Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Fortuna’s Isabel Sanchez threw a perfect game at McKinleyville on Monday.

The first perfect game of the 2025 H-DNL season helped lift the Fortuna Huskies into top spot in the Big 5 standings.

Whether they’ll remain there depends on the biggest game of the H-DNL season, which will take place at Del Norte on Wednesday.

But on Monday, the Huskies took care of business and swept a doubleheader at McKinleyville in a pair of games that had been pushed back from Saturday because of the weather.

Junior standout Isabel Sanchez pitched a perfect game in the opener to lead the visitors to a 7-0 win, and the Fortuna girls followed that with a 14-5 victory in game two to complete a three-games conference sweep over the Panthers.

The two wins lifted the Huskies to 8-1 in the Big 5 and sees them leapfrog Del Norte (7-1) into top spot.

However, the Warriors, who had a bye on Monday, can retake the conference lead with a midweek victory over the only team that can stop them from a three-peat of championships.

Sanchez was the story of the day on Monday, as she continues to show why she is arguably the best pitcher in the H-DNL this spring.

The outstanding junior struck out 11 on the way to victory, while allowing no hits and no walks and getting plenty of support from a Fortuna defense that not commit any errors.

“She was locked in and she was hitting her spots,” Fortuna head coach Eric Helms said. “It was one of those games where it was a nice game to call and got us going in the right direction.”

The McKinleyville bats made Sanchez and the Huskies work for perfection and hit the ball hard at times.

But the Fortuna girls were up for the challenge and four plays in particular helped preserve the perfect game.

In the bottom of the first, McKinleyville shortstop Liana Stumpf crushed a line drive towards right field, but Husky first baseman Hailee Thompson made a leaping catch for the out.

The following inning, McKinleyville pitcher McKennah Sargent hit a bullet into right field, but Husky right fielder Olivia Hayes fielded the ball on one hop, fired a strike to Thompson at first base to barely deny Sargent a base hit.

In the fourth inning, the Fortuna defense stepped up again.

Stumpf, who is enjoying a good season for her team, crushed another line drive to right field, but Hayes made a running catch in right center.  

Fortuna shortstop Mariah Bravo closed out the perfect game with the final out, knocking down a bullet from Callyn McCullough and recovering in time to throw to first for the out.

Sanchez also led the Huskies at the plate in that win, going 3-for-3 with a double, two RBIs and three runs scored, while Myra Hayes was 2-for-3 with a triple.

Sophomore Sephora Machado also impressed in the win and was 2-for-4 with two runs scored, while Evelynn Little was 1-for-4 with three RBIs and Bravo was 1-for-3 with a big two-run double in the fourth inning.

Sanchez continued to impress for the visitors in game two and struck out six of the first nine batters to set the tone.

The impressive junior threw five innings for the win and allowed four earned runs on five hits and four walks while striking out 10.

Myra Hayes took over in relief and closed out the game.

The Huskies started strong offensively and plated six runs in the first two innings to quickly take control.

They would stretch the lead to 13-1 with seven more runs in the fifth.

Five different Huskies finished with multiple hits in the win, including Little and Bravo, who each finished 3-for-4 with a double and three RBIs.

Faith Helms also had two hits, including a double, while Sophia Castillo and Machado each added two hits.

Sanchez, Myra Hayes and Olivia Hayes each also had a base hit to round out a 15-hit team performance, including a double by the latter.

The Panthers are now 3-5 in the Big 5 and 8-10 overall, while the Huskies are 16-2 overall.

Next up, on Wednesday, the Huskies will travel to Del Norte for their big matchup, while the Panthers will entertain Eureka.

“We’re looking forward to the opportunity to go up to Del Norte and take on the Warriors,” Helms added.