for Galt on the left side of the infield.

Her offensive track record is notable for its evenness. As a freshman she hit .403 with 25 hits and nine RBIs; as a sophomore she posted a .328 average with 22 hits and 16 RBIs, adding two home runs; and as a junior she hit .356 with 21 hits, eight RBIs and 18 runs scored. The slight dip in counting statistics this past season reflects a lineup role in which she frequently set the table rather than cleared it, as her 18 runs scored were a career high and her on-base skills continued to fuel the offense ahead of her. With one more season ahead of her, Mayer stands as Galt’s most established and trusted position player, and her all-league nod confirms what three years of steady production have already demonstrated.

The youngest of the five honorees, Galt’s Zoe Sanchez, may also carry the highest ceiling. A sophomore in 2025-26, Sanchez has already logged two varsity seasons and has distinguished herself as a genuine two-way threat: a power bat in the lineup and a strikeout arm in the circle, both of which she has only begun to fully harness.

At the plate, Sanchez owns a career .322 average with a .406 on-base percentage, a .517 slugging mark and a .923 OPS across 33 games, with 28 hits, 14 RBIs and 22 runs scored. She has collected two doubles, three triples and three home runs, and her sophomore season represented a significant leap forward: After hitting .255 with a .655 OPS as a freshman, she exploded to a .400 average, a .467 on-base percentage, a .775 slugging mark and a 1.242 OPS as a sophomore, belting three home runs and three triples in just 15 games while scoring 15 runs. The power surge, combined with a sharply reduced strikeout rate, marked her as one of the section’s most improved hitters and a name to watch over her final two prep seasons.

In the circle, Sanchez’s development has been more uneven but no less intriguing. She has thrown 65.1 career innings across 19 appearances with three starts, compiling a 4-10 record and a 6.11 ERA while striking out 85 batters against 53 walks and surrendering 84 hits. Her strikeout stuff is undeniable – she fanned 63 in 39.2 innings as a sophomore, a rate of better than 1.5 strikeouts per frame – and the challenge ahead lies in refining her command, as her walk totals have run high in both seasons. If she can pair her swing-and-miss repertoire with improved control, she has the tools to develop into one of the more formidable two-way players in the region. For now, her all-league selection stands as recognition of a sophomore who has already made her presence felt on both sides of the ball and whose trajectory points sharply upward.

Taken together, the five selections from Liberty Ranch and Galt High paint a portrait of a softball community punching comfortably above its weight. Granata’s leap to the Division I ranks at San Diego State anchors the group and provides a flagship story for the town, while Quinn’s innings-eating senior campaign and Duarte’s three-year ascent round out a Liberty Ranch roster that has become a perennial league contender. 

Across town, Mayer’s three-year consistency and Sanchez’s precocious two-way talent give Galt High a foundation that suggests the Warriors’ best days may still lie ahead. 

For a community that fields two high schools within a few miles of one another, the sight of five local names on a CIF all-league roster is a reminder that small-town softball in the Sacramento Valley is alive, thriving and producing talent worthy of national attention.