Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Joe Tanno delivers a pitch during Wednesday night’s championship showdown.

By Ray Hamill — Mack Town will be rocking next week.

After a stunning performance to close out the district tournament in Fortuna on Wednesday night, the McKinleyville 12-year-old All-Stars will now turn their attention to the section tournament, which they will host.

The action gets under way on Friday of next week at Hiller Park.

And a packed house of local fans is expected.

“The good thing is we’re at home,” head coach Carlos Avelar said. “The kids get to sleep in their own beds and we’re hoping for a big home crowd.”

This is the same team that placed second in state two years ago as 10-year-olds, with 10 of the 12 players from that team still on the roster.

So despite their young age, they have experience on their side.

And plenty of depth.

“Between our defense, our pitching and our hitting we should be able to keep in most games against most teams,” Avelar said.

They also have speed on the bases and a lot of necessary talent on the mound.

The McKinleyville All-Stars

“We’ve got seven kids we feel comfortable throwing,” Avelar said. “And we’ve got some power. We’ve got three kids that can hit it out at any time, and we’ve got some speed and our defense is solid.”

The quality of the pitching was in full display on Wednesday night, when Joe Tanno threw a game for the ages, striking out all 18 batters he faced in the district championship showdown against Redwood Empire.

The Mack All-Stars open the section tournament against Sutter/Yuba City at 5:30 p.m. on Friday of next week.