Submitted photos – Mackenzie and Leila Coleman of South Fork, pictured in Santa Rosa with their former Humboldt Smoke teammate Mckennah Sargent, who is playing for Santa Rosa JC this year.

The Humboldt Smoke 18U travel softball team played two non-tournament games in Santa Rosa on Sunday and split.

The local club, which had not played any games since a trip to Medford in early August, opened with a 5-0 loss to the Santa Rosa Red Barons, but would bounce back to beat Easton Elite 6-2.

The Smoke also announced that they will host their own tournament here on the North Coast in late September.

Three young pitchers each impressed in Sunday’s doubleheader, including freshman Preslee Sundquist who threw four shutout innings over the two games.

“I thought it was a great day,” Smoke head coach Joe Brown said.  “Those two teams we played have been playing regularly and we hadn’t played since Medford. We got off to a slow start, but we turned it around.”

Sundquist was one of the highlights of the day for the Humboldt County girls, allowing just one hit over the four innings.

South Fork’s Mackenzie Coleman got the start in the circle in game one, but the Smoke players were rusty after the long layoff and it showed.

Despite giving up just six hits in the game, the Smoke bats accounted for just three, one each from Coleman, Lola Distefano and Kiera Ashley.

“She pitched really well,” Brown said of Coleman. “But we had two errors on defense that cost us. Otherwise it would have been a 0-0 game.”

Game two was better, with Distefano getting the start in the circle and posting the win, giving up just two hits and two runs.

Preslee Sundquist dominated in relief on the way to recording the save and paired well with her older sister, Chezney Sundquist, behind the plate.

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Fortuna’s Olivia Hayes also had a good game, finishing 2-for-3 with two stolen bases and two runs scored, while teammate Abby Tyner of Arcata hit a key two-out, two-RBI double that kickstarted the team offense in the opening inning and gave the Smoke a decisive four-run lead.

“We jumped out on them pretty quick,” Brown said.

Tyner finished 2-for-2, while Evalynn Little added an RBI base hit.

Both Sundquist sisters scored runs in the win, as did Ella Moxon and Distefano, while Ashley set the tone on defense by turning a double play at third base.

Next up, the Smoke players will head to Folsom for tournament next week, before returning home to host their own tournament at the Bear River Sports Complex on September 26/27.