File photo – Drew Franklin

Several local teams got in some valuable game time on the opening day at various tournaments on Thursday, including the St. Bernard’s tournament at the Bear River sports field.

The day’s action at Bear River featured four games, with five H-DNL schools involved in the six-team tournament.

St. Bernard’s and Fortuna got the day started with a 1-1 tie in eight innings, followed by a 5-5 tie between Arcata and Ferndale, with that game called due to a time limit.

In game three, Arcata defeated Hoopa 5-1, with St. Bernard’s beating Trinity 20-0 in the day’s final game.

Tournament action continues on Friday with five more games.

Fortuna plays Trinity at 9 a.m., followed by Hoopa and Ferndale at 11:15 a.m.

The tournament is split into two pools, with the third-placed teams facing off against each other at 1:30 p.m., followed by the second-placed teams at 3:45 p.m. and the championship game at 6 p.m.

Drew Franklin started the season well for the Huskies in their opening game against St. Bernard’s and threw eight strong innings.

The senior pitcher did not give up an earned run while allowing six hits and he also drove in his team’s only run at the plate.

Hunter Reback, Kallen Barrote, Mariqus Ludd and Nathan Cleek each also impressed on opening day with a pair of hits apiece.

Cleek was 2-for-2 with a double, while Ludd was 2-for-4 with a double, Reback was 2-for-3 and Barrote was 2-for-4.

Tyler Schlesiger and Chandler Crenshaw each went 1-for-3 to round out a 10-hit team performance for the defending Big 5 champions.

The Ferndale Wildcats, meanwhile, also impressed in their tournament opener against the Tigers, as did Arcata sophomore Tanner Kees.

Kees had an outstanding day and finished 4-for-4 in both of Arcata’s games, including hitting a double against Ferndale.

Kees also got the win on the mound against Hoopa, allowing one earned run in six innings and striking out nine.

His teammate Jonah O’Brien pitched the seventh inning and struck out three.

Anthony Ebert also hit successfully in both games for the Tigers, who are defending North Coast Section Division-4 champions, finishing 1-for-3 with a double in the opener and 1-for-4 with a double in game two.

Austin Michel was 1-for-3 for Ferndale and teammate Tanner Pidgeon finished 1-for-2, with Prescott Langer and Parker Prior splitting time on the mound and combining to strike out four and walk six.

Freshman Eli Greenway also impressed for the Tigers, throwing four strong innings for a no-decision against Ferndale.

Greenway allowed just one earned run and struck out two while walking three.

The freshman also had a base hit against Hoopa and was 1-for-4, while teammate Ben Lukens finished 1-for-3.

“It was first-game jitters,” Arcata head coach Troy Ghisetti said. “I thought we came out and you could tell that we have not been on the field. We made a lot of mental errors and the pitchers have got to throw more strikes. We had way too many base on balls.”

Ghisetti added that Ferndale played well.

For Hoopa, Lyle McKinnon got the new season off to an impressive start, pitching five strong innings in the loss.

The junior struck out six in five innings and walked four.

At the plate for the Warriors, Brandon Romero, and Aiden Kimball each finished 1-for-3.

The Del Norte Warriors also were in action on Thursday at the Pleasant Valley tournament.

The Warriors dropped their tournament opener against Wheatland 9-2.

Preston Daniels had a strong performance on the mound for Del Norte, throwing three scoreless innings, while teammate Aiden Rice led the way the plate and was 3-for-3.

The Warriors will continue tournament play on Friday with games against Golden Valley in the morning and Pleasant Valley in the afternoon.