Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports,.com – Action from Saturday’s doubleheader at McKinleyville.

By Ray Hamill — The battle for the third and final Big 5 berth for this year’s Charles Lakin softball tournament could go down to the final day of the regular season.

On Saturday, Arcata traveled to McKinleyville and split a doubleheader, with the visitors prevailing 13-10 in the opener and the Panthers responding with an emphatic 12-0 win in game two in five innings.

The doubleheader split leaves the minimum between them in the Big 5 standings, with the Panthers now 3-3 in conference play (8-8 overall) and the Tigers 2-4 (5-8 overall).

The two schools will play a third time in the Big 5 in both team’s regular-season finale at Arcata High on May 7 in a game that could be for third place.

“All in all it was a good day for our girls,” said Arcata head coach Jason Miller, who has his young team playing far more competitively in his first year in charge. “We are making minimal mistakes and are getting to see some of our hard work we put in at practice turn into some success on the field.”

That was certainly the case in game one on Saturday.

The Tigers had two big innings offensively in the win, taking control with seven runs in the top of the third and adding five more runs two innings later.

And that was enough to secure the win, with freshman pitcher Sophia Spetzler impressing in the circle.

“Game one we came out swinging and it was good to see some success early on to help our freshman pitcher,” Miller said. “The energy was great and the team was really hungry for a win.”

The Panthers, however, would respond well in game two to secure an important split to keep their Lakin tournament hopes on track.

They would quickly take control of the game with 10 runs in the opening two innings, including eight in the bottom of the second.

The hosts racked up nine hits in the win, including two each by Bailee Box, Taylor Wade and McKennah Sargent.

Both of Box’s hits were doubles and she also scored twice, while Wade and Sargent each also had a double, with Wade driving in two runs and Sargent three.

Callyn McCullough also reached base three times in the win, all on walks, while Liana Stumpf added a hit, and Leili Guerrero and Baylie Grooms each had a base hit and a walk.

Sargent got the win in the circle, giving up just two hits and no walks and striking out five in a dominant performance.

“In game two we couldn’t get going offensively,” Miller said of the Tigers.

Among the offensive highlights of the day for the Arcata girls, Jenna Renteria had a big day and was 5-for-6 over the two games with a double and three RBIs, while the always dangerous Nallia Meyer finished 3-for-6 with a triple.

Peyton Miller also had a triple and Toni Diaz had a double.

Box also had two doubles in the earlier game for McKinleyville, giving her four on the day, while Stumpf and McCullough each also had two hits in that game, with the latter also walking and driving in three runs.

One of Stumpf’s hits was a double.

Sargent and Victoria Eggink each added a hit to round out an eight-hit team performance.

Grooms also walked twice in that loss.

Next up, Arcata plays at Del Norte on Wednesday and McKinleyville hosts Fortuna in a doubleheader next Saturday.