KELSEYVILLE >> Two sports, two North Central League I championships and two most valuable player awards for Riley Goff, who didn’t even play the third sport she starred in for three seasons at Kelseyville High School, scoring more than 1,000 points.
Hey, when you’re good, you’re good.
Now headed to Sonoma State University in Rohnert Park where she’ll continue her illustrious volleyball career with the Seawolves, Goff is the Lake County Record-Bee girls Athlete of the Year for the 2016-17 sports season.
Though she didn’t play basketball her senior season while recovering from a serious ankle injury that also kept her out of softball during her junior year, Goff put in plenty of hard work during the fall and spring sports seasons at Kelseyville. She was the star setter, which is the equivalent of quarterback in football, for the Knights during a 25-7 volleyball campaign that produced a second straight undefeated league title.
“What else could you ask from her?” Kelseyville volleyball coach Donelle McCallister said. “She was dedicated, committed, provided leadership and experience and had heart. She always wanted more, wasn’t willing to settle for less.”
Said McCallister of Goff’s legacy, “It’s not enough to be a good player, you have to be a good student and a good person, respectful of others. That’s what is expected of you. Our younger girls know that. Those are the expectations now. They’ve learned from her.”
In softball, a sport Goff couldn’t play in 2016 because of the same injury that sidelined her in basketball this past season, Goff was the lynchpin of Kelseyville’s infield defense from her shortstop position. She also was all-world at the plate for the Knights, who won their first league championship since 1998 (when their mascot was the Indians) with a 13-1 record.
“Having her on the team this year, it was like night and day from last year when she couldn’t play,” Kelseyville coach Jeff Bour said. “What she did day in and day out, not only in games but also in practices, was one of the big things for this team. She set the tone. All in all a great kid and a joy to coach.”
Goff, 18, suffered a serious setback near the end of her junior basketball season when she landed on the foot of a teammate during a league game against Middletown, tearing ligaments in her right ankle. She missed the remainder of the Knights’ championship season and had to sit out her junior softball season as well. She returned to play volleyball as her senior year got underway but made the decision – nearly as painful as her ankle injury – to pass on basketball, a sport she had scored 1,021 points in since starting for the varsity as a freshman.
“My (college) volleyball coach said it was up to me if I wanted to play,” said Goff, who ultimately decided it wasn’t worth the risk.
Kelseyville enjoyed a remarkable basketball campaign even without Goff on the floor, something that eased her difficult decision not to play. She said she was happy to see her teammates do so well, but it was still hard for her to watch games in person.
“I’m not used to watching other people play,” Goff said. “It was really hard to watch … I didn’t go to a lot of games.”
Even with the extra months of rest leading up to softball, Goff said her right ankle still needs to be iced whenever she does any strenuous activity, which certainly was the case as the 2017 softball season unfolded.
The Knights, long the doormat of the league, came of age with Goff leading the way.
“Honestly, we were pretty confident,” Goff said of the mood of the Knights entering the season. “We had a really good freshman class, really strong, coming up.”
The mix of veterans such as Goff and Maddie West and newcomers such as Allison Bryant and Paige Bour proved lethal to the opposition. The Knights lost only once in league play (to a last-place St. Helena team when they were without starting pitcher Bryant) and earned a high seed for the sectional playoffs. They made it as far as the semifinals before losing to eventual champion Del Norte.
Goff absolutely dominated at the plate while playing gold-glove caliber defense in the field. She led the team in most offensive categories, including batting average (.524), hits (33), runs (27), doubles (10), on-base percentage (.583), slugging average (.936) and OPS (1.520), which is on-base percentage plus slugging average. She also tied for the team lead in RBIs (28) and triples (2). Goff was second in home runs with four, trailing only teammate Bib Hamner, who had seven. Most impressive of all, she didn’t strike out once the entire season.
That Goff turned in those kind of numbers despite missing her entire junior season might surprise a lot of people, but we’re talking about an athlete who played Little League with the boys all the way up to junior league before being forced to play softball.
Goff also had a pretty good hitting coach in Kyle Ellis of the Kelseyville varsity baseball team.
“Me and Kyle would go out and hit every Sunday, off a tee and soft toss,” Goff said. “It really helped.”
Despite being an offensive dynamo for the Knights, Goff said she considers herself a better defensive shortstop. In either case, she was the first non-pitcher to be named league MVP (she shared the award with Cloverdale pitcher Tehya Bird) in many years.
Goff said the Knights’ success in softball in 2017 was largely because of Bour, who put all the pieces together for the team’s championship run.
“He’s amazing, so giving,” Goff said. “He worked with everybody to make them better.”
While Goff’s softball career in high school is over, she may pursue the sport in college with the approval of her volleyball coach at Sonoma State.
As far as her collegiate volleyball career goes, Goff will continue to apply her numerous setting skills for the benefit of her new team, the Seawolves.
“They want me to set and possibly also be a defensive specialist,” Goff said.
Goff’s future plans include becoming a nurse, but she is looking forward to a long and successful collegiate career before turning that corner in her life.
The daughter of Dan and Deanne Goff of Kelseyville, Riley has an older sister, Katelyn, 26, and a younger brother, Cooper, 15, an incoming sophomore at Kelseyville High School.
Asked why Kelseyville had such a successful sports season in 2016-17 (Kelseyville’s girls won undisputed league championships in volleyball, basketball and softball), Goff said there were a handful of reasons.
“A lot of our girls are three-sport athletes and a lot of us have been playing together since we were little,” Goff said. “We put in all the summer work in our sports because if you’re not playing year-round you’re falling behind.
“We all got along pretty well together and that’s not always easy, especially with girls,” Goff added. “We were all pretty focused about what we wanted to achieve and we went out and did it.”
Finally, Goff said the Knights had incredible parental support.
“If we didn’t have parental support, we wouldn’t have been so successful. Most of our parents have been taking us back and forth to games for as long as we can remember. They are always there for us.”
Goff also laughs at the notion that you have to concentrate on only one sport if you want to be successful and catch the eye of a college coach.
“I don’t want to get burned out on one sport,” she said. “I had too much fun playing all of them. I wouldn’t have had it any other way.”
And the proof is right there. The multi-sport star still got her college scholarship in volleyball while giving her all in basketball and softball.
