Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Action from this weekend’s tournament in Cutten.

Day two at the District 26 Little League 12-year-old All-Stars tournament at the Redwood Fields in Cutten produced a pair of close games, as both Eel River and Redwood Empire improved to 2-0 to set up a big showdown on Monday afternoon.

The two undefeated teams opened tournament play with comfortable wins on Friday, but both were pushed all the way on an exciting day of action on Saturday.

Eel River got the day started with a 2-0 victory over Arcata, and Redwood Empire followed that with a 2-1 come-from-behind walk-off win over McKinleyville.

The six-team tournament continues on Sunday with a pair of elimination games.

Klamath Trinity will play McKinleyville at noon, followed by Southern Humboldt and Arcata at 2:30 p.m.

Eel River opened tournament play with a 13-3 win over Klamath Trinity on Friday, and Redwood Empire followed that with a 13-3 win over Southern Humboldt later in the evening.

Saturday’s clash between Redwood Empire and McKinleyville was a thrilling pitchers’ duel that went down to the wire.

McKinleyville broke the deadlock with back-to-back two-out doubles by Tate Saso and Talon Turner in the third.

The RELL All-Stars, however, refused to give up and battled back late to take the win.

With the score tied 1-1 in the bottom of the sixth, Kyle Giacone led off with a double down the left field line, before a perfect bunt by Riley Schneider and an intentional walk to Breyden Bremers loaded the bases.

Saso, who pitched a complete-game gem, didn’t panic and struck out the next two batters.

The next batter was Henry Hinrichs and he was hit by a pitch to drive in the winning run.

There was some excellent pitching from both teams.

In addition to the impressive Saso, Bermers threw four strong innings for RELL, before Giacone took over and held a dangerous Mack lineup scoreless the rest of the way.