Defense saves the day for Merced softball team

Two days after defensive mistakes forced the Merced High School softball team into the losers’ bracket, defense took center stage in a 2-0 win over Vintage to keep the Bears’ season alive in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division II playoffs.

Merced’s Katelynn Gietler fell over the center-field fence, robbing a three-run home run from Vintage’s Madison Bridges in the fourth inning. Rheanne Lewis made plays to her left and right at second base, and shortstop Missy Lalisan made a key play in the fourth.

“After the mistakes we made the other day, we played great defense today,” said Merced coach Bart McAfee, whose team improved to 23-7. “Katelynn’s catch saved the game. Our defense was huge.”

Merced will play Del Campo on Tuesday in another elimination game at 5 p.m. at the Sacramento Softball Complex. Del Campo eliminated St. Mary’s 2-0 on Monday. If Merced wins, it would play the Benicia-Elk Grove loser at 7.

Merced scored the only two runs in the first inning against Vintage ace Emily Oestreich.

The rally started with two outs as Madilyn Nickles beat out an infield single. Megan Kravec followed with a deep fly ball to right that fell just before the fence for an RBI triple. Lalisan followed with a double to score Kravec.

“It was huge to get those two runs,” Nickles said. “It let me get a little breather as a pitcher.”

Nickles struck out two in the first inning but then relied on her defense most of the way. Nickles induced 10 ground-ball outs and threw only 90 pitches.

The Merced ace, who went into the game fifth in the state in strikeouts with 272 in 1651/3 innings, struck out six.

“Her pitch count was a lot lower than it has been, and that’s good because we need her to throw as few as possible as we go on,” McAfee said.

The play of the game came in the fourth, as Bridges’ bid for a three-run homer was prevented by Gietler in center field. Gietler fell over the fence as she caught the ball, rolled over and sprang to her feet to show the umpires she had the ball.

“I got back there and found the fence,” Gietler said. “I knew I had to make the catch for us to stay in the lead. I tried to make the same catch here when I was called up my sophomore year, but my feet got caught in the fence and I fell on my face. This time, I knew to pick up my feet.”

Nickles’ reaction:

“At first I thought it was a popup, and it just kept going and going,” she said. “I said, ‘Oh, shoot!’ And then it I saw it go in Megan’s glove. I wanted to give her a high-five right then.”

The home run would have given Bridges a school-record ninth home run for the season.

“Four inches higher and I would have got it,” Bridges said. “She made an amazing play. I thought it was gone when I hit it.”

The only other scare for Nickles was pitching around a leadoff double by Morgan Hernandez in the fifth. Nickles used two ground balls and a popup to get out of the jam.

Nickles closed the game by striking out the final four hitters.

“It was an awesome win,” Nickles said. “We showed a lot coming back after making all the mistakes we made last game. We made all the plays today.”

This story was originally published May 18, 2015 at 7:49 PM with the headline "Defense saves the day for Merced softball team."