Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com

By Ray Hamill — The 2024 summer sports season has a familiar feel to it.

The McKinleyville All-Stars won another District 26 tournament this week, while the Humboldt Crabs are off and running and winning games in exciting fashion.

And both of those teams feature in our weekly awards this week.

The Mack Junior All-Stars won all four of their games at the District 26 tournament this past week, as they dominated the rest of the field on their way to another championship banner.

The young all-stars defeated Eel River 14-0 in the championship game and are this week’s team of the week.

Several players stood out for the team, but it was the McKinleyville pitchers that really set the tone and stole the show.

Bowdy Hicks, Cabella Carper and Becker Rine all pitched complete-game wins on the way to the championship game, and Tate Saso kept that streak going by pitching a complete-game no-hitter in Thursday’s tourney decider.

Youth baseball continues to thrive in Humboldt County and in McKinleyville in particular.

Our athlete of the week, meanwhile, goes to a newcomer on the Crabs team who is setting a blistering pace in his first week at the Arcata ball Park.

Victor Castaneda announced his presence with a huge week at the plate and is on a record-setting pace with three home runs in his first few games with the team.

The Chula Vista native, who was a freshman at Cal State San Marcos this past spring, looks set to become a fan favorite.

He hit a pair of home runs for team on Sunday and followed that with a third long ball against the Humboldt Eagles on Wednesday night.

For good measure, Castaneda had the Crabs’ only two hits of the game in a 6-2 loss to the Fresno A’s on Friday night.

All in all, it wasn’t a bad week for him.

ATHLETES OF THE WEEK 

Victor Castaneda

Humboldt Crabs Baseball

Photo courtesy of Cal State San Marcos Athletics

Few players have begun their Humboldt Crabs as impressively as Castaneda, who has been fun to watch at the plate this week.

Castaneda started 31 games for San Marcos this spring and batted .297 with seven home runs, two triples and four doubles.

And he’s carried that form into the summer season.

In his first week with the Crabs, Castaneda is batting .500 with three home runs, a double and a co-team-high seven RBIs.

For more on his big week, see Crabs drop series opener to A’s, look to bounce back on Saturday …

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

TEAM OF THE WEEK 

McKinleyville Junior All-Stars 

The most dominating local Little League association in District 26 over the past few years is showing no signs of slowing down.

In fact, if anything they appear to be getting stronger.

The McKinleyville Junior All-Stars comfortably took care of business at the Arcata Little League fields this week, dominating their opponents on their way to the championship.

Head coach Casey Coelho and his assistants Zack Smith and Mark Saso guided the team to success.

In addition to the four outstanding pitchers we mentioned above, the team also includes Connor Tatman, Blake Carper, Tyson Marshall, Corbin Green, Jake Brunner, Everett Gruetzmacher, Carso Hicks and Braylon Smith.

For more on their big week, see Mack All-Stars eye state tourney qualification after winning District title …