Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com

By Ray Hamill — To say the least, it was a good week for Del Norte High School sports.

The Crescent City school’s baseball and softball teams both clinched Big 5 championships outright to cap a big spring for both programs.

And that makes them a worthy choice for Humboldt Sports co-Teams of the Week.

Both teams cinched at least a co-championship with victories over McKinleyville on Saturday and they each followed that with big road wins at Eureka on Wednesday to ensure there would be no shared titles.

The Del Norte girls succeeded in dominating fashion.

The came out ready to go on Wednesday and scored six runs in the top of the first inning on their way to a comfortable 10-0 victory in five innings.

The Del Norte boys also appeared determined to not share the title and took a three-run lead in the top of the third and never trailed after that.

The Eureka boys, however, would not go down easily and put some pressure on the Warriors with two runs in the bottom half of that inning.

But in the spirit of championship teams, Del Norte responded and the players held their nerve down the stretch of their most important game of the season, adding insurance runs in the fifth and sixth innings and holding on for a 6-2 championship-clinching victory.

Both teams impressed in a variety of ways on their way to the championships.

The girls lost just once in the Big 5 — a one-run defeat at Fortuna — while the boys lost just twice, once each to Eureka and McKinleyville.

The girls won 10 straight games since their loss to the Huskies and have won 18 of their last 19 games.

Eight of their 11 conference wins came by at least nine runs.

They won with an experienced lineup that always found a way to overcome any adversity they faced, playing with a self belief no other team in the H-DNL could match.

The championship is their third straight and most of the players on this senior-heavy roster have played key roles on all three title-winning teams.

Head coach Aaron Healy and his staff deserve a ton of credit for the work they have done behind the scenes.

So too do many of the players, including senior team leaders Khloe Smith, Carlee Harper, Tsinte Steinruck, Audrey Phillips and Shay Nolan, all of whom have been outstanding all spring, as well as junior center fielder Bliss Blackburn, who has been one of her team’s most impressive and most consistent defensive player since day one. 

The Del Norte boys also succeeded with a balanced lineup that gave team ace Preston Daniels plenty of support.

The biggest difference between this year’s team and the squad that won just two conference games a year ago was clutch hitting.

Yes, Daniels played at a level that suggests he will be an overwhelming unanimous league MVP, but he would not have won all eight of his Big 5 starts without the support of a lineup that found a way to grind out wins.

The consistency of players like Saxon Taylor, Anthony Cardenas, Greyson Franklin and Aidan Rice, each of whom averaged well above .300 at the plate, played a major role.

A 3-1 win at McKinleyville last month ultimately was the difference in a tight race for the championship, a race that saw the Panthers push the Warriors all the way to final day of conference play.

Despite being out-hit 4-3 that day, the Del Norte players found out a way to pull out a statement win, and after that they would hold their nerve down the stretch of the season.