Submitted photo – The Steelheads players celebrate their championship win on Sunday.

Pitching was the story of the weekend as the Northern Humboldt Steelheads 12Us got the 2025 youth baseball season off to a flying start at the Kickoff Classic in Redding.

Ty Wade, Colton Hawkes and Tucker Chanley all enjoyed big weekends on the mound as the young Steelheads won all four of their tournament games on the way to the championship.

Wade was outstanding in a 7-1 semifinal win over the Crescent City Hammers early on Sunday and remarkably struck out 16 of the 18 batters he faced in a one-hit complete-game victory.

The young Steelhead standout also hit a home run in the win.

“He had a great tournament,” team manager Dusty McCullough said. “That was one of the most dominating performances I’ve ever seen.”

Hawkes and Chanley also enjoyed big weekends on the hill and combined to throw a three-hitter in an 8-2 win over the Cottonwood Crush in Sunday’s championship game.

“The highlight of the weekend was the pitching,” McCullough said. “Really, the pitching from Ty, Colton and Tucker was phenomenal.”

The Steelheads opened tournament play with a pair of wins in pool play on Saturday, defeating the Hammers 5-2 in their opener and following that with a 19-7 win over the Tehama Bulls later in the day.

The team bats woke up in the second game with a Layne McCullough triple getting things started.

James Minor and Bryson Maniaci each also had a triple in that victory.

Among the other highlights of the weekend, Bo Battilocchi made a spectacular catch in right field, which the team manager described as a “very big defensive play for us,” while Rowdy Furber stole home to give his team the momentum in the championship game.

“For early in the season, we played really well,” Dusty McCullough said.

Hawkes remarkably got on base 10 consecutive times over the weekend, and even more remarkably would score all 10 times.

“That’s the definition of a good lead-off hitter,” the manager said of the young standout, who batted .818 over the two days. 

Maniaci, Tanner Baxter and Layne McCullough each also impressed on the hill in relief, while Asher Avelar hit a key double in the semifinal win and Wade hit two home runs on Sunday, following his big blast in the semifinal with another in the championship game.

Baxter also helped set the tone defensively for his teammates with a big weekend behind the plate, when he wasn’t on the mound.

Nate Ryan also made his presence felt with a big weekend defensively in the outfield and had a base hit in the opener to help get the team bats going when his teammates were still trying to find their rhythm.

All 11 players contributed on the way to the tournament championship and came together quickly as a team.

“What made me happy the most as a coach is our team seemed to be bonding well and coming together,” Dusty McCullough said. “But we’ve still got a lot of work to do.”

The team assistant coaches include Ryan Baxter, Brian Wade and Kirby Hawkes.

Next up, the young Steelheads will try to keep their fast start to the year going when they travel for the Shamrock Shootout in Redding in mid March.