Submitted photo – The Steelheads celebrate their tournament championship over the weekend.

The Northern Humboldt Steelheads 11Us got the new youth baseball season off to a great start at the weekend March Mayhem tournament in Medford.

After going 2-0 in pool play on opening day, the young Steelheads were seeded third for championship day and put together two more nice wins to clinch the championship, including a 10-1 win over the Junior Panthers in the final.

And they won with some solid pitching and defense and some strong play at the plate, as they racked up at least 10 runs in all four games.

“We hit the ball very well and our pitchers were able to throw a lot of strikes,” head coach Dusty McCullough said.

The Steelheads got the tournament started with a 10-4 win over Gashouse Gang on Saturday and followed that with a 15-7 victory over PT Bucs later in the day.

The Steelheads would carry that momentum into Sunday’s semifinal with a 10-3 win over NM Tornado to advance to the championship.

Asher Avelar and Tanner Baxter helped get the bats going on day one, while Steven Watson set the tone on the hill with four strong innings in the opener.

That strong pitching continued into Sunday, with Colton Hawkes and Ty Wade both pitching complete games for the two victories and combining to give up just four runs on the day.

Hawkes allowed just three hits and struck out six against the Tornado, while Wade gave up just four hits and struck out eight in the final against the Panthers.

Several of the Steelhead players stepped up at the plate over the weekend, including Bo Battilochi, who had a key single and an RBI in the semifinal win.

Hawkes, Wade and Layne McCullough all had multiple extra-base hits over the weekend.

“They really hit the ball strong for us,” the head coach said of the influential trio.

Rowdy Furber also had a “breakout tournament,” according to his coach, and finished with multiple hits and four RBIs.

Lucas Ball added a key double during pool play while the hard-working Baxter caught both the semifinal and championship game in the rain.

Everett Johnson also pitched well in relief in pool play while adding a key base hit on the opening day, while Tucker Chanley also impressed on the hill in pool play and added a base hit in the championship game.

In the final, Layne McCullough had a big double and two RBIs, while the hard-hitting Hawkes added a triple and an RBI.

Wade also had a single and two RBIs and Furber capped a big tournament with a single and an RBI.

“They’re fearless at the plate,” Dusty McCullough said of the players. “And they keep competing at the plate. They don’t give up.”

The Steelheads, who are also coached by assistants Kirby Hawkes, Tanner Baxter and Brian Wade, will try to keep their impressive start to the new season going when they travel for a second tournament in Arizona next week.