Merced softball sends seniors out in style

Madilyn Nickles couldn’t help but get a little emotional as she first walked onto the Merced High softball diamond for her last home game on senior day as she saw the senior posters hanging on the outfield fence.

The Bears honored Nickles and fellow seniors Monique Collins, Rheanne Lewis and Maurissa Meza before Wednesday afternoon’s regular season finale against Golden Valley.

Nickles then delivered the big blow by blasting a two-run home run deep over the left-field fence to propel Merced (19-5, 14-1 Central California Conference) to a 5-1 win.

“I saw all the posters,” Nickles said. “The past three years I was one of the players making those posters and watching all the seniors. It’s special that I got to share this with Rheanne, Mo and Maurissa because we’ve been playing softball together since we were little. It was an emotional experience.”

With their sixth consecutive CCC championship already in hand, the Bears could use Wednesday’s matchup as one last playoff tune-up game before the postseason begins next week.

Nickles can definitely use the rest.

The Bears ace pitched the first four innings, but then moved to shortstop because of an ailing shoulder. Nickles came back in to pitch in the seventh when Golden Valley’s first two hitters reached.

“The pain started in my shoulder, then moved to my peck and now it’s in the back of my shoulder,” Nickles said. “It’s been killing me for quite a while. It’s some kind of knot that moves.”

Golden Valley (8-17, 5-10) struck first against Nickles with a run in the fourth inning after Christiane Grijalva doubled to right field to plate Maddie Martinez.

The Bears answered back in the fifth inning. With one out, Collins doubled to set the stage for Nickles.

With first base open, Golden Valley coach Ross Cruickshanks wanted to pitch around Nickles, but she launched the first pitch from Marissa Bertuccio for a two-run homer for her eighth dinger of the season.

“I didn’t really have anything on my mind when I went up,” Nickles said. “I’ve heard a lot of good hitters say their mind is clear when they are hitting. Mo really took the pressure off me with her hit. I was just trying to get a base hit or move her over. Sometimes that’s when you get something better than a base hit.”

Cruickshanks didn’t want to let Nickles beat the Cougars. He said they didn’t want to opt for the intentional walk because it’s not something they’ve practiced.

“I didn’t want to give Nickles a good pitch,” he said. “We were trying to pitch around her. We just left the ball over too much of the plate.”

Nickles has been on an unbelievable streak at the plate. She added an RBI single in the sixth inning and in the last 10 games, the UCLA-bound senior is 22-for-29 at the plate with five home runs with 19 RBIs.

“I really have just been focused on my timing,” Nickles said. “At the beginning of the season I struggled. I think I was trying to prove myself. During this hitting streak I’ve learned I don’t have to prove anything. I just need to be myself. My team has my back. It’s not just me out here, so I’ve been thinking base hit.”

The other seniors all contributed as well. Collins helped set the table for Nickles with the double in the fourth. Lewis singled an scored later in the fourth inning. Meza played solid defense out in the outfield.

Freshman Abby Flores picked up the win in relief, pitching two scoreless innings. Fellow freshman Juaqlyne Garza finished with three of Merced’s 10 hits.

“We swung the bats as well today as we have the last two weeks,” Bears coach Bart McAfee said. “We just didn’t get that clutch hit until we did late. (Golden Valley) has battled us all three times this year.

“We want to win in the playoffs. We wanted to win league. That was our number one goal. Now we want to win playoffs. If we hit the way we did today, we can.”

This story was originally published May 11, 2016 at 7:12 PM with the headline "Merced softball sends seniors out in style."