Softball Roundup: Merced High opens softball playoffs with win over Ceres.
The Merced High softball team used a four-run fourth inning to open up a five-run lead and Melody Gomez pitched five scoreless innings in relief in a 7-1 win over Ceres in the first round of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division III playoffs on Tuesday afternoon at Merced High.
The No. 7 seeded Bears (17-6) will travel to No. 2 Central Catholic on Wednesday for a quarterfinal matchup.
Ava Brown started for Merced in the circle and pitched two innings.
Gomez then came in and struck out 11 hitters the rest of the way to pick up the win.
Merced’s Ellie Alvarez highlighted a two-run third inning with an RBI double that helped give the Bears a 2-1 lead.
The Bears then struck for four runs in the fourth inning.
Alvarez drove in a run during the inning by getting hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to drive in a run. Kaitlyn Arceo then delivered the big blow with a two-run double to extend the Merced lead to 6-1.
Arceo went 2-for-3 with three RBIs to lead the Bears offensive attack.
St. Mary’s 10, Golden Valley 4 — Ariel Nava homered and drove in four runs as the No. 6 Rams ended the No. 11 Cougars season in the first round of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division II playoffs.
St. Mary’s jumped on Golden Valley with nine runs in the first two innings. The Rams racked up 13 hits in the game.
Elk Grove 4, Atwater 0 — Aissa Silva struck out 16 batters on her way to a no-hitter as No. 3 Thundering Herd defeated the Falcons in the Division II playoffs.
Emma Stang drove in two runs for the Elk Grove offense.
Los Banos 2, Kimball 1 — Hailee Moore hit a walk-off double to score Moxie Barton with the winning run from first base in the bottom of the seventh inning.
The No. 8 Tigers will face No. 1 Vanden in the quarterfinals on Thursday.
Hilmar 13, Summerville 3 — The third-seeded Yellowjackets cruised to a victory over the No. 6 Bears in the first round of the Division V playoffs.
Hilmar will face No. 2 Linden in the semifinals on Thursday.
Le Grand 7, Ben Holt Academy 5 — The Bulldogs took a 6-0 lead and held on to move on the semifinals in the Division VI playoffs on Thursday.
Nadia Avila went the distance in the circle, striking out eight and giving up five runs on six hits, to get the win.
Avila, Mason Pridell and Riley Lopez all had two hits for the Bulldogs (14-12-1).
No. 5 Le Grand will face No. 1 Woodland Christian in the semifinals on Thursday.
This story was originally published May 17, 2022 at 9:29 PM.
