Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Action from Tuesday’s tournament game at the Arcata Sports Complex.

By Ray Hamill — The McKinleyville Panthers set up a rematch against Big 5 rival Del Norte in the Charles Lakin tournament after a comfortable 11-1 win over Hoopa at the Arcata Sports Complex on Tuesday.

The Mack girls scored five runs in the top of the third inning and added three more in the fourth to open up an 8-1 advantage, and that was more than enough for sophomore pitcher McKennah Sargent and her defense.

The opening-round win sends the Panthers on to Thursday’s semifinal round, where they will play the No. 1 seeds from the Big 5 at 5 p.m.

“Our hitters did a really good job adjusting after the first time through the lineup,” McKinleyville head coach Shanna McCracken said. “Overall, I thought they did a good job executing.”

So too did Sargent, who has established herself as one of the most reliable and consistent pitchers in the H-DNL.

Sargent pitched all seven innings for the win and gave up just three hits and no walks while striking out 10.

The standout sophomore was named the Panthers’ player of the game.

As a team, the Mack bats accounted for seven hits, including two each by the Stumpf sisters.

Senior Mashell Stumpf was 2-for-3 with a double, a walk and an RBI and also scored two runs, while her younger sister Liana Stumpf was 2-for-5 with a double and an RBI and also scored two runs.

Sargent helped her own cause at the plate and was 1-for-4 with a walk, a double and two RBIs.

Hannah McCullough (1-for-3 with an RBI) and Liz Mengel (1-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs) each also had a hit in the win.

“Both teams, I thought, played pretty good defense,” McCracken added.

Sophomore pitcher Monteya Colegrove also impressed for Hoopa and gave up seven hits in a complete game, while walking four and striking out six.

Bella Valentine (1-for-4), Rikki Lipscomb (1-for-2) and Kalia Mitchell (1-for-3) each had a hit for the Warriors.

Valentine also had a good game defensively in center field and scored her team’s only run on a Rianna Bain RBI.

Bain at third and Ava Jackson at first each also played some solid defense, as did shortstop Jaiden Kurtz.

“There were just some hit balls that we couldn’t capitalize on, and we let the game get away from us,” Hoopa head coach Jordee Colegrove-Avery said. “McKinleyville played a good game. They had good energy and played good defense against us today.”

The coach also praised the defense of Mitchell at catcher and Angela Hern in left field.

In the other first-round game on Tuesday, Fortuna defeated Ferndale 7-0 to advance to play St. Bernard’s in Thursday’s semifinal.

The Warriors and Wildcats will now turn their attention to next week’s North Coast Section playoffs, with the brackets set to be announced this weekend.