Sanchez no-hits the Panthers to give the Huskies Big 5 advantage

By barstoolfanatics on April 9, 2025 • ( Leave a comment )

Submitted photos – Isabel Sanchez fields a bunt during Wednesday’s game.

Fortuna junior Isabel Sanchez pitched a no-hitter against one of the Huskies’ main challengers for this year’s Big 5 championship on Wednesday afternoon.

The junior standout struck out 10 in an 11-1 win over the McKinleyville Panthers in six innings as the Huskies stretched their unbeaten start to conference play to three straight.

With the victory, they moved ahead of Del Norte (2-0) in the Big 5 standings, with the Warriors enjoying a midweek bye in conference play.

And that sets up a huge doubleheader between the two schools at Fortuna on Saturday.

The Fortuna girls, who have now won seven straight and are 11-1 overall, will carry plenty of momentum into the big showdown.

And they appear to be firing on all cylinders right now.

The Panthers struck first on Wednesday, taking a one-run advantage in the top of the first, but the Huskies held them scoreless the remainder of the way and quickly went to work on offense.

They scored two runs in the bottom of the second to take a lead they would not relinquish and added four more runs in the third to take control.

Senior Faith Helms and junior Olivia Hayes led the Fortuna girls at the plate.

Helms finished 2-for-2 with a walk and was involved in seven of her team’s runs, driving in five of them and scoring twice.

One of her hits was a double, which was her team-leading seventh of the season.

Hayes finished 2-for-3 and also scored twice.

Hailee Thompson (1-for-2, two walks, two runs), Evalynn Little (1-for-3, RBI, two runs) and Sophia Castillo (1-for-3, two RBIs) rounded out a seven-hit team performance.

Addi Collenberg and Mariah Bravo each also drove in a run in the win with Bravo also walking twice.