Mikayla Minton pitched a pair of complete-game wins as the train that is McKinleyville High softball kept rolling Tuesday afternoon, picking up a pair of Big 5 Conference wins over visiting Fortuna, at McKinleyville High.
McKinleyville 10-run-ruled Fortuna in both games by scores of 13-2 (5) in game one and 15-5 (6) in game two.
Minton, McKinleyville’s second pitcher behind McKenzie Gonsalves, got the start in both games and performed admirably in each. In game one the junior allowed two runs, none earned, on five hits and six strikeouts and in game two, five runs, one earned, on four hits and two strikeouts. Minton gave up just four walks on the day, two in each game, as she showed that her still-undefeated Panthers (9-0, 14-0) are not solely reliant upon Gonsalves and can get wins on days when she doesn’t take the circle.
McKenna Turner had an extremely proficient day at the plate for McKinleyville, going 6-for-8, including a 3-for-3 performance in game one, with a pair of RBIs on the afternoon.
Jaycee Morais went 2-for-4 with a trio of RBIs in game one and in game two, recorded another two hits for McKinleyville and scored three runs as well.
Ashley Ballew had a memorable game two for McKinleyville, batting 3-for-5 with three RBIs and a run scored.
Renee Metz put together a quality opening-game performance for Fortuna, going 3-for-3 with a run scored while Paige Johnson and Lexi Roby each had a double in the loss. Morgan Murray and Roby both hit well in game two as each went 2-for-3 at the plate with an RBI.
McKinleyville will take a step back from conference play for the rest of the month before concluding its regular season with a 3-game series against Eureka (1-0, 7-2). Eureka, its season slowed by all-too-frequent cancellations due to rain, has yet to really break into its Big 5 schedule. It will need to win at least six of its next eight conference games before seeing McKinleyville at the end of the season if it wants to have a shot at passing the Panthers up in the Big 5 standings — otherwise, McKinleyville may have its first conference championship since 2011 locked up before it even plays its final conference series of the season.
Fortuna (0-6, 3-10) will look to snap its current eight-game losing streak today when it takes on Eureka.