Submitted photo – The Fortuna Huskies celebrate their tournament win at Cloverdale last weekend.

By Ray Hamill — A pair of seniors that have started their respective seasons strong feature in this week’s awards, and one of them features twice.

Fortuna’s Isabel Sanchez has impressed through the early going and is playing at an MVP level for a surging Huskies team that has been setting the standard on the local softball fields.

The senior standout looks set to close out her high school career in style and helped lead the Fortuna girls to a doubleheader sweep at Fort Bragg on Tuesday.

Sanchez posted the two wins in the circle, pitching a complete-game shutout in the opener, while giving up just three hits and one walk and striking out 12 batters. 

She combined with freshman Kaylee Castillo in game two, pitching three innings and giving up one unearned run on two hits and a walk and striking out seven.

Sanchez also has been one of her team’s most impressive players at the plate and the hard-hitting senior leads the Huskies in doubles and triples through the first month of the season,

St. Bernard’s senior Tyler Hinrichs joins her as our second athlete of the week.

Hinrichs has been equally impressive for the Crusaders.

On Friday, the St. Bernard’s boys swept a doubleheader against Arcata to keep their unbeaten start to the new season going, as they improved to 8-0.

And Hinrichs was front and center in the sweep, finishing with a pair of hits and scoring the winning run in the opening game, and following that with a dominating performance on the mound in game two.

Our team of the week honors, meanwhile, go to Sanchez and the Fortuna softball team.

While many H-DNL teams have impressed over the first month of the season, none have done so more than the Huskies, who look like legitimate contenders for this year’s Big 5 championship.

Tuesday’s doubleheader followed a big performance at last weekend’s Cloverdale tournament, which the Huskies secured with three straight wins, including a 7-0 win over the host school in the championship game.

ATHLETES OF THE WEEK

Tyler Hinrichs

St. Bernard’s Baseball, Senior

Hinrichs pitched six dominating innings against the Tigers on Friday, giving up just two hits to the Big 5 school and striking out 10, and he looks set to play a key role for the Crusaders in this year’s Little 4, as they get set to defend the title they won a year ago.

But his pitching arguably hasn’t even been the most impressive aspect of his play this year.

Hinrichs also has one of the most consistent and reliable bats in the H-DNL and he leads his team in average (.450) and on-base percentage (.621), and also has nine stolen bases.

For more on this big week, see Seniors and freshmen step up as Crusaders sweep the Tigers …

Isabel Sanchez

Fortuna Softball, Senior 

Sanchez leads the most impressive team in the H-DNL in several key categories through the first month of the season, including ERA (1.12).

Heading into a weekend game against Windsor, the senior standout also has posted co-team-highs in runs (20), doubles (six) and triples (two), as she looks to close out her high school with a bang.

She also is 6-0 in eight appearances in the circle and has 66 strikeouts while walking just 22 batters.

For more on her big week, see Huskies sweep doubleheader at Fort Bragg, go to 10-0 on the year …

TEAM OF THE WEEK

Fortuna Softball

Sanchez is far from the only Fortuna player to start the local high school softball season well and the Huskies have been firing on all cylinders as they continue their preparation for the Big 5.

Longtime head coach Eric Helms has his team well positioned to bring home a first pennant since 2017 after they placed second to Del Norte in each of the past two seasons.

In addition to Sanchez, teammate Evalynn Little, who was named Humboldt Sports Athlete of the Week two weeks ago, also has impressed for the team early in the new season, along with multiple others on a squad that has 11 players averaging .250 or better at the plate.

Seniors Olivia Hayes and Hailee Thompson, juniors Addie Collenberg and Sephora Machado and several freshmen also have hit the ground running this spring.

For more on the team’s big week, see Huskies sweep doubleheader at Fort Bragg, go to 10-0 on the year …