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The defending Little 4 champs are beginning to find their groove as they get set to begin the defense of their title with a couple of crucial conference games next week.
On Saturday, the Ferndale Wildcats won their final pre-conference game to maintain their impressive start to the season, defeating neighbor and rival Fortuna 10-0 in five innings.
With the win, the Cats improved to 5-0 on the season and now they’ll turn their attention to a pair of games against a St. Bernard’s team that is expected to also challenge for this year’s Little 4 crown.
The two conference rivals are scheduled to play each other at St. Bernard’s on Tuesday and at Ferndale on Thursday in two games that should go a long way towards deciding this year’s championship.
“We’re getting close,” Ferndale head coach Justin Andersen said of his team’s performances, before adding with a chuckle, “We’re not there yet, but we better be by Tuesday.”
The Cats are beginning to play at the level that won them a conference and North Coast Section championship double in 2024, with some quality pitching, consistent hitting from throughout the lineup and some sure-handed defense.
Team aces Prescott Langer and Parker Prior combined on the mound to hold the Fortuna bats to just five hits for the day.
Langer followed an outstanding outing against Redding Christian earlier in the week with another strong performance on Saturday, while Prior, who was the 2024 Little 4 MVP, matched him on Saturday.
“Prescott threw well and Parker came in and did a good job keeping them off balance and did a good job hitting his spots,” Andersen said. “He looked equally impressive as Prescott did on Tuesday.”
Langer gave up three hits and one walk and struck out four in two innings work, while Prior gave up two hits and a walk and struck out five in three innings.
The Cats took control of the game with five runs in the second and added three more in the fourth and two in the fifth to end the game early.
Tanner Pidgeon set the tone at the plate for the L4 school, hitting a triple to start the game.
He finished 2-for-2 and also had a double and scored three runs.
Jonah Anderson, who also is enjoying a good start to the season, was 2-for-2 and drove in four runs while scoring one.
Tristen Titus also made some noise at the plate and was 1-for-3 with a double and two runs, while freshman Cash Mobley continued his very impressive start to his high school career by going 1-for-2 with a run scored.
Luke Dixon added a base hit and two RBIs.
“We’re getting to the point where we’re finding out who we are,” Andersen said. “Defensively we played well and I was glad they threw (Mariqus) Ludd and we got to see quality pitching, and I thought our hitters did well, especially the second time around.
“We’re getting contributions from one through nine and extended at-bats and we’re working the count.”
The Huskies had five hits in the loss.
Ludd helped his own cause by going 2-for-3 with a double as he continues his impressive start to the season.
Junior Alex Sharkey also was 1-for-2, while Chandler Crenshaw went 1-for-2 and also walked and Conner McClendon was 1-for-3.
The Huskies, who dropped to 3-6, will host Eureka in a conference-opening doubleheader next Saturday.
