Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Action from this week’s District tournament in Arcata.

By Ray Hamill — The District 26 Little League 12-year-old All-Star tournament is down to three teams after another night of exciting action in Arcata on Tuesday.

The McKinleyville All-Stars are unbeaten in tournament action and will play in the championship round on Thursday night against either Eel River or Redwood Empire.

With one loss each, the Eel River and RELL players will face off on Wednesday night in an elimination game.

First pitch is set for 6 p.m.

If the winner of that game can knock off McKinleyville on Thursday, it would set up a winner-takes-all championship showdown on Friday.

If the young McKinleyville players win on Thursday, however, they would be crowned District champs.

The Mack all-stars got their tournament started with a victory over Redwood Empire on Sunday and followed that with a big 6-3 win over Eel River on Tuesday.

That loss was the first in tournament play for the Eel River players, who opened with two straight wins over Southern Humboldt and Klamath Trinity.

Redwood Empire, meanwhile, defeated Arcata on the opening day before falling to McKinleyville on Sunday.

The young RELL players, however, responded to that loss with back-to-back elimination game victories over Southern Humboldt on Monday and Arcata on Tuesday.

They will try to make it three straight elimination game wins when they take on Eel River on Wednesday night.

McKinleyville, however, will be a tough matchup for anyone the remainder of the way.

The Mack players out-hit Eel River 7-3 in Tuesday’s showdown and kept all four pitchers they used under 35 pitches so they will have a full complement to choose from for the championship round.

“It was a great team win,” head coach Quintin Carper said.

Thursday’s game is set for 6 p.m.