Submitted photo

A memorable summer season ended for the McKinleyville 10-year-old Little League All-Stars on Tuesday night.

Playing in the championship round of the Section 2 tournament in Cottonwood, the young McKinleyville players fell 13-11 to Chico Central, just two wins shy of qualifying for this year’s NorCal state tournament.

“It was a good run for us,” head coach Quintin Carper said. 

McKinleyville out-hit Chico 8-2 and had a pair of home runs, but the team pitching and defense let them down and Chico took full advantage of 14 walks.

McKinleyville gave up 10 runs in the opening inning.

“I think we just kind of beat ourselves at the end,” Carper said. “I think we underachieved for sure. Going into it, we knew we were a better team than that. We kind of beat ourselves.

“It’s tough to win when you can’t control the strike zone. We just made mistakes and errors.”

Jacob Carper and Crew Hicks each hit home runs in the loss, including a grand slam by Hicks and a three-run blast by Carper.

Hicks finished the game 2-for-2 with six RBIs and a walk, while Jacob Carper was 2-for-3 with three RBIs.

Maverick Utt also closed out his summer season with a big day at the plate and was 2-for-3, while Casanova Marshall was 1-for-2 with a walk and two RBIs and Blake Smith and Reece Combs each went 1-for-3.

Asher Kapko (hit by pitch), Colton Mixer (walk) and Jackson Mixer (hit by pitch) each also reached base.

Quintin Carper also praised the play of the Chico pitcher, whom he said “mowed us down the first time through the lineup.”

Despite the season-ending loss, however, the young McKinleyville players have plenty to be proud of and appear to have a bright future after winning a District 26 championship and making it to the championship round of the Section 2 tournament.

“They’ll be stronger, we’ll come back,” Quintin Carper said. “This group is a good group, and hopefully this will motivate some of these kids.”