Submitted photo – The McKinleyville Junior All-Stars celebrate their Section championship on Tuesday night.

By Ray Hamill — Caden Vance made a successful return to the North Coast baseball fields this week, while one local youth baseball team continued to impress.

Vance, a 2023 Eureka High graduate, is playing this week for the Wild Cactus Baseball 19U team at the Humboldt Eagles tournament.

And he got the tournament off to a flying start with impressive back-to-back performances on Thursday and Friday to help lead his new team to a pair of victories.

And that makes him our Athlete of the Week.

Vance’s big week included standout performances both at the plate and on the mound.

On Thursday he finished 3-for-4 with a home run and three RBIs in a 10-5 win over the Colts Red team.

He followed that on Friday with a dominating complete-game performance in a 6-3 win over the Southern Humboldt 76ers.

He allowed four hits in the win and struck out eight.

Our team of the week, meanwhile, goes to the McKinleyville Little League Junior All-Stars.

This is the second time this summer the Mack Juniors are our team of the week as they continue to roll.

On Tuesday night, they kept their unbeaten run going and improved to 7-0 on the summer with a 6-5 win over South Siskiyou in the Section 2 championship game.

The McKinleyville All-Stars will begin play at the NorCal State tournament in Rocklin on Saturday night.

ATHLETE OF THE WEEK

Caden Vance

Wild Cactus Baseball

Vance showed local fans this week why he was such an effective player for the Eureka Loggers before graduating high school in 2023.

The former Loggers standout joined the Wild Cactus 19U roster to help them out at the Humboldt Eagles Tournament and he has not disappointed.

For more on his big week, see Vance leads Wild Cactus to second tournament win in Eureka …

Becker Rine in action for the Mack All-Stars this week.

TEAM OF THE WEEK

McKinleyville Junior All-Stars

The young McKinleyville players will play for a state championship and the chance to advance to the West Regionals in the coming days.

The local standouts followed an undefeated run through the District 26 tournament with three wins in three games at the Section 2 tournament, which they hosted at Hiller Park this week.

They had to battle all the way, however, in a pair of one-run victories over a competitive South Siskiyou team.

For more on their big week, see McKinleyville Juniors claim Section title with hard-fought win …

Submitted photo – McKinleyville Junior All-Star coaches, from left to right, Casey Coelho, Zack Smith and Mark Saso.