Submitted photos – Kaiwi Sharp

By Ray Hamill — This week sees yet another young local baseball player making a name for himself outside of Humboldt County and a local football team live up to its preseason billing and more.

Kaiwi Sharp, a 12-year-old Redwood Empire Little League player, earned a spot on the 2023 USA Baseball Northwest Region 13U team and is competing at USA Baseball 13U Champions Cup in North Carolina this weekend.

And that gets him the nod as our Athlete of the Week, an award sponsored by College of the Redwoods Athletics.

Sharp is the latest in a long line of young local players who is enjoying a memorable summer and he traveled to the East Coast to compete in the prestigious national tournament on Wednesday.

Sharp is hoping to earn a spot on the USA national program with a strong showing on the region team.

The local standout, who also plays for the Redwood Giants 12U travel team, was selected for one of two Northwest Region teams from a pool of 3000 players.

And he wasn’t the only local athlete to impress this week, as the local high school fall sports seasons begin to build momentum.

The Fortuna Huskies kicked off the new football season with an impressive showing against a very good University Prep program at Husky Field on Friday night, and that’s good enough to earn them our Team of the Week honors.

The Huskies are expected to be one of the top teams in the H-DNL this fall, and judging by Friday’s season opener there’s no reason to doubt they will be.

Submitted photos

ATHLETE OF THE WEEK 

Kaiwi Sharp

Redwood Giants

This weekend Sharp is competing with some of the top young players in his age group from all across the nation.

The St. Bernard’s seventh-grader hopes to someday play college baseball and in the Major Leagues, and this week’s selection suggests the young standout is well on course to achieve those lofty goals.

For more on his big week, see Local player chosen for USA Baseball Region team …

Photo courtesy of the Fortuna Huskies – The Fortuna players celebrate their big win on Friday night.

TEAM OF THE WEEK

Fortuna Football

It wasn’t just the fact the Huskies won their opening game against a quality opponent, but rather how they achieved it that stood out this weekend.

The Huskies kicked off the new campaign playing a physical brand of football and appear much improved on last year.

Whether that will be good enough to end Del Norte’s recent dominance in the Big 4 remains to be seen, but they took care of business early and that’s always a good sign.

For more on the Huskies’ big weekend, see Physical Huskies hold on late to top University Prep …