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The McKinleyville 12-year-old All-Stars lost their opening game at the NorCal state tournament in Madera on Saturday morning, falling 15-0 to Land Park out of Sacramento.

It was a disappointing opening game for the District 26 champs, but head coach Jaime Arredondo and his players will be hoping to bounce back in their next game.

The good news despite the loss is the fact they will have a day off on Sunday and won’t play again until Monday evening, giving the players some time to recover.

“We’re still proud of the kids. We’ll come back,” Arredondo said. “We’ll get a win on Monday. We’ve still got hope.”

The Land Park All-Stars were deserved winners and played good baseball, while the Mack players had an off day on the way to suffering their first loss of the summer after going 6-0 at the District and Section tournaments combined.

“We finally met our match,” Arredondo said. “They were a solid, solid team, but no excuses, we didn’t play our best.”

After the game got away from them, the Mack coaches used the opportunity to go deep to their bullpen, and they will have all of their pitchers available for Monday’s do-or-die showdown.

“We’ve got all of our pitchers still available, so I think we can bounce back,” Arredondo said.

The McKinleyville All-Stars, who are the last remaining local team still playing this summer, managed just four hits on the day.

The bottom of the lineup got things started, with Tatum Brock and Asher Avelar each getting a hit.

Teoh Arredondo, who is this week’s Humboldt Sports Athlete of the Week, also had a hit, as did Jared Brunner.

Defensively, however, it was a tough day at the office for the young McKinleyville players.

“I think we committed more errors in that game than in the other two tournaments combined,” the head coach added. “We just didn’t play our best baseball.”

With a day off on Sunday, the coaches are considering taking the players on another fishing trip, a plan that worked well at the Section tournament last week.

Jaime Arredondo also praised the tournament organizers for hosting what he described as a well-run tournament.

“It’s a beautiful park and a well-run tournament,” he said. “You feel you’re at a state tournament for sure, and the umpiring is top notch.”

The Mack players will be back in action on Monday night at 6 p.m.