Players walk out on softball coach at Cathedral City

Tensions on the softball diamond at Cathedral City have been boiling between its players and head coach for two years.

On Thursday, the water finally boiled over.

Shortly before Thursday’s varsity softball game against Palm Desert, seven Cathedral City players walked out on the team, with the action directed at head coach Paula Riesenbeck, who is in her second season with the varsity team.

The athletes didn’t want to quit, but according to the seven girls who made the choice, it was a decision that had to be made. “I walked off the field because I felt like this was one of the last resorts I had to make a change for this program,” said junior outfielder Giselle Cancino.

The Lions softball program has been in discord between players and head coach since late last year when concerns of safety issues, as well as a lack of overall respect to players first surfaced.

Cathedral City High School and Palm Springs Unified School District found the complaint to be unwarranted in 2014, however issues still persisted between players and Riesenbeck.

Former assistant head coach Ruben Avila noticed the tension when he joined the team earlier this year. “I started helping here on January 26th. When I stepped onto that field, I stepped on that field, I came to a broken team.” Avila was an assistant till two weeks ago when an issue of not having his coaching certificate ended his involvement. He recently got certified, but is adamant he doesn’t want his job back.

Avila doesn’t think it’s fair to the players to have a coach that refuses to coach them. “I told her I don’t understand how a coach or why you would want to be here.” Avila added, “it’s like a math teacher not being able to teach the lesson, but getting on them because they did not pass the test.”

According to players, this isn’t the first run-in between players and Riesenbeck. Players said back in 2012 when Riesenbeck was a JV head coach she overworked one of her pitchers, playing her every single game until that pitcher quit.

Other safety concerns include a player getting her head slid into, while the coach didn’t immediately come to her aid and let her stay in the game despite the head injury. Another example is playing girls in positions they’re not comfortable playing. Junior Beverly Torres was told to play catcher despite having broken her ankles twice and letting Riesenbeck know she was not comfortable behind the plate.

Cathedral City athletics declined to comment, referring to a school district response stating that administrators urge parents and coaches to work together if there are any lingering concerns.

Parents have urged the athletic department to monitor the softball program, but all their pleas fell on deaf ears. Instead, the message had to be delivered by their kids. And if it comes with a stigma of being labeled a quitter, players say so be it.