Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – McKennah Sargent delivers a pitch during Wednesday’s NCS playoff game at McKinleyville.

By Ray Hamill — After going further in the North Coast Section softball playoffs than any other H-DNL team, the McKinleyville Panthers saw their season end in a closely-fought and well-played showdown on Wednesday.

The Panthers, who were seeded No. 1 in the Division-5 bracket, welcomed No. 4 Miramonte to McKinleyville High for their semifinal.

But it was the visiting Matadors that prevailed, knocking off an H-DNL opponent for the second time in four days.

After getting the better of South Fork 7-2 in Saturday’s quarterfinal, the Miramonte girls won 2-1 on Wednesday.

They opened the scoring in the top of the first inning and never trailed.

The Panthers would respond when Liana Stumpf scored her team’s only run of the day in the bottom of the third, but the Matadors had the final say, adding to their tally in the top of the fifth and holding on down the stretch.

The loss ends the season for the Panthers, who closed out with a record of 15-14.

But after an up and down Big 5 campaign that saw them go 5-7 and finish in third place, the McKinleyville players enjoyed a good playoff run.

They knocked off Big 5 champion Del Norte to reach the championship game of the Charles Lakin tournament, where they barely fell to Fortuna.

That helped them secure the top seed for the Division-5 NCS tournament and gave them an opening-round bye, before they comfortably took care of business against Clear Lake in Friday’s quarterfinal, which they won 10-0.

On Wednesday, however, Miramonte pitcher Abby Warren and her defense held the McKinleyville bats hitless over the final three innings, including a quick three-up, three-down seventh.

The panthers trailed by a run heading into the third, but the momentum began to switch.

Stumpf led off the inning with a base hit, before advancing to second on a fielder’s choice that did not result in an out.

She then advanced to third on a double steal, before being brought home on a Taylor Wade sac fly.

The Panthers had a golden opportunity to add to their tally in the fourth before a wild double play ended the threat.

Callyn McCullough led off the inning with a single and was quickly joined on base by teammate Sueveya Provolt, who reached on an error.

But McCullough would be tagged out at home plate just moments later to cap an inning-ending double play that also saw Provolt tagged out at second.

That was as close as the home team would come to tying the game a second time, with walks by Leili Guerrero in the fifth and Provolt in the sixth the only time the Panthers reached base down the stretch.

McKinleyville’s McKennah Sargent had a good day in the circle and did enough to keep her team in the game with some solid team defense behind her.

The junior pitcher gave up just six hits and five walks and struck out 10.

Junior Avery Haynes scored what would be the winning run for Miramonte in the top of the fifth.

She reached base on a two-out triple and scored the decisive run moments later on a passed ball.

Warren helped her own cause with a pair of base hits to lead the visitors at the plate.

The Matadors improved to 17-8 with the win and will play No. 2 Kennedy in the championship game.

Kennedy defeated Piner 7-2 in the other semifinal.