File photo – The Ferndale Wildcats

Bring on the Crusaders.

Since dropping their opening two conference games to St. Bernard’s — their only losses of the season so far — the Ferndale Wildcats have responded in a manner befitting of defending conference champs.

On Thursday, they won their fifth straight game, and fourth straight in conference, defeating South Fork 12-1.

The win lifts the Cats to 4-2 in the Little 4 (10-2 overall) and sets up two huge games against the high-flying Crusaders (6-0 in the Little 4) next week, a pair of showdowns that will likely decide this year’s conference championship.

“We’re looking forward to the challenge of next week and the opportunity to make it right,” Ferndale head coach Justin Andersen said. 

They certainly took care of business against the Cubs, but the game didn’t get out of hand until the final inning.

Prescott Langer got the win on the mound, throwing five strong innings of one-hit ball and striking out nine.

Langer also allowed one walk and a hit-by-pitch.

Parker Prior pitched the final two innings to help seal the win and gave up just one hit while striking out three.

Tanner Pidgeon and Tristen Titus led the way the plate for the defending conference champs and each was 3-for-4 with two RBIs, while Cade Renner was 2-for-5 and scored a run.

The hard-hitting Luke Dixon added a home run and drove in two runs, while Prior, Jonah Anderson and Cash Mobley each added a hit to round out a 12-hit team performance.

Anderson also drove in two runs.

John Stafslien led the Cubs as he continues his recent good play, finishing 2-for-3 with a double and two stolen bases.

Travis “T-Bone” Way scored South Fork’s only run of the game after being hit by a pitch to reach base and he also had two stolen bases.

Way also impressed on the mound and gave his team a chance with six solid innings before being pulled because of his pitch count.

“I was impressed with Way,” Andersen said. “He did a good job keeping our kids off balance.”

The versatile Stafslien, who has seen time this season at second base, center field and on the hill, also played well defensively for the Cubs, who dropped to 1-5 in the Little 4.

“John continues to play well defensively and is starting to come around at the plate as an older veteran player should at this stage of the season,” South Fork head coach Alex Finn said.

Kale Puno also did a good job catching for South Fork.

“Defensively we played great today,” Finn added. “We still had a few errors, but overall some of our younger players are stepping up.”

The Cats, however, grew into the game and added six runs in the top of the seventh to end any hopes of a late comeback by the host Cubs.

“Early on we hit the ball at people, but we stuck with it and it was just a matter of time before we broke it open,” Andersen said.

The first of next week’s two big games will take place at Ferndale on Tuesday at 4 p.m., followed by a matchup at St. Bernard’s on Thursday.

File photo