Ceres High School’s junior-varsity softball team captured its third straight Western Athletic Conference title this past spring.

The Bulldogs won all eight of their league games en route to compiling an 18-2 overall record.

Ceres High topped Los Banos (5-3), Pacheco (5-3), Johansen (2-6) and Lathrop (0-8) twice during the WAC season.

“The girls always showed up to practice on time,” said Coach Nikole Ferrel . They wanted to learn. They were coachable.”

Dominique Arendt, Jasmine Arendt, Makenna Azevedo, Kylie Bond, Athena Dizney, Charlize Hernandez, Calista Mann, Haylee Mann, Tatianna Ortiz, Ilianna Saldana and Nehemiah Valenzuela suited up for the Bulldogs.

“We had a lot of girls with experience through travel ball and CYB,” Ferrel said. “We had several returners from the previous year and that team went undefeated as well.”

Hernandez and Bond both starred at pitcher.

“It’s a luxury to have great pitching at the JV level,” Ferrel said. 

Ceres High outscored its conference opponents, 124-7.

The Bulldogs allowed just seven runs in eight WAC games.

“Our pitching was very dominant,” Ferrel said. “We gave up very minimal runs. Offensively, we were pretty consistent throughout the lineup. We got runners on base and took advantage of opportunities. Defensively, we were really solid.”

Ceres High managed to win 18 of its 20 games and claim the WAC championship despite losing multiple players to injury and to varsity promotion.

“Everybody got better throughout the season,” Ferrel said.