Merced senior smashes three homers in rout of Patterson as Bears clinch CCC championship
Merced High senior Hannah Isakow hit three home runs and had six RBIs as the Bears defeated Patterson 11-2 on Tuesday at Merced High.
The win clinched the outright Central California Conference championship for the Bears as they improved to 15-5 overall and 10-0 in the conference.
The Bears started the game with a power display as Ellie Alvarez led off the bottom of the first with a home run and Isakow also cleared the fence to give Merced a 3-0 lead.
Isakow added home runs in the third and fifth innings as she finished four-for-four at the plate.
Fellow senior Ava Brown added two hits, two runs and two RBIs as the Bears collected 11 hits.
Bears senior right-hander Melody Gomez pitched five innings to pick up the win. Ava Brown pitched the final two innings to close out the victory.
“Mel just battled,” said Merced coach John Kane. “She was kind of dealing with a toe injury so she just went as long as she could and then Ava pitched the last two innings. It was a team effort, which is kind of how our whole year went.”
Winning the championship was special for this group.
“It’s kind of a labor of love,” Kane said. “The last few years Golden Valley has just been a little bit better than us. Then COVID robbed us of a special year. You start to wonder if it’s ever going to happen. I’m just happy for the girls.”
