Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: It's been a long time coming, but.
[00:00:01] Speaker B: The South Fork girls clinched a little Ford championship in softball on Thursday after sweeping a conference doubleheader against Saint Bernards. Hello and welcome to this week's KMUD News Sports Report. I'm Ray hamill with humboldt sports.com we'll have more on the South Fork girls and their big achievement in just a moment as we take a look at all of the big local sports stories of the week, including all the latest high school and college baseball and softball news, as well as some track and field news and why it was a good week for one former HTNL athlete who returned to the north coast with a bang.
[00:00:32] Speaker A: But first up, it's been a long.
[00:00:34] Speaker B: Time coming, but the South Fork Cubs are finally conference champions in softball as they continued an impressive spring with a pair of victories on Thursday, defeating Saint Bernards 82 and 11 4. The two wins lift the Cubs to 8 and 2 in conference play and three wins clear of the chasing pack.
[00:00:52] Speaker A: With two games remaining.
[00:00:53] Speaker B: The league title is the first for the school in decades and it's been.
[00:00:57] Speaker A: So long no one seems to remember.
[00:00:58] Speaker B: Exactly when was the last time they won the Little Four. Head coach Lisa Todd, who has led the program to three North coast section titles, says it's been at least 24 years and possibly a lot longer than that. Also in the Little Four on Thursday, the Hoopa warriors continued their late season surge with a pair of wins over Ferndale, winning 105 and 10 0.
[00:01:20] Speaker A: Elsewhere in local high school softball this week, the Del Norte warriors took a big step towards a third straight Big 5 championship with a thrilling 9 to 8 walk off win over Fortuna in what was a de facto championship game in Crescent City on Wednesday in what was an exciting back and forth matchup, the Del Nor girls trailed by a run going into the bottom of the sixth, but would tie things up and then score the winning run in the seventh to take control of the race for this year's title. With the win, the warriors improved to 8 and 1 in conference play with three games remaining, while the Huskies, who lost two of three Big Five games against Del Norte this spring, are now 8 and 2. With two games left, the Del Norte girls can clinch at least a share of the championship with a doubleheader sweep over McKinleyville on Saturday. Also in the Big Five, the race for the third and conference's final Charles Lake in postseason tournament, Bert looks set to go down to the wire. McKinleyville and Arcata are tied for third going into the weekend action and will play each other next Wednesday on the final day of conference play, with the winner of that game likely to secure third place. Despite the disappointment of Wednesday loss in Crescent City, it was a memorable week for the Fortuna Huskies. Nonetheless. On Monday they traveled to McKinleyville to play a makeup doubleheader that had been pushed back from Saturday because of the weather, and they won both games. Junior pitcher Isabel Sanchez threw the first perfect game of the spring in the HTNL in the opener, striking out 11 in a 70 victory. The race for the Big 5 championship in baseball also is going down to the wire with conference frontrunners Del Norte and McKinleyville set to face off in a huge doubleheader in Crescent City on Saturday. The championship, however, took another turn this week. On Wednesday, Del Norte comfortably defeated Fortuna 153 while McKinleyville lost 122 to Eureka. With their win, the warriors took over sole possession of top spot in the standings and are now 81 in the Big 5 with three games remaining as they look to end an 11 year wait for a championship. The Panthers, however, remain in contention for a second straight title despite Wednesday's loss. With that defeat, they are now 72 in the Big 5, but if they can sweep at Del Norte, then they would leapfrog the warriors in the standings. A split on Saturday would send the race for the title down to the final day of action next Wednesday, with Del Norte playing at Eureka and McKimleyville playing at Arcata. After this week's win, the Loggers remain in contention for second. The Eureka boys assured themselves of at least third place and a spot in the upcoming Charles Lakin Tournament with a double header sweep over Arcata on Monday. In a pair of games that had been pushed back from Saturday, the eureka boys won 122 and 42 in a little four baseball. Meanwhile, the St. Bernard's boys secured at least a share of the championship with a pair of wins over South Fork this week. The Crusaders won 190 on Tuesday and 13 to 2 on Thursday and and they are 91 in conference play with two games remaining against Hoopa next week. A win in either of those games would secure the championship outright. The Ferndale Wildcats, who are 73 in the little four, can still mathematically share the title if they win their final two games against South Fork next week and St. Bernard's loses twice to Hoopa. The Cats took two games against Hoopa this week, winning 180 on Tuesday and 100 on Thursday in local high school track and field. Meanwhile, the races for this year's league championships are heating up. The HTNL held its fourth and final regular season meet at Del Norte on Tuesday, with the Del Norte boys and Arcata girls both recording dominating team victories. The warriors won nine of the 16 events in the boys competition, but it was an Arcata junior who stole the show. Skyler Kahlenberg not only won the shot put with a throw of 53ft, but his mark broke an Arcata High school record in the event that had stood for 51 years. It was also the second best throw in the north coast section this spring. The Arcata girls dominated the girls competition with sophomore Bella De Carley leading the way and placing first in three different events. In college baseball, former St. Bernard's Crusader Bodie Joiner has been named to the Golden Valley Conference All Conference team after an outstanding season playing for College of the Redwoods. After struggling for much of February and March, the CR Men closed out the season strong with six wins in their final eight games to finish 9:16 in conference and 12:22 overall. Former Eureka Lager Seth Grammer also had a good year with the team and tied the program's single season record for most home runs with his eight of the campaign last week and closing out this week. It was a good return to the north coast last weekend for a former Big 5 MVP in softball 2022 Eureka High graduate McKenna beach, who also played two years for Cal Poly Humboldt, returned to the area as part of the Stanislaus State team playing the Lumberjacks, and she closed out her season with a bang. Despite her team losing all three games of the series, beach had a good couple of days, getting five hits in her final two games, including a home run in the series finale. And that's this week's KMUD News Sports Report. Until next time, I'm Ray Hamill with Humboldt sports dot com.
