Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – McKinleyville second baseman Liana Stumpf makes a catch during game two of Saturday’s doubleheader.

As expected, the race for this year;’s Big 5 championship will go down to the final day off action.

But on Saturday, the field of contenders was narrowed down to two, as the McKinleyville Panthers split a home doubleheader against Del Norte to clinch at least a share of the title and end the Warriors’ hopes of a fourth straight conference crown.

The McKinleyville girls took a close game one 7-6, but Del Norte would respond with an 11-3 win in game two to deny the Panthers the championship outright, for now.

With the split, McKinleyville improved to 8-3 in the Big 5 (13-6 overall) with one remaining game against Arcata on Wednesday.

But the Fortuna Huskies kept their hopes of shared title alive by sweeping Arcata in a doubleheader, also on Saturday.

With their two wins, the Huskies closed out their Big 5 schedule with a record of 8-4 and can still claim a first Big 5 pennant since 2017 if the Arcata girls can help them out with a win next week.

Regardless of whether they share the title or not, the Panthers are guaranteed the Big 5’s top seed for the upcoming HDN postseason Charles Lakin tournament because they hold the tiebreaker over the Huskies after taking two of three conference games against them.

But they had to battle on Saturday against the defending champs, who refused to give up their title easily and came within one bad inning of sweeping the doubleheader.

The visitors led 5-0 going into the fifth inning of game one, but the Panthers would piece together a late rally, scoring seven runs to take a lead they would not relinquish.

Senior McKennah Sargent got the win in the circle in game one, pitching all seven innings and allowing nine hits and four walks while striking out three.

Cabella Carper and Leili Guerrero each had two hits for McKinleyville.

Carper kicked off a good day for herself by going 2-for-3 with a double, a walk, an RBI and a run, while Guerrero was 2-for-3 with two doubles, two RBIs and a run.

Addison White (1-for-3 with an RBI and a run), Ashton Rodriguez (1-for-3 with an RBI) and Jacey Parker (1-for-3 with an RBI and a run) each also had a base hit in the win.

Natasha DeNicholas led Del Norte in game one with three hits, but no other stats from the game were immediately available. Coaches are encouraged to forward details to Humboldt Sports if they would like to see their players included in our roundups.

After seeing their championship hopes end after the opening loss, the Del Norte girls responded well in game two and came out strong, scoring runs in each of the first four innings to open up an 11-2 lead, and they would hold on for the win.

With the victory, the Warriors improved to 6-5 in the Big 5 and 14-9 overall.

They are now tied with Eureka for third in the Big 5 standings and will host the Loggers in both schools’ conference finale on Wednesday in a showdown that will determine the third and final conference spot for the upcoming Lakin tournament.

For McKinleyville, meanwhile, Carper continued to impress.

The freshman has thrived this spring in the lead-off spot and capped a good day at the plate with two more hits, including a home run, finishing 2-for-3 with two RBIs.

Liana Stumpf (1-for-3 with a double and a run), Sargent (1-for-3), Addison White (1-for-3), Rodriguez (1-for-1) and Bailee White (1-for-2 with a double and a run) each also hit successfully in the loss.

Sargent pitched three innings for the home team, giving up seven hits and two walks and striking out three.

Parker also saw time in the circle for McKinleyville, pitching four strong innings in relief.

She gave up just one hit and one walk and struck out three.