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By Ray Hamill — Injuries to two of their top players hasn’t slowed down the McKinleyville 12-year-old All-Stars.

In fact, if anything it’s brought the team together even more.

Fresh off an unbeaten run through the District 26 tournament, the Mack All-Stars will begin play at the Section tournament in Susanville on Thursday as they look for another big playoff run.

This group of players has already made their mark at the state level, placing second once and third twice at the NorCal state tournament in the last three years.

This year, they’re hoping to get over the hump and bring home a state title to McKinleyville.

Achieving that was always going to be a challenge, but it’s a goal that was made even harder by the fact that two of the team’s top players — Breyden Brock and Hudson Kapko — suffered key injuries late in the regular Little League season.

The coaches are hoping to get Brock back before the season ends, while Kapko featured at the plate at the District tournament and could see a return to the mound as soon as this weekend.

“Even with the injuries they never have up hope,” head coach Jaime Arredondo said of his players. “They’re practicing every day, every single one of them. The effort’s there, and I don’t think they ever gave up hope we could go far.”

Brock suffered his injury during the all-McKinleyville District 26 Tournament of Champions final, but his recovery is going as well as could be expected.

“We’re hoping he might be able to come back depending on how far we go,” Arredondo said. “He had been throwing so good too.”

Despite not playing, Brock has been included on the 12-player postseason roster and has been at every practice and game supporting his teammates.

Kapko, meanwhile, has featured in the lineup but has been unable to pitch for the past eight weeks.

However, he has been cleared to pitch again and threw for the first time at practice this week.

Without two of their best pitchers, their teammates have been stepping up, no one more so than Ty Wade, who had a huge performance in last week’s District final against Eel River.

Wade pitched a complete game for the win on the hill and also had a decisive three-run home run in McKinleyville’s 6-2 victory.

“That broke it open,” Arredondo said. “And he also pitched a gem. He was the hero of that game.”

Teoh Arredondo, another highly-regarded player on the team, also pitched a complete game in a 6-1 win over Eel River earlier in the week, and along with Wade he gives the Mack All-Stars a dynamic one-two punch on the mound.

The young Arredondo gave up just one run in the win against Eel River and struck out 11.

If Kapko is available for the Section tournament, the Mack All-Stars will be problematic for anyone, especially if they stay in the winners’ bracket, and if Brock can return at some stage it should give them a legitimate shot at a state title..

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McKinleyville opened the District 26 tournament with a comfortable 16-1 win over tourney hosts Southern Humboldt.

Kapko, Teoh Arredondo and Colton Hawkes all went 3-for-3 in that win, while Layne McCoullough was 2-for-2

The coaches also praised the performances of Jared Brunner at catcher, who they say was a big part of the pitchers’ success and is “as reliable as they come back there.”

Kapko led the way at the plate in their second game and finished 3-for-3, while Tatum Brock, Tanner Baxter and Jayce Daniels each also had hits against “a good Eel River Pitcher,” the coach said.

The two teams faced off again in the championship game on Thursday and McKinleyville got the win again in large part thanks to Wade.

Playing in temperatures well above 100 degrees, Wade allowed just two runs on three hits and struck out 10.

The victory, however, was achieved with a complete team effort, according to the coach.

“Eel River put up a great fight. Their pitcher was pretty good,” Jaime Arredondo said. “We just came into it pretty confident. We knew we had Ty Wade on the mound and we actually hit the ball better than we had. We rallied behind Ty and we made our plays in the field.

“It was a team effort for sure. Everybody stepped up and I felt the kids came together as a team.”

Baxter, Tatum Brock, Asher Avelar and Lucas Ball all made the plays they needed to for the team.

McKinleyville opens the Section tournament against West Chico on Thursday at 12:30 p.m.