Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Action from Friday’s doubleheader between St. Bernard’s and Ferndale.

By Ray Hamill — The St. Bernard’s girls improved to 4-0 in the Little 4 after sweeping a doubleheader against Ferndale at Samoa on Friday.

The Crusaders took the opener 10-6 and won game two 11-1 in five innings.

A young Ferndale team dropped to 1-3 in conference play.

Both games were competitive, but one bad inning in each saw them get away from the Wildcats.

“I thought offensively we had some good at-bats that we didn’t always cash in on,” Ferndale head coach Jeremy Griffith said. “Defensively we’ve got to get better. There were a couple of big innings that we could have prevented.”

The Crusaders broke open a tight game in the opener with seven runs in the fourth.

Despite the losses, there were plenty of bright spots for the Wildcats, including both pitchers and the play of standouts Tinnley Pidgeon and Madison Gossi.

Pidgeon finished 2-for-4 in the opener and had three RBIs, while also playing well behind the plate.

Gossi also had an RBI in the opener and was 1-for-4, while teammate Addison Collenberg went 1-for-2, and Alayna Cooney and Danica Dowd each finished 1-for-3.

The Wildcats managed just one hit in game two, with Gossi going 1-for-2.

A pair of freshman pitchers played complete games for Ferndale, with Olivia Gossi taking the circle in the opener and Collenberg starting game two.

Both young players are showing signs of improvement after a busy week for each that also included a doubleheader split at South Fork on Monday.

“I thought both of our pitchers took a step forward with their control,” Griffith said. “And I thought Tinnley Pidgeon did a good job behind the plate and Madison Gossi continued to hit the ball hard.”

Humboldt Sports reached out to the St. Bernard’s coaches, but no stats or feedback on the performance was immediately available for the team.

In other Little 4 action on Friday, the South Fork and Hoopa girls split a doubleheader in Hoopa.

The Warriors won game one 10-8, with the Cubs bouncing back to take game two 8-3.

We’ll have more on the South Fork and Hoopa games on Saturday.