Competing for a Title With Friends From Childhood: South Fork and St. Bernard Players Vie for Championship

We work with Ray Hamill of HumboldtSports.com to bring you local sports. Below we share a teaser and a link to his stories for easy access. Here’s the intro to Hamill’s look at friendships that span two rivals for Little 4 Title:

Little 4 rivals and summer teammates, from left to right, Caleb Ruiz, Cody Wyatt, Hunter Davis, Cooper Scott, Lane Thrap and CJ Van Meter. [Photo submitted to Humboldt Sports]

The Humboldt-Del Norte League is full of Renegades, as well as friendships that will likely last a lifetime.That’s one of the best things about playing sports, especially at a young age, and it’s something that was apparent on Saturday when St. Bernard’s hosted South Fork in a key doubleheader.

The two teams are neck and neck in contention for this year’s Little 4 title and big rivals on the field of play, but many of the players remain best friends off it, as well as being summer teammates for years.

The St. Bernard’s trio of Hunter Davis, Caleb Ruiz and Lane Thrap, in fact, have been playing alongside South Fork’s Cooper Scott, CJ Van Meter and Cody Wyatt for several years.

All six players were teammates four years ago on the Renegades, a local all-star team that traveled to compete in the Spring Championships in Arizona, a prestigious spring training tournament.

That was before any of them had ever even played a high school game, and four years later all six are now involved in a thrilling championship race.

To read more about the friendship/rivalry, go to Humboldt Sports.