Softball Preview: Merced Bears vs. Atwater Falcons
After three games on the road, Merced is heading back home. They will take on the Atwater Falcons at 4:00 p.m. on Friday. The two teams each escaped (but just barely!) with wins against their previous opponents.
Merced will bounce into Friday's contest after beating Golden Valley, who they hadn't topped in nine consecutive meetings. Merced came out on top in a nail-biter against Golden Valley on Friday and snuck past 4-3.
Annalise Ramirez spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: she surrendered only one earned (and two unearned) runs on four hits and racked up eight Ks. She has been consistent recently: she hasn't pitched less than five innings in six consecutive pitching appearances.
At the plate, Madison Cabral was excellent, going 1-for-4 with a home run and three RBI.
Meanwhile, Atwater entered their tilt with Patterson with eight consecutive wins but they'll enter their next game with nine. They had just enough and edged the Tigers out 6-5.
Kylie Medina was a major factor no matter where she played. On the mound, she pitched eight innings while giving up five earned runs off eight hits. Medina was also big at the plate, scoring three runs while going 2-for-5.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Madi Hiler, who went 3-for-5 with a triple, a run, and an RBI. Mia Hendrickson was another key contributor, scoring a run while going 2-for-5.
Merced is on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five matches, which provided a nice bump to their 10-10-1 record this season. As for Atwater, they pushed their record up to 13-10 with that victory, which was their fifth straight at home.
Merced came up short against Atwater in their previous meeting back in April, falling 5-0. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Medina, who didn't allow a single earned run while striking out eight over seven innings pitched. Now that Merced knows the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
