Superstitions working for Merced’s Lewis

Like many athletes, Merced High’s Rheanne Lewis is very superstitious.

That’s the reason she wore the No. 1 jersey in Wednesday night’s 8-4 win over No. 12-seed Rodriguez in the first round of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division II playoffs. It’s also the reason she’ll likely have every song from the “Mama Mia” soundtrack memorized by the end of the Bears’ playoff run.

“I feel all athletes are superstitious,” said Lewis, who went 3-for-4 with a home run and three runs scored in the playoff opener. “It’s all mental.”

Lewis lost her jersey before the regular season finale against Golden Valley, so she had to wear No. 1 instead of the No. 20 she’s worn all season. The junior had three hits, including her first home run of the season in a 10-0 win over the Cougars.

The past few weeks, she’s been listening to the “Mama Mia” soundtrack before games and she’s been playing well.

Lewis had about two hours to listen to “Mama Mia” on the drive to Sacramento on Wednesday and again wore the No. 1 jersey and hit the first pitch she saw for a home run over the left-field fence to ignite a three-run first inning for the fifth-seeded Bears.

Lewis’ blast was Merced’s 22nd home run as a team this season. No. 23 came in the next inning when Madilyn Nickles hit a three-run bomb to give the Bears a 6-0 lead.

“A home run is one hit and one run; it makes a big difference,” said Merced coach Bart McAfee, whose team improved to 21-6. “If you can hit a home run, you don’t have to get a bunch of hits to score. Maddy’s was three runs on one hit. That’s Earl Weaver softball.”

Rodriguez didn’t go away as the Mustangs erupted for four runs in the fifth inning and then threatened with runners on the corners with one out in the sixth, trailing 6-4.

Nickles was able to get out of the jam by striking out Arizona State-bound senior Melissa Eisen, who plays travel ball with Nickles, and then getting Aldena Seldon to pop out to Lewis at second.

“I let the adrenaline get to me a bit in the fifth facing my travel ball teammate,” Nickles said. “She got the big double, but I was happy I struck her out the next time. She got mad at me.”

The Bears were able to tack on a couple insurance runs with run-scoring singles by Nickles and Megan Kravec in the sixth inning to extend the lead to 8-4.

Merced racked up 14 hits with Nickles going 4-for-4 with four RBIs. Kravec also added three hits.

With the win, the Bears advance to the double-elimination portion of the bracket, starting Friday night against No. 4 St. Mary’s (24-4) at 6 p.m. It also means Merced will make three trips in four days to the Sacramento Softball Complex, which means four to five hours of driving each day.

McAfee decided against staying overnight.

“We never seem to play better when we do that,” McAfee said. “We’ve tried it, but you’re sleeping in a different bed. It hasn’t worked for us.”

So how will the players spend their time on the road.

“In my car, most of us sleep or joke around about the game,” Nickles said.

As for Lewis, well, it’s “Mama Mia” the whole ride.

“It makes me happy,” Lewis said. “It’s working, too.”

St. Mary’s 4, Atwater 0 in Sacramento – The Falcons had at least one runner on base in six of the seven innings but couldn’t break through against St. Mary’s ace Carley Morfey.

Atwater (15-12) left five runners in scoring position.

“We hit the ball hard the whole game,” Atwater coach Robert Santistevan said. “Their outfield is outstanding. Their outfield saved them today by saving doubles and triples.”

Eileen Martinez had two of Atwater’s six hits.

Rams cleanup hitter Taylor Mamola went 3-for-3 with a solo home run that led off the second inning to give the Rams a 1-0 lead.

Baseball

Dos Palos 10, Fowler 3 in Dos Palos – The Broncos (22-8) jumped out to a six-run lead after the first inning and cruised to a 10-3 win in the Central Section Division IV playoffs.

Efrain Del Rio pitched a complete game with eight strikeouts and also homered. Ozzie Suarez led the Dos Palos 15-hit attack with three hits and Quentin Johnson and Nathan Flores each knocked in two runs.

The eighth-seeded Broncos travel to top-seed Exeter (22-6) on Friday at 4:30 p.m.

Chowchilla 3, McLane 2 in Chowchilla – The Redskins (20-6) came from behind with two runs in the sixth inning to advance to Friday’s quarterfinal against No. 3-seed Bakersfield Christian (20-7).

Kelby Grissom went the distance on the mound, limiting McLane (11-16-1) to three hits, and also went 2-for-2 at the plate with two runs. Haden Haynes and Colton Seals both knocked in runs for Chowchilla.

This story was originally published May 14, 2015 at 6:43 PM with the headline "Superstitions working for Merced’s Lewis."