Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – The Eureka players celebrate their Lakin tournament championship on Friday.

By Ray Hamill — After seeing the Del Norte Warriors take the Big 5 championship this spring, the Loggers were clearly in no mood to allow the same thing happen in the Charlie Lakin tournament.

On Friday evening, the Eureka girls won for the third straight day in tournament play, shutting out the Del Norte Warriors 5-0 in the championship game at the Arcata Sports Complex.

The Lakin championship is the second straight and third overall for the program, with all three trophies coming in the last four tournaments.

As she has all season long, senior pitcher Kira Morris continued to dominate in the circle, frustrating a deep and dangerous Del Norte lineup all game long.

Morris also drove in the go-ahead runs with a two-RBI triple to left field in the top of the third inning, scoring Maeghan Hampton and Bailey Brown.

Center fielder Mariah Napoleon drove in Morris moments later on an RBI single.

The score remained 3-0 until the top of the seventh, when Mallorie Beauchamp hit a bases-loaded, two-out, two-RBI single to effectively end any chance of a late comeback.

Beauchamp’s hit scored Cassey Breazeal, who was pinch running for Zia Gee after she left the field injured field after beating out the throw to first on a well-executed bunt single.

Beauchamp also drove home Hampton, who had singled to reach on her way to scoring her second run of the day.

Del Norte’s Shay Nolan also pitched well and has matched up effectively in all four games against the Loggers this spring, two of which were decided by two or less runs and three of which were won by the Loggers.

Several players on this year’s Eureka roster also won the tournament in 2022, with the program’s only other tournament championship coming in 2018.

The championship game loss was the third for the Warriors in seven Charlie Lakin tournaments dating back to 2015.

With the win, the Loggers improved to 14-7 on the season, while the Warriors dropped to 17-6.

Both teams will now turn their attention toward next week’s North Coast Section playoffs with the brackets set to be announced on Saturday.

The Warriors are guaranteed to host a game after winning the league title and are ranked No. 2 in Division 4, according to MaxPreps.

The Eureka girls are ranked No. 6 in Division 3 and could also have the opportunity to host an opening game depending on how the bracket shapes up.