The Ceres Sizzle 10-and-under travel softball team had a positive start to the fall season.
Ceres finished first overall while competing at the NSA Turlock Wounded Warrior Tournament.
“They believed they could win,” head coach John Harris said. “They never got down on themselves. The confidence was there. They were motivated.”
“Our girls get along,” he added. “They genuinely like each other. They stick together.”
The Sizzle compiled a 3-2 overall record at the eight-team event, staged Aug. 5-6 at the Pedretti Sports Complex.
Ceres won both of its games in the Silver bracket.
The second-seeded Sizzle defeated the top-seeded Salida Lady Blacksox 14-2 in the championship game on Aug. 6.
Ceres collected 13 hits.
“It was a great, overall team performance,” Harris said. “Every kid on the team got a base hit.”
Malaiah Victory led the way on offense with one home run and three RBIs.
Lizzy Shawo drove in three runs.
Hailey Sainz had a solo homer.
Vanessa Berber chipped in with three singles.
Sizzle pitcher Bailey Harris totaled nine strikeouts in five innings.
Tied at 1-1, the Sizzle scored three runs in the third inning, and five in both the fourth and fifth.
“You could see the confidence start to build in the third inning,” John Harris said. “Our girls poured it on in the fourth and fifth. They played better. They started to have fun.”
Ceres bested the third-seeded Stockton Lightning 11-4 in the semifinals on Aug. 6. “I was very confident Sunday,” Harris said. “I expected us to win it all based on how we played all weekend. I wasn’t worried about being the No. 2 seed. We could have gone 3-0 on Saturday if we played all clean innings.”
The Sizzle won back-to-back games after struggling in pool play.
“The team turned it around,” coach Harris said. “We didn’t have one bad inning in either game. We didn’t make any errors. The girls played better. They started having fun.”
Ceres was awarded the No. 2 seed after winning one of three pool play games on Aug. 5.
The Sizzle opened the tournament with a 7-5 victory over the Stockton Lightning.
Ceres lost 14-6 to the CC Liberty.
The Sizzle closed out pool play with an 8-6 loss to the Atwater Flight.
