Prep softball | McKinleyville splits Big Five doubleheader with Eureka, Fortuna sweeps Del Norte

Monday on the softball diamond, McKinleyville's girls moved to take a slight advantage in the early-season Big Five standings, dropping the first end of a doubleheader at home to Eureka, 12-7, before coming back to win the finale, 19-14. Head coach Shanna McCracken was not pleased with her squad's 11 errors on the day, but they did take an early-season lead in conference at 2-1 to Eureka and Fortuna's 3-2. Mack is 7-4 overall on the year, Eureka 6-8.

"The girls definitely have a lot to work on, and did not play to their potential that day," said McCracken. "We have to tip our caps to Eureka for really turning things around this season, they played pretty stellar defense against us, and they look like a whole new ballclub this year. I think our team has a lot of potential and hasn't consistently stepped up to reach their potential yet."

Cabella Carper got a shout-out from her coach for "really, just keeping her energy and competitiveness up the entire time, she has that refuse-to-lose attitude and we need to instill that in a few other girls and make that a team-wide norm."

McCracken said it was good her squad was able to "flush that first game quickly, and come out strong the second game. We're very young, with three seniors and rest are underclassmen, so it's good for them to learn this now. Also, they know what it feels like to play to their potential and hang with some really good teams, so I think just getting them to be able to live up to that regularly (is the challenge). 11 errors, no one's satisfied with that."

Leili Guerrero and Jacey Parker both impressed at the plate, along with Addison White in game two. Parker had three hits and five runs batted in, while Guerrero had two hits, two runs scored, an RBI and a walk. White notched two hits, two walks, two RBIs, and two runs scored.

Pitcher McKennah Sargeant was more dominant in game two, according to her coach, while Liana Stumph and Guerrero both got two hits in the first game, Stumph with three knocked in. Avery Bartoo had two hits in the opener.

Eureka had Bailey Brown and Violla Kingsang, both had three hits and two runs in game one, Brown with two RBIs and Kingsang with one. Kylee Secor had two hits, two RBIs, and a run scored, and Tiffany Harris had two hits with a run scored. Mackenze Wolff earned the win in the circle with six earned runs off eight hits, with two walks and three K's.

In the second contest at the plate, the Loggers had Brown with three hits, four runs, and two RBIs. Macy Secor plated three runs on her four hits and scored three times, while Jaycee Childress had three hits, three RBIs, and a run scored.

Bob Secor, the Eureka head coach, said Wolff "went in there and worked hard, a lot of girls really came out and battled at the plate, and we got the important hits we needed. I think that's what really made the difference for us." Brown and Childress earned kudos for their big hits. "That first game was a team effort," said Secor. "Our offense did well and our defense came through and got all the important outs."

Moving forward, the message from Secor was to "keep working hard, and we're still in contention for league. We'll go out, do the best we can, give 100%, and I think we really stand a good chance of winning league this year."

The Loggers rallied for their final five runs in the 12-7 win in the final inning, and Secor said even in the final contest, he was happy his girls rallied to make it a game in the last frame, plating three (five in the final two innings). "They could've gone out with their heads down, but they didn't, they stayed positive," he said.

Fortuna vs Del Norte

Meanwhile, Fortuna was getting back into the conference race on Monday after having dropped games to Eureka and McKinleyville earlier in the year (beating Eureka in one game of their doubleheader). The Huskies swept the Del Norte Warriors 4-1 and 4-0 on the road behind two dominant performances from hurler Isabel Sanchez.

Evalynn Little was the only Husky with multiple hits in the first game, with three doubles to go with a run knocked in and one scored. Keeley Baker had a hit and two RBIs on the game, Hailee Thompson with a double and two runs scored, but it was Sanchez with eight strikeouts in her perfect 3.2 innings of work that got the win and provided the Huskies a stabilizing force. Addison Collenberg also stepped up in the circle, pitching 3.1 innings and giving up just one earned run with four strikeouts.

Fortuna scored two in the first inning, one in the third, and one in the seventh. Del Norte plated their run in the first inning. Collenberg started before being relieved by Sanchez. "That was a very solid peformance from Evalynn," said Fortuna head coach Eric Helms, "Keeley Baker helped us out tremendously with her single and two RBIs, Addie had a solid game at the plate, with multiple hits throughout the day. Olivia Hayes made solid adjustments at the plate in the second game and was 2-for-4, Hailee Thompson had another solid day, 2-for-4 in the second game with a double as well."

According to Fortuna assistant coach Dennis Rosser, in the first contest, Collenberg ended up scoring after her single in the first inning and two wild pitches and Hayes' groundout. Thompson was then doubled in by Little after her two-bagger. Collenberg worked into the fourth inning, giving up four hits and two walks while striking out four, leaving with a 3-1 lead after Fortuna plated a run in the third, a Little double and Baker's fielder's choice scoring her. In the seventh, a Thompson batted ball for error, Little double, and Baker single led to the final tally. Sanchez came in to close the door.

In the second game, Little had another big game, going 2-for-3 with an intentional walk that loaded the bases in the seventh inning but leaving Fortuna unable to plate any more runs. Sanchez, though, was again the star of the game, going all seven innings in the circle and striking out 13, allowing just two hits and two walks.

In that game, Hayes had a put-out at the plate on her throw in from right field to quell the Warrior threat after a single. Collenberg reached on an error to start the Husky four-run rally in the fifth, scoring after singles by Kaylee Castillo and Sanchez. Two more came in on Thompson's double before she came home after a Little single.

Queried about how he must've been pleased with both the offensive and defensive output in the 4-0 shutout win in game two, Helms said, "In that second game, we were errorless, and that's what we strive for every game. When you have solid pitching in the circle and solid defense behind, it really helps each other out and complements each other very well, allowing us to be successful. We scored all four or our runs in the fifth inning, kind of busting it open with some solid hitting."

Mia Tiedemann got credit from Helms for playing a solid third base and making every play of the four or five that came her way, while according to Rosser, Little is hitting .579 with nine doubles, two triples, five home runs, and 33 RBIs on the year. Sanchez is 10-1 with a 1.60 earned run average.

Going into the rest of conference season, Helms said, "We went up there (to Del Norte) trying to get our feet back into the race. We did exactly what we needed to do, now we're 3-2, McKinleyville at 2-1 with Eureka 3-2, Del Norte at 2-2. We've got to take care of business Wednesday against Arcata (on the road) and then go from there."

After Wednesday, Fortuna was at home the rest of the season. McKinleyville traveled to Del Norte on Wednesday, while Eureka next hosts Del Norte on Saturday.

Ken McCanless can be reached at 707-441-0526.

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