Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Khloe Smith is greeted by teammates after hitting her second home run in two innings at Fortuna on Saturday.

By Ray Hamill — A pair of Del Norte seniors take center stage in our weekly awards this week after big performances for both of them over the past seven days.

Preston Daniels gets the nod for one of our athletes of the week for the second straight week after two more big performances on the mound.

The senior team ace led the Warriors to wins at Fortuna on Saturday and at McKinleyville on Wednesday, leaving them top of the Big 5 standings and two games clear of the chasing pack in the win column.

Daniels has been on fire early in conference play and has posted three of his team’s five wins, all with complete-game performances.

In those three games, which included a no-hitter at Arcata, Daniels has given up just five hits and he has his team well on course to win this year’s conference championship.

And he isn’t the only Del Norte athlete to be honored this week.

Fellow senior Khloe Smith has been equally impressive on the softball field and led her team to a must-have victory at Fortuna on Saturday.

Just moments after the Warriors dropped the first game of doubleheader against their biggest challengers for this year’s Big 5 championship, Smith and her teammates began game two on fire, taking a nine-run lead after two innings on the way to a comfortable 12-1 win.

Smith was more instrumental than anyone in the victory, hitting a pair of home runs in the first two innings, while also playing her usual outstanding defense at shortstop.

Our team of the week honors, meanwhile, also go to the Warriors.

The Del Norte baseball team has been setting the standard in the Big 5 this year and their victory at McKinleyville on Wednesday leaves them in prime position to win this year’s conference title.

And that makes the Warriors our choice for team of the week.

ATHLETES OF THE WEEK 

Preston Daniels

Del Norte Baseball, Senior

No other player on the North Coast is playing at the level of Daniels right now and he looks like a man on a mission to close out his high school career with a bang.

The senior team ace gives the Warriors a chance to win every time he takes the mound, and that’s exactly what he did on Wednesday, on a day when they managed just three hits against the defending conference champs but still found a way to win.

“That’s Presto taking care of business,” Del Norte head coach Jeff Cook said of the senior, who had eight strikeouts. “He was feeling it.”

For more on his big week, see Daniels delivers again as Del Norte wins key battle at McKinleyville …

Khloe Smith

Del Norte Softball, Senior

After missing much of last season because of injury, Smith has returned with a bang this spring and is playing like a player determined to make up for lost time.

Smith’s two home runs just an inning apart on Saturday was only half the story.

She is a team leader on a senior-heavy Warriors squad and is playing as well as any player in the Big 5 right now.

If the Del Norte girls had lost the second game of Saturday’s big doubleheader they would have faced an uphill battle to retain the championship they have won in each of the past two season,.

But Smith’s statement start to game two ensured that would not happen.

For more on her big week, see Huskies, Warriors split big doubleheader between B5 heavyweights …

TEAM OF THE WEEK

Del Norte Baseball

With six of their final seven conference games in Crescent City, the Del Norte boys will be tough to stop in the race for this year’s Big 5 crown.

There’s still a long way to go, of course, and both McKinleyville and Eureka figure to have a big say yet in where the pennant ends up, as could a potentially dangerous Arcata team.

But none of them have matched the early-conference play of the Warriors, who have won five straight road games to begin their campaign.

Cook has his players playing loosely and with confidence, and with Daniels leading the charge on the mound and inspiring his teammates the Warriors are most certainly the team to beat right now.

Since losing an early-season game at Hoopa, the Del Norte boys have gone on an 11-game unbeaten run.

For more on their big week, see Daniels delivers again as Del Norte wins key battle at McKinleyville …