File photo – The McKinleyville Panthers lost their NCS semifinal at Piedmont on Wednesday night.

A memorable and very successful season for the McKinleyville Panthers ended on Wednesday, as the Big 5 champs bowed out of the North Coast Section Division-4 playoffs with a 4-1 loss at Piedmont.

The semifinal loss ended a remarkable 15-game winning streak that had lifted McKinleyville to the school’s first-ever conference and Charles Lakin tournament championship double.

But they started slowly on Wednesday and the best defense in the H-DNL made some costly early miscues that gave the home team a three-run advantage in the bottom of the first.

And that proved to be all the Highlanders needed, as they march on to the weekend championship game.

“The difference was we had one bad inning,” McKinleyville head coach Mike Dobrec said. “We made two mistakes and that was pretty much all their runs.”

Despite the loss, the season will be remembered as a very successful one for the smallest school in the Big 5.

And with a very talented junior class and several up-and-coming young players, the future for the Panthers should be a bright one.

“I’m really proud of the kids this year,” Dobrec said. “15 wins in a row, that’s heck of a streak. We just hit a speed bump tonight and unfortunately it was in the playoffs. But the kids had a heck of a year.”

Junior Jackson Kelly pitched all six innings for the visitors and had another good outing, allowing five hits and four walks and striking out seven.

“Kelly threw good,” his head coach said. “He pitched good enough to win. We just didn’t hit the ball good enough and we made some mistakes on defense.”

The hottest hitting team in the H-DNL managed just six hits in the loss, and when they did get the bat on the ball they hit it right at people.

Kelly also led the way at the plate and was 2-for-3, while outstanding freshman Hunter Carper was 1-for-3 with a double and hit the ball hard in all three of his at-bats.

Kolbe Stolpe, Riles Egbert and Evan Fraser each also finished 1-for-3, with Egbert driving in the Panthers’ only run of the night.

“It’s just the way it goes,” Dobrec said. “Things just didn’t fall for us today.”

The Panthers celebrate their Charles Lakin tournament win earlier this month.

In addition to Kelly’s big performance, Egbert also had a good night behind the plate after quickly establishing himself as one of the H-DNL’s most effective catchers this spring.

Three inning-ending double plays by the home team helped see them over the finish line.

“It was a good game against a good team, they just played better than us,” Dobrec added. “You’ve got to tip your hat to their pitcher (Steve Sanchez). He kept us off balance.”

The Panthers have four seniors — Fraser, Tyson Bragg, Branson Dobrec and Tenoch Tapia — all of whom will be missed.

But with four influential juniors — Stolpe, Egbert, Kelly and Bryce Sargent — all coming back, along with a talented class of five freshmen, two of whom started for much of the season, the cupboard is far from bare and the Panthers will be expected to pick up next year just where they left off in 2024.

“All four seniors had a great season and we’re going to miss them next year for sure,” Mike Dobrec said. “It’s hard to end this way.”

The Panthers closed out with a record of 22-5.