After stellar career at Vintage filled with accolades, Rubalcava to continue playing softball at Eastern New Mexico University

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By Kyle Foster

kfost91197@gmail.com

Twitter/X: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews

Sometimes, being a leader goes beyond stats. While stats are a great guide, the eye test can show so much more. 

No matter how you slice it, Angie Rubalcava certainly knew what to do when she was on a softball field at Vintage in her four years. This is why she is headed to Eastern New Mexico University after a signing ceremony on May 28th.  

“It feels good,” Rubalcava said after signing her NLI back on May 28th. “I’ve been honestly waiting for this day to come, and it’s finally come. So it’s exciting, and I was just happy that I got to spend it with the people that I love, and I know that they supported me since the beginning.” 

In her freshman year, she had the chance to learn from some of the top pitching talent in the league. This only propelled her to more success in the three years after. 

“I loved Raimy and Shelby,” Rubalcava said. “They taught me a lot leadership-wise. And in all honesty, I knew that obviously we weren’t gonna have the next year, so I had to step it up.”

After all, it’s a pretty rare situation where a player with the ability to be an ace has to take on a bit of a lesser role. But in this instance, it was a blessing to get eased into games at the varsity level while also being afforded the unique opportunity to develop talent while winning at the same time. It was one of the reasons Rubalcava was able to be so dominant in the circle because she had the luxury of learning from and watching the duo of Shelby Morse and Raimy Gambsby work each game. This limited her to only a few innings of work that season while also allowing her time to develop her pitching more. 

“What a great opportunity to be able to learn from two senior pitchers that were established in their own careers, headed to college,” Vintage head coach Megan Lopez recalled. “I think she was able to soak in the opportunity to learn from them. I think Shelby especially had that competitor in her; also batted three or four for us that year. So Angie, filling into that role was huge for this program.” 

The first thing that immediately stands out about Rubalcava’s game is her pitching. But most of the incredible numbers she put up in the circle came in her final three years when she was the staff’s ace. In her four years, she accumulated an astounding 2.30 ERA while striking out 348 and allowing just 100 walks in 301 ⅓ innings of work. During that span, she also had a 24-12 record. 

But her most productive seasons came in her last two seasons, when she was first team All-Vine Valley Athletic League. This included being the league’s Most Valuable Player as a senior.  

Yet, when she was in the circle, she was always battling to get her team the win in every game. She was able to do this thanks to her riseball, which was her primary pitch to keep batters guessing. 

“I think my rise ball has always been my go-to pitch,” Rubalcava said. “For my size, I always have to be better, so I know that I have to keep pushing.” 

One of the byproducts of her not pitching is the fact that she was the fire starter for the offense as the team’s leadoff hitter. As a freshman, she hit .380 with 5 home runs and 16 RBIs to go along with 6 doubles, a triple, and 6 stolen bases. 

“I think versatility is a really good word for her,” Lopez explained of the versatility Rubalcava gave her when making the lineup each game. “She is the triple threat. She can play defense. She’ll drive off the mound for a bunch in the air. She’ll chase the ball down in center field. She’ll hit the ball over the fence.”  

As her career progressed, it became clearer that she would have to move down in the lineup and be more of an RBI producer. Her numbers didn’t change, which makes her capable of hitting nearly anywhere in the batting order. 

From her sophomore to senior season, she was more of a middle-of-the-lineup presence. This meant a mentality shift from getting on to driving in runs. Her number got even better. She excelled at the plate as a junior when she had a whopping .394 average to go along with 26 hits and 22 RBIs and a nice .968 OPS. 

Not to be overlooked was the solid defense she played in the outfield. She played this when she didn’t pitch and had a career .950 fielding percentage over her four years. More importantly, she only made a total of 7 errors in her 4 seasons at Vintage, which shows the top-notch glove she has. 

However, this unique skill set comes from being a multisport athlete in her time as a Crusher. While softball was always the focus, she also played volleyball and soccer. This allowed her to become a more well-rounded athlete. 

It also led to her being named the 2024-25 Vintage High School female athlete of the year, which is a high honor to get. Rubalcava accomplished all this by being a great student in her four years. 

It’s also a full-circle moment for everyone involved as Lopez has coached Rubalcava since she was young. 

“They didn’t just teach me about softball and my skills, they also just made me stronger, mentally, and they always taught me from the past four years to just always have that grind mindset and to just do it for the person next to you and just leave it all out there,” Rubalcava said as to how important her four years playing under Lopez and assistant coach Michelle Hobbs were.

On top of that, her battery mate for all those years, Audrey Manley, will be playing at Stanislaus State for the next four years. It’s a moment both were happy to celebrate. 

“It’s really exciting for both of us,” Rubalcava added. “I’m very proud of her and to see her go on and do what we all knew she could do. It’s bittersweet, but I won’t probably see her that much anymore.  But I’m proud of her, and I think just having her as my catcher in high school was a great experience.” 

When she gets to Eastern New Mexico University, she plans to major in business. It’s something that has a lot of different ways you can go. 

“I think the main thing why I chose it was because it gives me a wide area where I could go, and it doesn’t just like pinpoint me to one thing, I could easily make it my own thing,” Rubalcava pointed out.

Eastern New Mexico is an NCAA Division 2 school that plays in the Lone Star Conference. The Greyhounds are coming off a 30-25 season where they were 23-21 in conference play. They lost in the first round of the conference tournament in 2025. But this program is also on a steady trajectory upward, as they have steadily improved over the last few seasons. 

In Lone Star Conference play, there will be a bunch of games in Texas. This is something she’s looking forward to because the competition will be tough. 

“That’s another thing I was really excited about the school is that it’s right on the border of next to Texas, which is something I’m looking forward to doing because I’ve always wanted to go to Texas, and I’m going to be in Texas a lot,” Rubalcava said of heading to texas for lots of road conference tilts. “So I’m excited for that, and I’m going to be traveling a lot in Texas, and I’ll be playing good competition, which is good and just makes me better as a player.”

Rubalcava has also played for Napa Junior Girls Softball, Napa Express, Lady Magic, and Sorcerer in her time playing travel ball.