Merced softball outlasts Los Banos in 11

Mo Collins isn’t gun-shy about her role on the Merced High School softball team.

Teammate Madilyn Nickles is one of the area’s most feared softball players in the circle and at the plate. And it’s Collins’ job to entice people to pitch to her, hitting right behind Nickles in the order.

So far, so good. Collins delivered hits in her final three at-bats, including a run-scoring single in the top of the 11th inning as Merced outlasted Los Banos 7-6 in the international tiebreaker Monday.

Runs were pretty tough to come by through the first nine innings, with Nickles and the Tigers’ combo of Ali Waltman and Kiara Azevedo yielding just three runs each. The offense picked up in the 10th when the international tiebreaker went into effect and both teams started the inning with a runner on second.

Merced’s Rheanne Lewis hit a two-run home run in the top of the 10th, but two throwing errors allowed Los Banos to tie it 5-5 in the bottom half of the inning.

Collins (3 for 5) put Merced (1-0) right back on top in the 11th, drilling a line drive off Azevedo’s glove and into center field. Arianna Landeros added an RBI single to make it 7-5.

“We’re super young this year, so the four seniors that we have know we need to step up,” Collins said. “All I was thinking in the last at-bat was I needed to move the runner over. We needed to win it there. I put a good swing on it and was definitely happy it got through.”

Los Banos (0-1), which was no-hit by Nickles in the season opener a year ago, did not go quietly.

The Tigers rallied from two runs down in the sixth and 10th innings to extend the game and almost did it again in the 11th.

A fielder’s choice and a dropped third strike helped trim the lead to 7-6 and put the tying run on base with one out. Emily LoneTree (2 for 6, double) fisted a ball into center field to move the tying run into scoring position and put the winning run aboard with two outs. Nickles answered by inducing a pop-up, and Landeros made an excellent play along the fence in foul territory to end the game.

“Some of the kids were watching (Nickles) warm up in awe before the game, commenting on how hard she throws,” Los Banos coach Dustin Caropreso said. “I told them she’s a great pitcher, but she’s just a regular kid like them. Once we stopped looking at her like she was unhittable, we were able to have a little success.

“I was pleased with our approach and the number of balls we put in play.”

Los Banos managed nine hits off Nickles, who struck out 18, and took an early lead on a run-scoring single by Waltman (3 for 5, double, two runs) in the first.

Merced answered in the fourth when a fielding error on a fly ball to right allowed two runs. Liliana Ramirez’s sacrifice fly gave the Bears a 3-1 lead.

It stayed that way until the sixth when Waltman’s leadoff double and three errors helped the Tigers tie it 3-3.

“We definitely made things harder on ourselves,” Collins said. “There’s some nerves because a lot of girls are playing varsity for the first time. I think once we get these first couple games out of the way, everyone will settle down and we’ll be fine.”

This story was originally published February 29, 2016 at 7:26 PM with the headline "Merced softball outlasts Los Banos in 11."