File photo – The Crusaders

The Little 4 champion Crusaders closed out conference play with a pair of wins in softball at Ferndale on Friday afternoon, winning 14-4 in five innings and 12-2.

One week after clinching their first conference championship in eight years, the St. Bernard’s girls continued to roll as they get set for next week’s Charles Lakin tournament, which will be played at the Arcata Sports Complex.

Despite the two losses, the Ferndale girls will also advance to the Lakin tournament as the Little 4’s No. 3 seed.

They finished with the same record as South Fork, but earned the tournament spot courtesy of a tiebreaker after taking three of four games against the Cubs.

Sarah Luna got the win in the circle for St. Bernard’s in Friday’s opener, giving up six hits and striking out four in five innings.

According to head coach Brain Finck, the SB bats were a little cold in the opener, but the offense was able to score thanks to some good base running.

Isabelle Ellsmore led the Ferndale girls at the plate and finished 3-for-3, while Madison Gossi was 2-for-3 and drove in two runs.

Alayna Cooney (1-for-1, RBI), Makenzie Chambers (1-for-3) and Addison Collenberg (two walks, two runs) each also made an impact for the Cats on offense.

Oni Orcutt got the win in the circle in game two and had five strikeouts, while Kayla Maples had a big double and Chloe Grunden added a key hit.

Grunden had a big overall day and was 2-for-3 with five walks over the two games and also scored two runs.

St. Bernard’s Sahara Tupua also was 3-for-4 in game two with four runs, while Presley Orcutt was 1-for-2 with a double and also scored a run.

Senior Hannah Finck, who has started at catcher all season for St. Bernard’s, came out from behind the plate to play third base and had a nice double play.

“We were able to get all of our players in the game and get them some experience,” Brian Finck said.

The Wildcats were missing a couple of players who were out of town, but six different Ferndale players hit successfully in game two, including Rainy Rodriguez, who was 2-for-4.

Collenberg, Olivia Gossi, Madison Gossi, Ellsmore and Yajaira Cantu-Mendez each also had a hit in the loss.

“I thought the girls battled and kept it positive all day,” Ferndale head coach Jeremy Griffith said. “St. Bernard’s is a good team and they took advantage of a few mistakes. But the girls fought throughout the day.”

Madison Gossi in particular continued her impressive recent form and has been hitting the ball well over the second half of conference play with 12 RBIs in the last four games.