Submitted photo – Submitted photo – The McKinleyville 10-year-old All-Stars.

What a difference a day makes.

On Sunday afternoon, one day after they lost a lopsided game to Chico at the Section 2 tournament in Cottonwood, the McKinleyville 10-year-old All-Stars bounced back with a dominating victory in an elimination game against Sutter Area.

The District 26 champs won the game 18-4 in four innings.

With temperatures well over 100 degrees, the Mack players came out flat on Saturday, but they turned in a far better performance on Sunday.

“The kids had a lot of time to recover,” head coach Quintin Carper said. “We had 24 hours off after our last game, and we drank lots of fluids and came back hydrated, and I think that was the difference.”

A determined McKinleyville lineup racked up 20 hits in the win, while pitchers Asher Kapko and Maverick Utt and their defense held Sutter Area to just four runs.

Several players stepped up at the plate.

“We had a bunch of hits and we kind of hit the ball from top to bottom (of the lineup),” said Carper, who added, “It was the best we’ve hit all year.”

Kapko threw 3.1 innings and did not go over 35 pitches to ensure he will be available again if needed after a day’s rest.

Utt sealed the deal and pitched the final two outs.

Defensively, the Mack players made the plays when they needed to, most notably Casanova Marshall, who had an outstanding day at shortstop and made “five or six” big plays, according to the coach.

The local all-stars will now play East Redding in another elimination game on Monday night at 6 p.m.

East Redding lost to Chico in the winners’ bracket on Sunday.

A victory for the Mack All-Stars on Monday will send them on to the championship round, where they would get a rematch against Chico on Tuesday.

A win in that game would then set up a second showdown against Chico on the same night, with the winner of that game going on to the NorCal state tournament.