The Ceres Sizzle 8-and-under travel softball team enjoyed a successful start to its summer season.

Ceres finished in second place at the Riverbank Tournament this past week at Castleberg Park.

"It's going to boost their confidence and push them to do better," head coach Nicole Ferrel said.

The Sizzle collected four wins and one loss at the nine-team event.

Ceres lost 15-11 to Atwater in triple-digit weather during the championship game on Sunday.

"For being so young, to be able to handle that heat, I'm really proud of them," Ferrel said. "They weren't complaining. It didn't affect their play. The girls were excited. They wanted to keep playing. They didn't want to stop."

Ceres defeated Riverbank and Patterson by identical 12-4 scores on Sunday.

The Sizzle collected wins against Patterson (14-2) on Saturday and Chowchilla (forfeit) on Wednesday.

"It's a new team," Ferrel said. "We only have two returning girls. The rest of the girls moved up. I didn't expect them to play that well. They proved me wrong."

Ceres' roster features 13 players: Amaia Ferrel, Makaela Brown, Samantha Nichols, Lilly Staggs, Addie Prudhel, Ella Carrasco, Valerie Espinoza, KaDynce Piceno, Emma Hernandez, Jocelyn Garza, Danny Yepez, Elizabeth Figueroa and Ajiah Wright.

Amaia and Makaela are returning players.

Ferrel has two assistant coaches: Valaree Gonzales and Sam Nichols.

Dima Ferrel is team manager.

The Sizzle will play in the Newman Tournament next month.