Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – The Arcata players celebrate their NCS championship win on Friday.

By Ray Hamill — The Arcata Tigers did more than just win a North Coast Section championship in baseball on Friday night, they continued a very strong recent tradition in the section playoffs for the H-DNL teams.

With a 1-0 victory over Kennedy at Arcata High, the Tigers clinched this year’s Division-5 championship.

It was also the program’s fourth in the past eight NCS postseasons.

But that’s not all.

It was also the 10th straight postseason that the local league has won at least one section championship in the sport.

During that time, the H-DNL has won 12 total titles.

The Tigers have taken home section winning pennants in 2016, 2019, 2023 and 2025.

(There were no NCS playoffs held in either 2020 or 2021 because of COVID-19.)

St. Bernard’s has also won four NCS crowns dating back to 2014.

The Crusaders won in 2014, 2015, 2022 and 2023.

The Ferndale Wildcats also have been among the most successful programs in the NCS over the past 12 years, winning section titles in 2016, 2017 and 2024.

And rounding out a run of 12 titles in 10 postseasons for the local league, the South Fork Cubs won one in 2018.

The Tigers will now turn their attention to next week’s NorCal playoffs, with the brackets and seedings set to be released on Sunday.

Only one local team has won a NorCal championship since the state playoffs began in 2022, and that was the St. Bernard’s Crusaders in 2022, when the legendary Nick Dugan remarkably led them to three wins in eight days on the way to securing the title.

The Arcata seniors and team captains celebrate Friday’s NCS championship win.