Submitted photos – Del Norte’s Anthony Cardenas (22) and Saxon Taylor each had a home run against Estacada at the Hidden Valley tournament on Friday.
The Del Norte Warriors will carry some momentum into next weekend’s Big 5 openers at Arcata after stretching their unbeaten run to six straight games at this week’s Hidden Valley Tournament.
After starting the season 1-4, the Warriors are noe 6-4-1, which coincidentally is the same record they carried into last year’s Big 5.
They opened this week’s tournament with a pair of games on Friday, defeating Yreka 3-0 and tying Estacada 9-9 in a game that was called after six innings due to time constraints.
They then closed out tournament play with an 8-2 win over North Valley on Saturday.
The Del Norte bats were tested in tournament play, going up against their opponents’ top pitcher in each game.
“We faced everybody’s ace at the tournament, so that was a good thing,” Del Norte head coach Jeff Cook said. “Going into league, that’s what we wanted.”
Among the highlights of the weekend, Saxon Taylor and Anthony Cardenas both homered against Estacada, while Warriors ace Preston Daniels looked good on his way to the shutout victory in the tournament opener.
Daniels struck out nine in a complete-game performance.
Taylor has been particularly impressive at the plate early in the season.
“Saxon’s on a tear,” Cook said. “He’s doing really well at the plate.”
Kanyon Starkey also impressed on the mound for the Warriors and got the win against North Valley.
And that’s not all for the Crescent City school.
“Defensively, We’re finally making the routine plays,” the coach added.
Senior Willie Nelson was particularly impressive in left field against North Valley and made “a lot of plays,” according to his coach, while right fielder Marco Gonzalez also impressed in the outfield for a Warriors team that appears to be growing in confidence at an opportune time.
Check out highlights of Anthony Cardenas’ home run above …
The Del Norte coach says they are still trying to figure out the best combination for the starting lineup, but Greyson Franklin made a case for more time behind the dish after starting two of the three tournament games at catcher and impressing.
Starkey got plenty of offensive help against North Valley, with the Del Norte bats starting fast and the first six players all reaching base and all scoring in a six-run inning.
Aidan Rice also impressed on the mound against Estacada, taking over for starter Landon Williams in the second inning and pitching well for much of the game.
“He looked good,” Cook said of Rice, who had his longest outing of the season so far.
Errors, however, proved costly late in that game, as the Rangers offense put up a few runs towards the end of a game the Warriors could and perhaps should have won.
Hidden Valley won the tournament.
Next up, the Warriors open the Big 5 in a doubleheader at Arcata next Saturday.
First pitch is set for 11 a.m.
Submitted photo
