Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – The Del Norte Warriors are this year’s Big 5 champions.
The Del Norte Warriors have been crowned outright Big 5 champs in softball after a key showdown in Fortuna went their way on Friday afternoon.
The Del Norte girls closed out league play with two wins over Arcata on Thursday to move two wins clear at the top of the table and clinch at least a share of the league crown.
That left the Eureka girls needing to win their final two games at Fortuna on Friday to be crowned co-champs.
Game one, however, went to the Huskies by a score of 4-2, handing the title to the Warriors.
The championship is the Warriors’ first since 2018 and only their second in the past 13 years.
The pennant also guarantees Del Norte the league’s automatic spot in the North Coast Section playoffs and a home game.
The Warriors are the No. 2-ranked NCS Division 4 team, according to MaxPreps, trailing only Cardinal Newman, and they should receive a top-two seed for the postseason when the brackets are announced in nine days.
It also gives them a top seed and opening-round bye for next week’s H-DN Charlie Lakin tournament, which will be played at the Arcata sports complex.
The Del Norte girls closed out the Big 5 with a record of 10-2 and are now 16-5 overall.
Eureka dropped to 8-3 in league after Friday’s game-one loss.
