Ceres High School's varsity softball team dominated every phase of the game in defeating host Livingston 13-0 in five innings on April 14.
The Bulldogs routed the Wolves 11-0 on March 12 in Ceres.
"We didn't practice yesterday," Ceres High head coach Angela Durossette said. "I was concerned. The girls had to go to a funeral. They lost someone close to them."
The Bulldogs improved to 17-6 on the year and 7-1 in the Western Athletic Conference standings.
The Wolves dropped to 1-16-1 and 1-7.
"I don't think we've played to the best of our ability yet," Durossette said. "We can get better."
Ceres High sophomore pitcher Callie Nunes allowed no hits with six strikeouts and zero walks in three innings.
"She had a good outing," Durossette said. "Livingston had a hard time making contact."
Bulldog relief pitcher Ali Lowman allowed two hits and tallied one strikeout in two innings.
Ceres High totaled nine hits on offense.
Mackenzie Veuve batted 3-for-3 with two doubles, three RBIs and two runs.
Nicole Bates batted 2-for-4 with one triple, two RBIs and two runs.
Ariel Knights batted 1-for-2 with one homer, two RBIs and two runs.
Rayohna Sagapolu batted 1-for-3 with one double, two RBIs and two runs.
Andrea Duran batted 1-for-2 with one RBI and one run.
Mahlena O'Neal batted 1-for-4 with one RBI and one run.
Jessica Arreola had one RBI and one run.
Nunes and Sabrina Baisdon chipped in with one run each.
Ceres High scored five runs in the top of the first inning and eight in the third.
The Bulldogs committed no errors.
"That's what we shoot for every game," Durossette said.
Ceres High has outscored its WAC opponents, 72-9, this season.
"I try to get all of the girls as much playing time as possible," Durossette said. "Finding a happy medium has been a challenge for me."
The Bulldogs final conference games are against El Capitan (April 21), Los Banos (April 23), Central Valley (April 28) and Pacheco (April 30).
Down by four runs, Los Banos rallied for a 6-4 victory over Ceres High on March 24.
Pacheco has the top pitcher in the WAC in Baylor-bound Gia Rodoni.
"We have four more games before playoffs," Durossette said. "We can't have any letdowns. We're tough to beat if everyone hits the ball and we play error-free defense. We should win league."
BASEBALL
Ceres High and Beyer have the top varsity baseball teams in the Western Athletic Conference and Modesto Metro Conference, respectively.
The Bulldogs and Patriots faced off in non-league play this past week in Modesto.
Ceres High rallied past Beyer 5-4 on April 13 at Paul Cornwell Field.
"It was a statement win," Ceres High senior pitcher/infielder Brad Bussard said. "It does a lot for our confidence knowing we took down a big Division-I school. It says a lot about our program."
Ceres High improved to 16-5 on the year.
Beyer dropped to 12-6 overall.
"We knew they were going to be tough competition," Bussard said. "We battled throughout the game."
Bussard picked up the win while logging three innings of relief at pitcher.
Brad allowed two runs and four hits with one strikeout and two walks in three innings. "I got a lot of groundballs," he said. "They weren't hitting the ball hard."
Drew Stahl started at pitcher against Beyer.
The former Patriot gave up two runs (one earned) and four hits with one strikeout and one walk in four innings while earning a no-decision.
Ceres High managed to beat Beyer despite posting a team batting average of .172 with eight strikeouts and four walks.
Drew batted 1-for-4 from the plate with three RBIs.
Brent Bussard batted 1-for-3 with one RBI.
Brad Bussard scored twice.
Merrick Price and Ismael Ontiveros tallied one run each.
Haaydn Martinez singled twice.
Ricky Lopez collected one single.
The Bulldogs trailed 2-0 at the end of the fifth inning.
Ceres High evened the score in the top of the sixth inning.
The Bulldogs grabbed their first lead of the game at 5-2 in the seventh inning.
Beyer made the contest interesting by scoring two runs in its final at-bats.
The two teams committed a combined seven errors, including three by Ceres High.
"We always know we have a shot at coming back no matter who we're playing," Brad Bussard said. "Once we got into their bullpen, we started drawing walks and getting key hits. We did what we needed to do to score runs. We stopped them when we had to. This gives us more confidence going into the second half of league."
The Bulldogs will continue the WAC portion of their schedule with home-and-away games against Livingston this week.
The Bulldogs will host the Wolves today.
Ceres High will travel to Livingston on Friday.
Both games will get underway at 4 p.m.
The Bulldogs, 11-1 in conference play a year ago, are vying for their second straight WAC crown.
"It's never easy," Brad Bussard said. "Every team is going to bring their best game against us because we're defending league champs."
Gauchos sweep Hawks
Central Valley's varsity baseball team dropped a pair of WAC games to El Capitan last week.
The Hawks fell to 6-14 overall and 0-6 in the league standings after losing 6-4 to the host Gauchos on Friday.
El Capitan won the first game, 10-5, at Central Valley on Wednesday.
The Hawks totaled eight errors during the two-game series.
Central Valley will play at Patterson today and host the Tigers on Friday. Both games will begin at 4 p.m.
