Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com
It was a tough day for the H-DNL teams in the North Coast Section softball playoffs on Friday, as all three local schools in action lost their quarterfinals.
Despite being the top two seeds in the Division-3 bracket, Big 5 champions and runners-up, McKinleyville and Fortuna, both lost their postseason openers.
The No. 1 seeded Panthers fell 7-1 to No. 9 Petaluma, while No. 2 Fortuna lost 20-9 in a high-scoring showdown against No. 10 Freedom.
Also in action on Friday, the Del Norte girls saw their season end in a 5-1 loss to Analy in Crescent City.
The No. 4 seeds in Division 4 were coming off a playoff-opening win over Ukiah earlier in the week but fell to the No. 12 Tigers, leaving Eureka and South Fork as the last two remaining HDN teams in this year’s playoffs.
The Loggers and Cubs will play their Division-5 quarterfinals on Saturday afternoon.
Errors didn’t help matters on Friday for the Big 5 teams, who combined for 15 of them in their losses.
The Panthers were unable to get much going against the Trojans at McKinleyville.
The visitors opened their account with three runs in the top of the third and added four more runs over the next two innings to take a seven-run lead.
McKennah Sargent drove in Liana Stumpf in the bottom of the sixth inning for McKinleyville’s only run of the day.
Sargent, who has enjoyed an impressive four years with the Panthers, finished 2-for-3 at the plate and also pitched a complete game in the circle.
The standout senior, who will play at Santa Rosa JC next year, allowed just two earned runs on 10 hits and no walks while striking out six.
The Panthers defense, however, committed six errors, compared to an errorless day for the Petaluma defense.
Josie Provolt-Dowd also was 2-for-3 for the home team, while Stumpf and Jacey Parker each added a double.
Sophomore Taylor Cook had a good day in the circle for the Trojans, pitching all severn innings and allowing six hits and no walks while striking out five.
Petaluma improved to 15-11-1 on the season, while McKinleyville closed out 14-8.
At Fortuna, meanwhile, the Huskies and Freedom combined for 29 runs on 27 hits.
The home team team, committed six errors compared to just one by the Falcons.
Both teams started fast, combining for eight runs in the first inning, including five by the visitors.
The two schools would continue to add to their tally over the next few innings and the game remained tight going into the fifth, with the Falcons holding a three-run advantage.
Freedom, however, would put some distance between the two teams with seven runs in the fifth.
Junior Evalynn Little closed out a very impressive season for the Huskies with another big day the plate.
Little finished 3-for-4 with three doubles, four RBIs and two runs.
Five other Huskies hit successfully, including Addie Collenberg, who was 2-for-3 with a triple, an RBI and a run.
Isabel Sanchez (2-for-4 with a run) and Olivia Hayes (2-for-2 with two walks and three runs) each also had multiple hits for Fortuna.
Sophia Castillo (1-for-3 with an RBI and a walk) and Keeley Ryles-Baker (1-for-4 with an RBI) rounded out an 11-hit team performance.
Fortuna closed out the season with a record of 21-6, while Freedom improved to 10-16.
Up in Crescent City, meanwhile, the visiting Tigers scored four runs in the top of the fourth to open up a five-run lead.
The Analy girls out-hit the home team 8-6 in the win.
Del Norte closes out the season with a record of 16-19, while the Tigers improved to 11-12.
