MERCED -- No. 3 West Valley softball played its second- and third-straight road game over the weekend, taking down Merced College in back-to-back halves of a double header on Saturday. The Vikings (30-3, 7-2 Coast) continued their takedown of their non-conference opponents, battling from an early deficit against the Blue Devils (11-21, 4-6 CVC) in a 5-4 game one victory before an 8-0 thrashing in the second game. 

The bats had a hard time waking up early against Blue Devil ace Haiden Priddell in the first game, as Pridell mowed through the order in order through the first three innings. To her credit, West Valley starter Ana Marquez was strong early on, setting down the side in order in the first before delivering a double play ball with two on and one out in the bottom of the second. But in the third, the Blue Devils struck first, as a two-out rally resulted in a three-run home run from Pridell's sister, Maisen, the starting catcher for the Devils.

West Valley chipped back with a touch of small ball of its own. Mo Temple led off the inning with the Vikings' first baserunner, a single, before a Raylene Cruz single put runners on second and third with just one out. Freshman Angie Fulkerson hit a sacrifice fly before a two-out single from Katy Lambert brought the Vikings within one.

Now with sophomore Amelia Sizemore in the circle, the Vikings escaped another two-out jam in the bottom of the fourth but couldn't add on in the top of the fifth. Merced did exactly that in the bottom half, as Haiden Pridell reached on an error to make the score 4-2.

Freshman Aneesa Aguon worked a one-out walk before Cruz singled her up a base in the top of the sixth. Fulkerson, the team leader in RBI, drove both runs home as her single into left trickled past the glove of Merced's left fielder to tie the game. Sizemore followed with a shutdown sixth.

In the games' final frame, Taylor Hanshaw led off with a single, went to second on a perfect sacrifice from Zoe Griffin, and came home to score on an infield single from Temple, giving the Vikings their first lead of the game. 

Merced nearly struck back in the bottom of the seventh. With one out, Ava Oberti reached on an error from Cruz before Sizemore got the following hitter to fly out. But Jazmyne Brown singled, and with two outs, Emily Moreno grounded out to end the ballgame, 5-4 in favor of the Vikings.

Game two was much less anxiety-inducing for the Vikings. After a scoreless first, West Valley's bottom third of the lineup loaded the bases. A single from Temple moved everybody up and gave the Vikings their first lead before walks from Aguon, Sadie Heming and Fulkerson put the Vikings ahead by four. That part of the order did damage again in the third, as Temple and Aguon had RBI singles and Heming had an RBI double, giving the Vikings a seven-run cushion. Izzy Paskert scored on a wild pitch in the fourth, and Kaylee Kline barely had base traffic in the circle, going five innings while allowing just three hits and striking out six.

West Valley has two more conference games this week, starting at home on Tuesday as the Vikings take on Chabot.