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Four seniors on the Agoura softball team, including the mighty Mia Gomez, held dainty bouquets of yellow roses before their last regular-season home game last week against Thousand Oaks.
Chance Redmond, the Chargers’ 21st-year head coach, wheeled a portable speaker out of the dugout to the pitching circle.
“Hello? Hello? Hello?” the skipper spoke into an unruly microphone.
Despite the technical difficulties during the senior day ceremony, Gomez and the Chargers answered Redmond with resounding fury.
Ding. Ding. Ding.
Gomez, the most fearsome slugger in Agoura history and one of the area’s all-time great hitters, dazzled on senior day, just as she has almost every day she’s donned an Agoura uniform. The Charger went 2 for 4 at the plate with five RBIs and one home run — her school record 18th homer of the season — in Agoura’s 11-1 win against Thousand Oaks.
The victory helped the Chargers secure a CIF Southern Section playoff berth and remain on course for a Marmonte League championship.
“In this area, she’s the best player,” Redmond said of Gomez. “You’d be hard-pressed to find a better hitter and a more complete hitter in the Conejo Valley and Ventura County area.”
Doing it all, and with a smile
Gomez, a 3.5 GPA student who patrols first base, strikes the ball with finesse and power. In addition to her 18 home runs, she has amassed a .556 batting average with 54 RBIs, 43 runs scored, 40 hits and seven doubles.
Not including errors or fielder’s choices, Gomez has reached base safely 66 times in 26 games. She has failed to reach base only twice this season.
“There is no such thing as a slump with her,” said Rylee Redmond, the coach’s daughter and a senior center fielder.
Gomez owns Agoura records of 39 career home runs and 153 career RBIs.
The slugger is savoring her last spring at Agoura before trekking to Salt Lake City to study communications and play softball on a scholarship at the University of Utah.
She’s always having a good time on the diamond, whether it’s giving quick pep talks to her teammates — including senior pitcher Aly Chavez, who tossed a complete game gem against Thousand Oaks — or chatting with umpires, opponents and fans.
“I play because I love it. I love every single aspect of it,” Gomez said.
Her mom, Andrea Reed, and great-grandmother, Celia Krull, grew up playing softball. Mia, 17, started playing the game when she was 4.
“I liked the competitiveness that came with playing softball — and being in the dirt,” she said with a laugh. “Being dirty was fun.”
Chance Redmond sang the praises of No. 55.
“Mia is both a great athlete and a great leader,” the coach said. “She elevates everyone else with her leadership. I would say, as good as a softball player as she is — and she’s fantastic — she’s a better captain and teammate. She treats the least-experienced and talented players as well or sometimes better than the best players. There’s no differentiation between who gets treated better.
“She’s like the mama bear of the team. She does everything.”
A fresh start at Agoura
Kindness seems to be embedded in Gomez’s DNA.
“She definitely is a person that’s there for everyone, no matter what,” said Rylee Redmond, 3.8 GPA student who is considering playing softball at Moorpark College. “Mia’s very easy to talk with. Even though she’s intimidating, she has a loving personality. She always has good things to say and good advice for everyone. She’s smart and pretty mature.”
Life, school and softball haven’t always been this easy. Gomez, who lives in Moorpark, was bullied in middle school. The experience changed her, but it did not define her.
“I felt very uncomfortable in my own environment,” Gomez said. “My parents saw an opportunity and asked, ‘Do you want to leave?’ And I said, ‘Yeah.’ As soon as I got to Agoura, I want to be super up front with myself and what I want to do — and I stopped worrying about what other people thought. I needed to focus on my own battles rather than what other people thought of them.
“I used to be sad, but I don’t think about it,” the Charger continued. “If it didn’t happen, I wouldn’t have gone to Agoura, and I wouldn’t be the person I am today.”
Her younger brother, Alejandro, is an eighth-grader who wants to play football for Agoura next year. Her youngest brother, Julian, is a sixth-grade baseball player. Her dad, Cesar Gomez, grew up playing soccer in Newbury Park.
Mia Gomez knew how much it hurt to get bullied, but she is not bitter. She is hopeful.
“I don’t want anyone else to feel like that,” she said.
She’s a local softball celebrity, Chance Redmond said. A Newbury Park standout confided to the skipper, “I want to be like Mia.”
Small moments of kindness can change the world.
“Other people have a place with me, no matter what,” Gomez said. “It takes just one person to change you. It takes just one person to smile at you when you’re walking … I want people to remember me as a smile. I want people to remember me as someone who smiled even when things got tough.”
Chasing a CIF title
Gomez has helped elevate Agoura to new heights. The Chargers reached the CIF semifinals in 2024, the best postseason run with Redmond roaming the dugout. Agoura seeks a CIF crown this spring.
“I want to win CIF, of course,” Gomez said. “I love to win. I love winning. Everyone says that — I haven’t met someone who doesn’t like winning.”
In the bottom of the second inning on senior day, Gomez closed her eyes, took a deep breath and stepped to the plate. She swung the bat with tremendous, almost frightening power.
Ping.
The ball sailed to deep left field.
“No way! No way!” shouted Brock Redmond, Chance’s brother, and the head coach of Agoura’s boys and girls indoor and beach volleyball teams.
Home run No. 18, and No. 39 in Mia Gomez’s Agoura career, just left the park.
“I really love this program. I want to leave it better than I found it,” Gomez said. “I’ve seen people dim their lights when they don’t feel comfortable. I just want everybody to shine in their own way and be their full selves on and off the field.”
