Pair of seniors lead Merced softball to key win over Golden Valley in CCC showdown
The Merced High softball coaches moved slugger Ellie Alvarez from the middle of the order into the leadoff spot the last two games to get her more at-bats.
It might be hard to move her from top of the order now.
The senior collected three hits, including a leadoff home run in the first inning to help propel the Bears to a 4-3 win over Golden Valley on Thursday afternoon at Merced High School in a battle of two teams that were unbeaten in the Central California Conference play so far this spring.
“It’s only my second game batting leadoff, but I like to set the tone for my team,” Alvarez said. “I like picking my teammates up. I got the home run today, I’ll take it.”
The Cougars scratched across a run in the top of the first inning with the help of a two-out, infield single by Tierra Richardson that drove in Stefani Ramirez.
However, Alvarez erased the lead with one swing of the bat, launching a solo shot over the left-field wall off of Cougars ace Bree Barner.
“We had a couple girls struggling with the bat so we wanted to get her more at-bats,” said Merced coach John Kane, whose team improved to 9-5 overall and 4-0 in the CCC. “That home run in the first makes us look like geniuses. It’s just something different. That home run helped us steal the momentum and we did a pretty good job of keeping it the rest of the game.”
Alvarez added two other hard singles and is 5 for 8 over the last two games in the leadoff spot.
Despite striking out 12 times against Barner, the Bears offense kept the pressure on the Cougars throughout the game. Merced collected seven hits and had runners on base in five of its six innings.
Barner had entered the game after recording 36 strikeouts in her last two games, including a perfect game against Buhach Colony.
The Bears took advantage of Golden Valley mistakes on defense to build a 4-1 lead.
The Cougars committed two errors in the third inning that helped Aleatha Buchner reach base and come around to score the first of two runs on the day for the Bears sophomore.
A dropped ball on a strikeout allowed Buchner to reach to start the fifth inning and she came around to score on an RBI-single by Kaitlyn Arceo.
Golden Valley dropped a fly ball to start the sixth inning that helped Merced tack on a fourth run to give the Bears a 4-1 lead.
Senior right-hander Melody Gomez took charge in the circle for the Bears, striking out 12 Cougars on her way to pitching a complete-game victory.
Gomez has been leaned on heavily with Merced’s ace Trisha McCleskey sidelined this season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in her knee.
“She’s a workhorse,” Kane said. “A lot of people didn’t know about Melody so when they asked how we were going to do when Trisha go hurt I kind of had a smirk on my face because I knew we had Melody in the back of my mind. Ava Brown has pitched well too. I knew what we had in those two.”
Golden Valley made it interesting in the seventh inning, rallying for two runs and getting the tying run on base after back-to-back RBI-doubles by Ramirez and Kylie Diaz.
Gomez was able to strike out the final hitter to end the rally and preserve the win for the Bears.
The win gives Merced sole possession of first place in the CCC.
“You want to stress the importance of the game, but you don’t want to overstate it to the girls so they get nervous,” Kane said. “We all knew how important this game was to go into the second half of the second in the driver’s seat.”
