Updated: 5/24/25 10:30 PM
The Eli Sports Network will be covering the 3A State Baseball Tournament in this blog. If you want to follow the 4A, 2A, and 1A, they are on a separate blog post. 4A and 3A will play the Semifinals, the 3rd place game, and the State Championship at Parker-Faller Field in Yakima, on May 30 and 31. Last year, West Seattle won their first baseball State Championship. This year, they are the 15-seed, while Mount Vernon, which made the State Championship Game last year, is the 1-seed. A future first-round MLB Draft pick leads the Bulldogs in Xavier Neyens.
Below are the matchups, a link to the State Bracket, and as the tournament rolls on, we will post the most recent games and coverage at the top of the story. We will cover our games and try to find additional coverage from other media groups and link their stories and coverage to those that we find.
For a complete list of the live broadcasts by Eli Sports on the NFHS Network, click here to go to our Broadcast Page, and links to the games and broadcasts ESN covers will be included. ESN will be streaming the 3A Semifinals, 3rd Place Game, and State Championship Game.
Link to the 3A State Tournament Bracket.
Opening Round
Tuesday, May 20th
#19 Bellevue 2 vs #14 Snohomish 6
#18 University 3 vs #15 West Seattle 4
#20 Ridgeline 3 vs #13 Shorewood 5
#17 Central Kitsap 2 vs #16 O’Dea 8
Round 2
Saturday, May 24th
#11 Enumclaw 2 vs #6 Stanwood 1 (9 Innings)
#14 Snohomish 1 vs #3 Kennewick 4
#10 Capital 4 vs #7 Inglemoor 5
#15 West Seattle 2 vs #2 Gig Harbor 3
#12 Eastside Catholic 1 vs #5 Peninsula 0 (8 Innings) (Click here for full game replay, Subscription Required)
#13 Shorewood 1 vs #4 Ballard 2 (Click here for full game replay, Subscription Required)
#9 North Thurston 0 vs #8 Decatur 5
#16 O’Dea 2 vs #1 Mount Vernon 4
Quarterfinals
Saturday, May 24th
#11 Enumclaw 4 vs #3 Kennwick 5
#7 Inglemoor 2 vs #2 Gig Harbor 6
#12 Eastside Catholic 1 vs #4 Ballard 4 (Click here for full game replay, Subscription Required)
#8 Decatur 1 vs #1 Mount Vernon 3
Semifinals @ Parker-Faller Field, Yakima
Friday, May 30th
#3 Kennewick vs #2 Gig Harbor – 10 AM (On ESN)
#4 Ballard vs #1 Mount Vernon – 1 PM (On ESN)
3rd Place Game
Saturday, May 31st
TBD vs TBD – 10 AM
State Championship
Saturday, May 31st
TBD vs TBD – 4 PM
Game Recaps
Eastside Catholic Advances In Extra Innings Over Peninsula
#12 Eastside Catholic Crusaders – 1/6/1
#5 Peninsula Seahawks – 0/1/0
(Bellevue, WA) Eastside Catholic had their eyes set on another deep postseason run, but found themselves as the 12-seed, after being the 1-seed in the Metro League Tournament, but losing twice. The Peninsula Seahawks were looking for their first win in State Tournament play since 2019, after winning their second consecutive District 3/4 Championship.
The two sides showcase fantastic defense throughout the entire game. Peninsula used a lot of ground balls and flyouts to keep Eastside Catholic off the scoreboard, while the Crusaders rode the right arm of Will Crain to record strikeout after strikeout. Eastside Catholic had a baserunner on in each of the first four innings, and in three of those innings, the baserunner was in scoring position. Still, Peninsula came up with timely outs to keep it scoreless. In the 7th Inning, Eastside Catholic had the bases loaded with two outs, but relief pitcher Daniel Sleeter worked out of the jam with a flyout. Peninsula couldn’t win it in the bottom of the 7th, and the game went into extra innings. At the top of the 8th, Micah Bartle led off with a single. Ryan Long drew a walk, and after a pair of outs, the Crusaders got a clutch hit from Kai Jambor, who drove in Bartle on an RBI single to give Eastside Catholic a 1-0 lead. Eastside Catholic’s Will Crain struck out three of the last four Peninsula Seahawks that came up to the plate, and gave the Crusaders a 1-0 victory.
Eastside Catholic would move on to the Quarterfinals, where they waited to see if they would face another Metro League team in Ballard or Shorewood. Peninsula’s season comes to a close with a record of 16-8.
Our Thorbeckes Game MVP went to Will Crain from Eastside Catholic. Crain gave up only one hit, struck out 11, threw a complete game, and had a single offensively for good measure. Crain also had a stretch where he struck out four consecutive batters in the 4th and 5th innings. On Tuesday, Crain committed to UCLA to continue his baseball career in Division I.
Game Highlights
Eastside Catholic’s Kai Jambor’s RBI Hit
Eastside Catholic’s Will Crain’s 11th Strikeout Gets Win For Crusaders
Peninsula’s Kaleb Copeland Gets Strikeout To End 4th Inning
Ballard Uses Great Defense To Defeat Shorewood
#13 Shorewood Stormrays – 1/5/1
#4 Ballard Beavers – 2/5/0
(Bellevue, WA) Ballard made State last year, and returned a lot of players from the 2024 season, and is poised for a deep run. The Shorewood Stormrays, already had a loser-out win in the State Tournament, defeating 20-seed Ridgeline 5-3, and were looking to ride that momentum to pull off the second upset of the day.
Ballard got things going early, as Brady Miailovich drew a walk, then stole second with only one out. After a strikeout, Dylan Wallblom smacked an RBI single to drive in the first run of the game and give Ballard a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first. After James Sand singled to put runners on the corners, Shorewood made a tremendous heads-up play to end the inning. Ballard attempted to steal second, and rather than trying to get the runner at second base, Kanata Barber cut off the throw and fired it back to third base, where Adam Jaramillo got the tag down for the third out. Both sides had runners in scoring position in the third inning, but failed to score a run. Ballard added to their lead in the 4th, Dylan Wallblom singled again, and on an error reached second base safely. James Sand followed up with a single himself, which scored Joey Thee, who was running for Wallblom to make it a 2-0 lead. Wallblom then struck out three batters in a row in the 5th inning. The play of the season might’ve happened for Ballard in the 6th inning. Shorewood’s Max Rojas led off the inning with a single, swinging on the first pitch after being called in as a pinch hitter. Two pitches later, Finn Bachler attempted a bunt, and catcher Truitt Madonna caught the bunt in foul territory, diving to his left out of his catching stance to make the grab. Madonna popped up, fired the ball to first base to complete the double play, and flipped the inning on its head to quickly get two outs. Ballard couldn’t add to their 2-0 lead in the 6th inning. Shorewood’s Kanata Barber started the 7th inning with a single. Joey Facilla III also added a single to put a pair of runners on with one out. Reymond Almacen drove in Barber to make it 2-1. After a groundout, Shorewood was down to their final out, and Aiden DePaula caught the final out in right field to give Ballard a 2-1 win.
Ballard advanced to the State Quarterfinals and won a State Tournament game for the first time since 1984, where they’d meet up with a familiar Metro League opponent in Eastside Catholic. Shorewood’s season came to an end with a record of 16-9.
Our Thorbeckes Game MVP went to Dylan Wallblom of Ballard. Wallblom struck out five, threw a completed game, and allowed only one run. Offensively, Wallblom had a pair of singles, an RBI, and his other single resulted in that run scoring via a pinch runner. Wallblom commanded the game on the mound and helped Ballard win their first State Tournament game in 41 years.
Game Highlights
Ballard Takes 1-0 Lead On RBI Single From Dylan Wallblom
Shorewood Cuts The Lead In Half With RBI Single From Reymond Almacen
Ballard’s Truitt Madonna With Great Grab And Throw To First For Double Play
Ballard Advances To First Baseball Semifinal Appearance
#12 Eastside Catholic Crusaders – 1/6/2
#4 Ballard Beavers – 4/6/0
(Bellevue, WA) Ballard and Eastside Catholic played each other in early April, and both teams won on their home field. The rubber match between the two squads had the highest stakes of the three meetings, with a trip to Yakima and the State Semifinals on the line. With each team getting a win already on Saturday, they were looking for a 2-0 day and the guarantee of bringing home some hardware next weekend.
Both teams had baserunners on in the first inning, but neither side could score the first run. Ballard struck first in the 2nd inning, as Aiden DePaula had a double, and Miles Soja brought him home on a long flyball that resulted in an error and a 1-0 lead for Ballard. Ballard’s bats struck again in the 3rd inning as Truitt Madonna led off with a single. Brady Miailovich had an RBI triple to make it 2-0. After a pair of strikeouts, Fischer Witt had an RBI single to make it 3-0 and keep the inning going. Aiden DePaula brought in another run, with his second double in as many innings, to make it 4-0. DePaula then controlled the game from the mound with nearly flawless pitching until the 6th inning, when Eastside Catholic got their bats going. Tyler Long got on with a one-out single, and Micah Bartle followed with a single of his own. Ryan Long drove in Tyler Long with an RBI single to make it 4-1 with Ballard still leading. DePaula got out of the inning, surrendering only one run, and Ballard wasn’t able to add to their lead in the bottom of the 6th. In the top of the 7th, Hudson Schock reached base with a one-out single. Ballard’s Brady Miailovich fielded a ground ball at second base, flipped it to shortstop Fischer Witt, who stepped on second base and fired to first base for the double play, and got Ballard the 4-1 win, and a spot in the State Semifinals.
Ballard began the day with only two State Tournament wins in their school’s history, and ended the day guaranteeing themselves their best result ever by making their first trip to the State Semifinals. Eastside Catholic came just short of pulling off their second upset of the day and returning to the State Semifinals, but their great season ends with a record of 17-10.
Our Thorbeckes Game MVP went to yet another starting pitcher, Ballard’s Aiden DePaula. DePaula threw a complete game, gave up only six hits, one run, struck out six, had two doubles, scored a run, and drove in a run. DePaula’s all-around performance, with history on the line, and being a senior, his high school baseball career on the line, was outstanding.
Game Highlights
Ballard’s Aiden DePaula’s RBI Double In The Third Inning
Ballard Gets Double Play For Their First Trip To State Semifinals
Eastside Catholic’s Ryan Long Drives In Tyler Long In 6th Inning
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