Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Mariah Bravo and her Fortuna teammates will play a doubleheader at McKinleyville on Monday.

By Ray Hamill — After a few weeks in which the weather was cooperating, the local baseball and softball seasons were affected by the conditions once again this weekend.

Six of the eight scheduled Big 5 games on Saturday had to be pushed back to Monday because of the field conditions and weekend rain.

The two games that went ahead included a baseball showdown between the Panthers and Fortuna Huskies at McKinleyville High School and a softball matchup between Eureka and Arcata at Washington Elementary.

The Panthers prevailed 7-0 in the baseball game to improve to 6-1 in the Big 5 and move within one win of conference leaders Del Norte in the standings with a game in hand.

The Arcata girls also won their game 9-8 to go to 3-5 in the Big 5 and keep their hopes of qualifying for this year’s Charles Lakin tournament on track.

However, the second games of both of those doubleheaders had to be pushed back to Monday, along with both Eureka and Arcata baseball games and both McKinleyville and Fortuna softball games.

The Big 5 schools will begin a busy week with six scheduled games on Monday.

The Eureka and Arcata boys will play a doubleheader at Belotti Field across from the Redwood Acres, with game one set for 2 p.m.

The McKinleyville and Fortuna girls will now play their twin bill on Monday, with game one also set for 2 p.m.

The Arcata and Eureka girls will conclude their conference series with a single game at Washington Elementary School in Eureka on Monday at 4 p.m.

Likewise with the Fortuna and McKinleyville boys, who will play a single game on Monday at McKinleyville High School at 4 p.m.

A busy week for the H-DNL will continue with 22 more games scheduled between Tuesday and Saturday, including seven that could potentially decide all four conference championships.

On Wednesday, the Fortuna and Del Norte girls will play in Crescent City in a softball showdown between the two conference frontrunners.

The Arcata Tigers will play a rescheduled doubleheader at Eureka on Monday.

If the Huskies can sweep Monday’s rescheduled doubleheader at McKinleyville, then Wednesday’s game could very well decide the championship.

Next Saturday, the Big 5 frontrunners in baseball, Del Norte and McKinleyville, will play a huge doubleheader in Crescent City that could also decide this year’s championship.

In the Little 4, meanwhile, the South Fork girls and St. Bernard’s are both two wins clear of the chasing pack with four games remaining.

The SB boys can secure at least a share of the championship with wins over South Fork on Tuesday and Thursday.

The South Fork girls can clinch a first title in decades if they can sweep a home doubleheader against St. Bernard’s on Thursday, or they can claim at least a share of the title with a split.

The McKinleyville girls will host Fortuna in a doubleheader on Monday.