By Ray Hamill — It’s been a good year for Ferndale High School sports.

In the fall, the Ferndale girls soccer team won a first-ever North Coast Section championship, and a few weeks later the Wildcats followed that with a first-ever state championship in football.

On Friday, the school’s baseball team did its part to keep the momentum going by sweeping a conference-ending doubleheader against St. Bernard’s to secure the school’s first Little 4 title in the sport since 2005.

Playing in one of the most anticipated showdowns of the season, both teams came in deadlocked at the top of the conference standings with identical records of 9-1.

But with the championship on the line, it was the Wildcats who rose to the occasion in front of a large home crowd.

They took game one 4-1 to secure at least a co-championship and never let the momentum slip from their grasp with a 3-0 win in game two.

And they achieved the breakthrough championship with a group of players who have all come through Ferndale Elementary School and Ferndale High School together.

“This is huge for the program,” head coach Justin Andersen said. “The fact that these kids are all home grown, and we have a school of not even 150 kids, and they can put it all together and reach the heights they’re reaching, it’s something you don’t see very often.”

The championship for Ferndale ends a dominating run by the Crusaders, who had won 15 of the past 16 conference crowns, including five straight dating back to 2017 (there was no league championships in the COVID years of 2020 and 2021).

After the final out, the Ferndale players got to enjoy their big moment and it was particularly gratifying beating their biggest conference rivals on the way to achieving the championship.

Just as impressive, this group of Wildcats — many of whom also played key roles on the march to the state championship in football in December — stepped up to the challenge and never relented while holding the visitors to just one run all day.

“They’re super stoked,” added Andersen, who has been in charge of the program since 2011. “They earned it. They definitely earned it today.”

The Ferndale pitching, much as it has done all season, set the tone and the Wildcats defense backed them all day.

Prescott Langer threw all seven innings for the win in game one, and Levi Dixon matched that with seven shutout innings in game two.

And they were efficient, throwing just 85 and 88 pitches, respectively.

“Our pitchers have been putting in the work for us all year and today was no different,” Andersen said. “We were able to get out of jams, and our defense was lights out today.”

Parker Prior led the defense with some big plays at shortstop.

Langer allowed just one earned run on two hits and one walk and struck out two, while Dixon gave up six hits and four walks and struck out three, but did not give up any runs.

“I want to congratulate coach Andersen and his team on a well-earned championship,” St. Bernard’s head coach Matt Tomlin said. “Langer and Dixon pitched outstanding today and Prior played gold glove defense to lead his team.”

The Ferndale bats also backed both pitchers with some balanced hitting from throughout the lineup.

Austin Michel led the way at the plate in game one and finished 2-for-2 with two RBIs, while Dixon was 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run and Trent Titus was 2-for-4 and scored two runs.

Prior (1-for-3) rounded out a seven-hit team performance and also scored a run.

The Crusaders took a one-run lead in the first inning of game one, but the Cats wasted no time responding and scored three runs in the bottom half of the inning for a lead they would not relinquish.

Game two was deadlocked until the bottom of the fourth inning.

Jarrett Smith led off the inning with a double to left field and the Cats would load the bases on a Langer base hit and a Wes Renner walk, before Smith scored on a Titus fielder’s choice.

The home team added two more runs in the fifth and you got the feeling there would be no way back for the visitors against a determined Wildcats team.

Tanner Pidgeon led off the inning with a double and stole his way to third before scoring on a Jonah Anderson base hit.

A few minutes later Renner was walked with the bases loaded to score Dixon, who was pinch running for Michel.

Langer finished 2-for-2, while Anderson was 2-for-3 and Pidgeon was 2-for-4.

Prior and Dixon each also had a hit.

“We competed all day. It was fun baseball to watch,” Andersen said. “It was definitely our most complete day of baseball.”

Michael Fugate and Michael Manzi each had a base hit for the Crusaders in game one, while Luke Brunton pitched a complete game, allowing three earned runs on seven hits and two walks and striking out five.

Michael Manzi got the start on the hill in game two, with Tyler Hinrichs pitching the sixth in relief.

Manzi took the loss, allowing seven hits and six walks and striking out five.

“Manzi continues to play at an MVP level, but we couldn’t support him with any runs,” Tomlin said.

The sophomore also had a big game at the plate and went 3-for-4, while freshmen Garrett Shanahan (3-for-3) and Mateo Reiman (2-for-2) both also made some noise on offense.

“I was very proud of the two freshmen,” Tomlin added.

The Wildcats close out conference play with a record of 11-1, while the Crusaders dropped to 9-3.

The two teams had split an early doubleheader at St. Bernard’s.

With the two wins on Friday, the Wildcats have now won four of five games against SB this spring.

The two teams will now turn their attention to next week’s Charles Lakin tournament, which will take place at the Arcata Ball Park.

As the Little 4’s No. 1 seed, the Cats will have an opening round bye before playing either Eureka or South Fork in Thursday’s semifinal.

The Crusaders will open against Fortuna on Tuesday at 5 p.m.