Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Tsinte Steinruck in action for the Warriors this past spring.

By Ray Hamill — It was a year Tsinte Steinruck won’t easily forget, and one that capped an impressive high school career that saw her leave her mark on multiple teams and programs.

In addition to being named all-league in three different sports this past year, Steinruck also was Del Norte’s representative on the inaugural H-DNL All-Sportsmanship Team, which was named earlier in the year.

Her Del Norte teams also enjoyed plenty of success this past year, including a third straight Big 5 title in softball.

But that’s just half the story for this outstanding student-athlete, whose contributions to Warriors sports go way beyond the success.

Steinruck was also one of the most influential team leaders in the H-DNL this year and someone who played an inspirational role on and off the field of competition.

She helped set the tone for many of her younger teammates and showed them what it takes to succeed, which was a big reason she was named to the all-sportsmanship team.

She was also named one of three Del Norte senior athletes of the year, along with Colton Schaad and Aidan Rice.

And all of that is what separated her from the rest of the field in the race for the 2025 Humboldt Sports Big 5 Girls Athlete of the Year.

As always, there were many worthy candidates for the coveted award, including Fortuna’s Mariah Bravo, who competed in golf, basketball and softball and was the only other Big 5 girl to be included on three all-league teams.

Steinruck began the year on the volleyball courts and helped the Warriors win 20 games and push Big 5 champion Arcata all the way in the race for the conference championship.

She followed that with a big winter in basketball, where she was the only Warrior from a young team that was included on the all-league team.

But the best was yet to come, and Steinruck closed out her final year of high school competition with a huge spring in softball, playing a key role on the championship roster.

The multi-sport standout has the talent to compete in multiple different sports at the next level, and would be an asset for many teams in volleyball, basketball or softball.

But she has chosen to compete in the latter and will join a reinvigorated College of the Redwoods program that will be returning to action in the spring of 2026 after not fielding a team this year.

And she will be joined at CR by her Del Norte teammates Carlee Harper and Audrey Phillips, where no doubt all three players will continue to play key roles.

Congratulations to Tsinte Steinruck for being named the 2025 Humboldt Sports Big 5 Girls Athlete of the Year.

And as always, a big shout out and thank you to this year’s award sponsors, a group that includes The Humboldt Fence Company, DelReka Distributing, Mendes Supply Company and Bode Construction, all of whose support will help to pay for the award trophies. 

Submitted photo – Tsinte Steinruck, center, along with Colton Schaad and Aidan Rice, who were all named the Del Norte senior athletes of the year this year.