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Riverbank Softball Player helps team take fifth
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Riverbank softball player Briana Machutta and the rest of her 14 and under Xplosion team won a fifth place in the recent 2004 NSA Youth Fastpitch Western World Series in the state of Washington.

The team qualifies for the Super Series in Illinois during the Labor Day weekend.

Competing against 33 teams at their age level in the July 19 to 23 event, the Xplosion team compiled a 5-3 record.

Machutta is the only girl on the team from Riverbank, and she plays shortstop. A softball player since age five, she has been with Xplosion for three years. She is a sophomore at Riverbank High School this school year, where she played for the junior varsity Bruins as a freshman.

Her teammates on Xplosion are Leslie Hains, Sarah Presley, Amanda Savage, Kayla Xavier and Nicole Beaty, all of Modesto; Kristen Ghimenti and Marinna Aguilar of Ceres, Heather Dady and Kara Ferguson of Turlock, and Ashley Garcia and Sierrah Garcia of Los Banos.

Hains plays centerfield; Presley, second base; Savage, first base; Xavier, catcher; and Beaty, pitcher. Ghimenti is also is a pitcher, and Aguilar, a third baseman. Dady plays first base and Ferguson is the catcher. Ashley Garcia plays in right field, and Sierrah Garcia is another pitcher.

Burt Xavier of Modesto is their coach.