Submitted photo – The Trinity Diesel players and coaches celebrate their championship win on Tuesday.

By Ray Hamill — Four young athletes who have been setting the tone for their younger teammates are this week’s award winners.

On Tuesday, McKinleyville Little League’s Trinity Diesel team continued its march through the District 26 Tournament of Champions with a 4-0 victory over Murphy’s Markets.

The win was their fourth in tournament play and secured the team’s third straight TOC championship.

And while several of the players and coaches all played key roles on the path to success, four of the players in particular stood out.

And they did so as much for their leadership skills as their baseball talents.

The four team leaders include Hudson Kapko, Teoh Arredondo, Tanner Baxter and Layne McCullough and all four are this week’s Humboldt Sports Athletes of the Week.

The team leaders have been a force for Trinity Diesel all spring and they carried that stellar play into the postseason tournament.

However, according to their head coach Quintin Carper, it’s their maturity and leadership that set them apart this season and paved the way to the team’s continued success.

“We always pride ourselves on having the older kids lead the way,” Carper said. “Overall, the leadership we had coming from the older kids was huge. Them being able to set the example for the younger kids, and the younger kid showing up and learning at such a rapid pace.”

It’s a part of the team culture Trinity Diesel and McKinleyville Little League has thrived on in recent years.

And just as these four standouts have been setting the tone for their younger teams — including five 9-year-olds on the roster — they all learned that responsibility from their older teammates when they first broke into the team a few years ago.

“It’s always fun when you have good leadership, because it has to start there and we have good leadership all the way around,” Carper added “We couldn’t have better 12-year-old example kids.”

For more on their big week, see Strong team culture leads Trinity Diesel to another TOC title …