Madera Coyote softball’s No. 9 batter Sadie Gonzalez is not know for her might. The diminutive senior has just four extra-base hits in her three-plus-year career. However, she lined a ball to the right-centerfield gap to clear the bases to end an 11-1 victory over the Golden Valley-Merced Cougars at Zimmerman Field.
Gonzalez stepped up in the bottom of the fifth inning Friday with a chance to end the game with an extra base hit. She did better than that with a ball that split the right-centerfield gap. As she rounded second, she took a peek at coach Melissa Armiento waving her arms in a circle to keep going.
Gonzalez put her head down, hit third base and smelled a grand slam. Golden Valley retrieved the ball, threw it to second and then threw wide of the plate. Gonzalez jumped on home plate, and jumped into the arms of her teammate after the inside-the-park grand slam invoked the mercy rule, and ended the game in the fifth inning.