Submitted photo – The McKinleyville players and coaches celebrate their District championship on Thursday night.

By Ray Hamill — A group of young McKinleyville all-stars who reached the state tournament a year ago are hoping to do the same again this year.

And judging by this week’s performance and the way they have performed together in recent years, not too many people will doubt them.

On Thursday night, the McKinleyville Junior All-Stars capped a dominating week with a 14-0 win over Eel River in the District 26 championship game at the Arcata Little League fields.

The win was the team’s fourth in four games in tournament play and sends them on to next month’s section tournament, which will be held in McKinleyville, where they will attempt to qualify for the NorCal state tournament.

The big story of the week was the team’s pitching, with Bowdy Hicks, Cabella Carper and Becker Rine all throwing complete-game wins on the hill on the way to the championship game.

Not to be out-done, Tate Saso pitched a complete-game no-hitter in Thursday’s tourney decider.

“We played well,” head coach Casey Coelho said. “We played well all tournament. The kids hit the ball really well and we had really strong pitching throughout the entire tournament. The main thing for us was the strong pitching from all four of them.”

Saso’s older brother Cameron plays for the Humboldt Crabs and Tate may some day play for them as well if he continues to perform the way he has been this season.

He also led his team at the plate on Thursday and finished 2-for-2 in the shutout victory.

Cabella Carper also made some noise at the plate and was 1-for-2, while Connor Tatman, Blake Carper, Tyson Marshall and Corbin Green each finished 1-for-3.

Defensively, Tate Saso also had a big week at shortstop when he wasn’t pitching, while Jake Brunner caught three of his team’s four games and helped set the tone with some big performances behind the plate.

Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Action from Thursday’s championship game.

Everett Gruetzmacher also made some big plays in left field to deny McKinleyville’s opponents, while Cabella Carper caught one of her team’s games and gives them another reliable option behind the plate.

For good measure, Cabella also was one the team’s most consistent hitters all week, along with Carson Hicks.

Braylon Smith also had a good tournament and made some big contributions along the way.

“We had some strong defensive performances,” Coelho added.

The McKinleyville coach also praised the performances of Eel River shortstop Ryan Tosten and their starting pitcher Miles Sirrine.

The Eel River All-Stars advanced to the championship game after beating Redwood Empire in an elimination game on Wednesday night.

The Mack all-stars will now turn their attention to the section tournament, which they will host at Hiller Park in the first week of July.

“I think we’ll be strong at the next tournament,” Coelho said. “I think we’ll do well. As 12-year-olds they went to state. Basically, all the kids on the team have been there before so there’s a good chance we can make a run.”

Zack Smith and Mark Saso are the assistant coaches on this year’s team.