Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com

By Ray Hamill — Another week, another McKinleyville Little League team is crowned District 26 champs.

It’s been that sort of summer.

On Thursday night, the Mack Junior All-Stars capped a dominating week with their fourth win in six days at the District 26 Tournament in Fortuna, which makes them one of our Teams of the Week, an award sponsored by College of the Redwoods Athletics.

And who knows, but some of these young all-stars could be playing for the local community college some day.

They defeated a history making Southern Humboldt All-Stars team 10-0 in Thursday’s championship game.

And that continues an incredible summer for McKinleyville Little League, which has clinched five of seven District 26 postseason tournaments in 2023.

Trinity Diesel won an all-McKinleyville Tournament of Champions final in mid-June, with Mack also winning the Senior TOC title and All-Star championships in 10s, 12s and now Juniors.

Only the Eel River 11-year-old all-stars and the Willow Creek Rangers, who won the district Junior TOC, prevented Mack from a sweep of local postseason tournaments.

The three McKinleyville All-Star championship teams will try to keep their season going at various Section tournaments next week, including the 10s who get to host their tournament at Hiller Park.

The Southern Humboldt Junior All-Stars also enjoyed a big week and are our second Team of the Week.

This group of talented young players left their mark at an entertaining tournament and made some history in the process.

They became the first-ever SoHum all-star team to make it to a District 26 championship game and even though they lost the final they should walk away with their heads held high after setting a new standard for their Little League association.

TEAMS OF THE WEEK

McKinleyville Junior All-Stars

The Mack players won all four of their games at the six-day tournament, which made a welcome return this year.

The team will now advance to next week’s Section tournament in Anderson as the Mack players look to keep their season going.

The team includes Bode Reininger, Jake Brunner, Braylon Sotelo, Tate Saso, Cody Wilson, Jacob Baker, Connor Tateman, Maccoy Rickson, Hacher Matson, Lincoln Hungerford, Levi Coehlo and Becker Rine, and is coached by Tim Matson, Kirby Reininger and Conrad Coelho.

For more on their big week, see Mack All-Stars continue to roll, as SoHum makes history …

Southern Humboldt Junior All-Stars

It didn’t end the way they wanted, but this group of history makers enjoyed a big week in tournament play.

Playing good defense all week, they opened with a one-run win over Arcata and also topped Redwood Empire 4-2 in an elimination showdown on Wednesday night.

The team included Mason Bell, Tyson Mulder, Bodhi Howes, Connell Murphy, Kieran Lambert, Sheyne Casey, Kael Puno, Cody Wheeler, Andre Keller, Brody Fowler, Marcel Florens and Cohen Cardoza, and was coached by Jessika Mulder, Tony Casey and Joaquin Courtemanche.

For more on their big week, see Mack All-Stars continue to roll, as SoHum makes history …