It’s been an impressive opening month to the local high school softball season for the Fortuna Huskies, as they get set to turn their attention to this year’s Big 5 and the goal of ending a nine-year wait for a conference championship after finishing runners-up in each of the past past two years.
The Huskies, who are this week’s Humboldt Sports Team of the Week, improved to 11-0 with an 8-4 win over Windsor at Fortuna High School on Saturday.
But they had to battle, overcoming a late deficit to keep their perfect start in tact.
Fortuna trailed 4-3 going into the bottom of the sixth inning, but rallied with five runs in the inning to secure the win.
“I thought we played pretty well, but we were a little shaky defensively at times,” Huskies head coach Eric Helms said. “But we are swinging the bats really well and the top four in the lineup definitely led the way for us today.”
This year’s Fortuna team features a nice blend of experience and youth with some outstanding seniors and juniors and a freshmen class that should keep the Huskies relevant for the foreseeable future.
And the team offense has been on fire, with an incredible 11 players averaging better than .200 at the plate through the opening 11 games.
“That’s the thing we have been doing really well this year,” Helms said of the hitting.
Freshman Naiya Castillo led off the decisive sixth inning with a walk and would advance to second on a base hit by her sister Kaylee Castillo, before scoring moments later on a Sanchez single.
Sanchez, who finished the game 4-for-4 to continue her fast start to the season, would advance along with Kaylee Castillo on a sac bunt by Olivia Hayes, before Hailee Thompson gave the home team the lead on a two-RBI base hit.
Evalynn Little, who is enjoying a phenomenal season for the team, would extend the advantage with a two-run home run over the center field fence, and after that there was no way back for the Division-2 Jaguars, who dropped to 3-5 with the loss.
Incredibly, Little is hitting .600 with four home runs and 27 RBIs through the opening 11 games.
Sanchez went the distance in the circle, giving up four runs on just four hits while striking out 13 batters.
However, she walked six batters and allowed two more reach base on a hit-by-pitch.
“She’s definitely a threat for us at the plate and in the circle,” Helms said of the standout senior, adding, however, that she struggled a little bit with her walks on Saturday.
But the Jaguars were unable to take advantage of the miscues and left eight runners stranded.
Thompson finished 2-for-3 at the plate with a double and three RBIs, while Little also was 2-for-3 with the home run that took the wind out of the visitors’ challenge.
Little also had a double and a run-scoring sacrifice fly to deep center field and finished with three RBIs.
The Huskies will now turn their attention to the upcoming Big 5 schedule, which gets under way next Saturday.
The Fortuna girls open with a doubleheader at Eureka and will play their first six conference games on the road.
We’ll have much more on what should a very competitive Big 5 next week.
