Madera Coyotes softball ready for CMAC

Wendy Alexander/The Madera Tribune Madera’s Kaylee Dawson delivers a pitch during Wednesday’s 18-0 victory over San Joaquin Memorial. Dawson tossed her first career perfect game against the Panthers.

The Madera Coyotes softball team put the game away early in a tune up before the rest of the County/Metro Athletic Conference.

Madera scored eight runs in the second inning and scored 18 runs in the first three innings for a five-inning mercy-rule victory over San Joaquin Memorial-Fresno on Tuesday at Zimmerman Field.

“We worked hard yesterday going the other way with our hits,” head coach Judy Shaubach said. “Sometimes with the pitching like Memorial, you have to be very basic and hit the ball where it’s pitched and try to stay on the ball longer. I thought we did a good job with that. We ran the bases extremely well today.”

Coyote starter Kaylee Dawson tossed her first career perfect game in the five-inning victory. She struck out five in the win and also went 1-2 at the plate with an RBI.

“Kaylee threw really well,” Shaubach said. “She made some good pitches and we made some good plays behind her. It was a solid game all the way around.”

The Coyotes improved to 2-1 in the CMAC and played Edison-Fresno on Friday. Madera then plays at Madera South at 6 p.m. Tuesday and then hosts Sanger next Friday on Alumni Night.

“The defense was sharp and the kids were wanting the ball hit to them,” Shaubach said. “They were aggressive and were looking to make plays. We talked a little about that yesterday before practice to want the ball hit to us and wanting to be the one to make the play. We responded pretty well.”

The Coyotes banged out 16 hits, including a triple and home run from freshman Valerie Ornelas and a triple and three RBIs from Aaliyah Cuevas.

Eight of the nine starters had an RBI, seven of the nine had a hit and seven of the nine scored a run. Ornelas, Hollee Brown and Gennahlyn Sanchez each had three hits. Taylor Brooks, Tea Layne and Cuevas each had two hits.

Brooks started the Coyotes’ offense with a single to lead off the bottom of the first. She stole second and scored on Layne’s single up the middle. Layne took second on a throw to the plate and scored a Cuevas’ triple to left-centerfield.

Cuevas came in to score on Ornales’ single. Ornales advanced to second on an error. Pinch-runner Brooke Gill came around to score on Brown’s single to left-center for a 4-0 lead.

In the second, Madera sent 13 batters to the plate during an eight-run second inning. Ceuvas drove in two with a single. Ornelas drove in Cuevas with a triple. Pinch-runner Gill scored on Brown’s single up the middle. Sanchez drove in two runners with an infield single and Brooks closed the inning with a two-run single up the middle.

Ornelas led off the third inning with her second home run — first since the season opener against Clovis West — of the year with a drive over the centerfield fence.

Dawson drove in a run with a single and Felicity Rocha drove in another run with a sacrifice fly. A pair of errors allowed the Coyotes to score two more runs for an 18-0 lead.

Dawson recorded a strikeout in every inning while recording her perfect game. She got a foul popout to catcher Haley Perez on her 45th pitch to end the game.