File photo – Isabel Sanchez

The Fortuna Huskies opened the Charles Lakin softball tournament with a 13-0 victory over St. Bernard’s in five innings on Tuesday night at the Arcata Sports Complex.

Junior pitcher Isabel Sanchez continued her recent dominance in the circle and pitched a no-hitter, following the perfect game she threw at McKinleyville two weeks ago.

But she needed some big-time help from her defense.

After walking three straight batters to load the bases with no outs in the top of the fourth, the Fortuna defense turned a rare triple play to get out of the jam.

St. Bernard’s Coco Low hit a soft line drive that looked like it would end the shutout, but Sanchez caught the ball and immediately threw to third baseman Evalynn Little for the second out.

Little then threw to first base where Hailee Thompson made the play for the third out to end the inning.

Sanchez struck out seven in a five-inning complete-game performance, but she also walked seven and hit two batters.

The game featured several other outstanding defensive plays, including two diving catches by St. Bernard’s outfielder Chloe Grunden in the first inning to prevent the Big 5 school from opening up a big lead early in the game.

In addition to playing a big part in the triple play, Little also made another nice defensive play after fielding a slow roller and firing a bullet to first to beat the speedy Logan Tallman.

For the game, Fortuna drew six walks, with four of those resulting in runs.

File photo

The Huskies’ bats racked up nine hits, with seven players contributing.

Little finished 2-for-3 with a double and four RBIs, while Sanchez was 2-for-3 with three RBIs and scored three runs.

Thompson also had a hit and two RBIs, while Faith Helms, Mariah Bravo, Sophia Castillo and Olivia Hayes each also had a hit and an RBI.

Sephora Machado walked twice and scored twice, with Castillo and Myra Hayes each also scoring twice.

No other stats were immediately available for the Crusaders, who closed out the season 10-14.

The victory for the Huskies was their fourth straight and their 16th in their last 18 games.

They improved to 20-3 overall.

The Fortuna girls will continue tournament play against Little 4 champs South Fork on Thursday at 7 p.m.

File photo