Merced Union High School District

As Emma Ramirez came to the plate with the winning run on base and the game tied in the bottom of the seventh inning, the Merced High sophomore told herself to stay calm. Ramirez delivered a walk-off single as she hit a pop up that landed over the drawn-in infield to drive in Abigail Rosa to deliver a 9-8 victory for the Bears over Atwater that clinched at least a share of a second consecutive Central California Conference championship.

 

The Bears celebration was anything but calm as Ramirez was mobbed by her teammates and carried off the field as the Bears celebrated back-to-back CCC titles. “That was unreal,” Ramirez said. “It takes a second to process what just happened, but it was an unreal feeling. I’m so proud of myself and my teammates.”

 

The Bears improved to 17-3 overall and 8-0 in the CCC after emerging with the 9-8 victory that took nearly two and half hours to play. It was a much different game than Merced’s tidy 2-1 win over Atwater in a pitcher’s dual earlier this year. Thursday’s game saw plenty of lead changes early as the teams went back and forth and the Bears had to cover five errors which led to four unearned runs.

“We made that a lot harder on ourselves than it had to be,” said Merced coach Jennifer Moreno. Nobody was perfect, everybody had a small mistake in some way, but their character really showed.”

 

Merced came back from 2-0 and 4-3 deficits early in the game and opened up an 8-4 lead with the help of a four-run third inning that saw 10 Bears hitters come to the plate. Antonia LeJarde started the rally with a solo home run over the left-field fence. “That was a huge start for us, and especially for my teammates coming up after me, just being able to pass the bat and have good at-bats and get more runs out of that inning,” LeJarde said.

 

Rosa delivered a big two-run single during the four-run third inning. Mariah Higareda added an RBI single in the fourth inning to extend the lead to 8-4. However, Atwater stormed right back with four runs of its own in the fifth inning. Kennedy Ross and Haley Arnold both connected on RBI-doubles to ignite the rally as the Falcons pulled even at 8-8.

The game stayed that way until the bottom of the seventh when Rosas led off the inning with a walk. Liliana Meneley followed with a bunt single. Rosas eventually moved up to third with one out to set the stage for Ramirez. “In my mind, I’m just saying, ‘Stay calm, stay calm.’ I trying to stay composed and that’s how I was able to get the hit.”

 

The Bears rushed the field out of the dugout to celebrate the victory and the CCC championship. Merced clinched at least a share of the title as the Bears opened up a two-game lead over Atwater with just two games remaining in the regular season.

 

“It really does mean a lot to everyone,” Ramirez said. “It means a lot to our seniors, to all of our new players, we’ve won back-to-back. That is something really special and something everyone should be proud of on this team.”

El Capitan 6, Golden Valley 3 – Freshman Ellery Hunter pitched a complete game, recording eight strikeouts to help lead the Gauchos to a victory over the Cougars. Amanda Tostado led the El Capitan offense with two hits and two runs scored and Ava Arriaga drove in a pair of runs.

 

Central Valley 16, Livingston 12 – The Hawks scored four runs in the seventh inning to hand the Wolves a Western Athletic Conference loss on Thursday. Livingston lost despite a seven-RBI performance from Mariah Blaine. The Wolves senior recorded three hits, including a double and a triple. Tatianna Alvarez added three hits, three runs scored and two RBIs and McKinley Mullen picked up two hits and scored three runs for Livingston.

Shawn Jansen is the MUHSD Program Manager Digital Media. He can be reached at Sjansen@muhsd.org.