Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com
By Ray Hamill — It was a spring the Del Norte Warriors won’t easily forget.
The Big 5 school swept the conference championships in baseball and softball with outstanding seasons for both teams.
In baseball, the Warriors ended an 11-year wait for a Big 5 title after not finishing higher than fourth in the conference standings at any stage in the past decade.
In softball, the Del Norte girls were equally impressive and arguably even more so, claiming a third straight Big 5 title with an experienced and senior-heavy roster that lived up to the lofty expectations put on them before the season began.
And while it was a disappointing end to the campaign for both programs after they bowed out of the North Coast Section playoffs at the first hurdle, they each did enough to earn our Team of the Year honors in both sports.
In his second year on charge of the baseball team, Jeff Cook did an outstanding job, as did many of the players on a deep and determined lineup.
Without a doubt, senior pitcher Preston Daniels was instrumental in the team’s success — particularly in conference play — and without their team ace I’m not sure the Warriors would have won their first Big 5 title since 2014.
But several other players also stepped up to the challenge, including Saxon Taylor, Anthony Cardenas, Aidan Rice and Landon Williams, each of whom were named all-league along with Daniels.
Ben Shrewberry and Greyson Franklin, who received an all-league honorable mention, each also played key role on the path to success.
The highlight win for the Warriors came at McKinleyville in mid-April, when they got the better of the defending conference champs 3-1 to take control of the race for the Big 5 pennant.
Submitted photo – The Del Norte all-conference selections in baseball.
It was a statement win and announced the Warriors as serious conference contenders, and it was also ultimately the difference in a tight race for this year’s championship.
That win also stretched the team’s unbeaten run to 11 straight games at the time, a nice turnaround after the Warriors had lost four of their first five games of the season.
The Warriors would disappoint in the Charles Lakin tournament and in the NCS postseason, losing their final two games of the season.
But that shouldn’t take from what was a memorable campaign for a program that had watched all four of its conference rivals take home championship pennants over the past decade
And while teams like Lakin champs McKinleyville, Little 4 champs St. Bernard’s and NCS champs Arcata all garnered consideration for the award, the Warriors are deserved Humboldt Sports 2025 Baseball Team of the Year winners.
Likewise with the Del Norte girls on the softball fields.
From day one, we all expected the two-time defending conference champs to be one of the frontrunners again this spring, and they did not disappoint.
They had to overcome a feisty challenge from the Fortuna Huskies, who looked well poised to challenge for the conference title and pushed Del Norte al the way to the final day of the regular season.
But when push came to shove, the Warriors rose to the challenge.
Head coach Aaron Healy and his players faced a key doubleheader at Fortuna in mid April, and after dropping the opening game by just one run, they answered emphatically in game two.
In a showdown they absolutely had to win, they came out of the starting gates on fire and put up six runs in the opening inning on the way to a 12-1 win.
Again, that was a statement win and one that ultimately proved to the be difference in a tight race, along with a hard-fought 9-8 win over the Huskies in Crescent City on the final day of the month.
Shay Nolan was named Big 5 MVP after a stellar year in the circle, while fellow seniors Khloe Smith, Tsinte Steinruck and Carlee Harper were all also named to the all-conference team, along with outstanding junior center fielder Bliss Blackburn.
Senior Audrey Phillips and junior Bella Arriola each also received an all-conference honorable mention after big campaigns for both of them as well.
Similar to the Del Norte baseball team, the softball team also closed out the season in disappointing fashion, falling to McKinleyville in the Lakin tournament semifinals and then losing their NCS opener to Freedom in front of a home crowd.
But like the baseball team, that should not take from a stellar spring for the team and they are worthy Humboldt Sports Softball Team of the Year winners.
The Huskies and Little 4 champs South Fork — the latter of which ended a 35-year wait for a conference championship — each also received serious consideration for team of the year honors.
