5/5/26

(Tumwater, WA) A massive win for the Tumwater Thunderbirds on Monday night created an even bigger showdown on Tuesday as WF West would visit Tumwater in a rematch with massive league title implications. Once again, a win for WF West would clinch them a second consecutive Evergreen 2A title while Tumwater would need wins in both game two as well as the regular season finale on Thursday. Of course, neither team was thinking about anything other than the opponent in front of them going into Tuesday night in the third game of the season series that was even at 1-1.

Tumwater 3, WF West 1

Braeden Konrad was off to a nice start on the mound int he 1st as he retired the first two batters that he faced. Alex Stafford would then hit a comebacker off the calf of Konrad for an infield hit. Fortunately, Konrad was able to just shake it off to face Connor Coleman who got jammed and blooped one just over Konrad’s head. The throw to first was missed by the first baseman, allowing Coleman to reach and Stafford to move to third. With a first and third situation, Coleman would steal second as the tag was just missed which allowed Stafford to score on the throw. A two-out rally saw the Bearcats strike first and take a 1-0 lead.

Emmett Goodman was on the bump for the Bearcats and put up a zero in the 1st after stranding a Luke Overbay double. The Bearcats rallied with two outs again on a single by Luke McMillan and hit by pitch for Reece Marquez but both were left stranded in scoring position after Konrad struck out Wyatt Hoffman to end the inning. In the bottom of the 2nd, an error put Liam Gustafson on second before a walk to Jayden Stacy and hit batter for Wyatt Chase loaded the bases. Konrad Blake pinch hit in Konrad’s spot and tied the game with an RBI groundout. One wild pitch later would untie it as Stacy scored to give Tumwater a 2-1 lead.

Chaos ensued in the 3rd after Alex Stafford singled for the second time with one out. Braeden Konrad struck out Connor Coleman for the second out before Gage Wiens laid down a nice bunt. Luke Overbay charged in from third but his throw to first was up the line which let the Bearcats run. The ball hit the concrete backstop in the bullpen and kicked back to the T-Birds as Stafford tried to score. The friendly bounce saw Tumwater get Stafford at the plate for the final out of the inning and then WF West saw manager Jesse Elam get ejected pretty quickly as he disagreed with the call. The inning went from bad to worse as the Bearcats still trailed 2-1.

That was the turning point of the game as it felt like the air came out of the WF West Bearcats after that out at the plate. A lot of that had to do with Braeden Konrad who was brilliant in the back half of the game. After that out at the plate, the Tumwater senior retired the next eight batters he faced with five strikeouts in that stretch. The only thing that slowed him down was a two-out error, but he then got help from his defense as a hot shot up the middle by Miles Martin was picked by Wyatt Chase at shortstop and he touched second to end the inning. It was looking great for Tumwater who added an insurance run in the 4th after an error extended the inning and Chase cashed in with an RBI double to make it 3-1.

With just three outs left to get, Braeden Konrad stayed on for the 7th and did not miss a beat. A flyout by Hayden Rooney was put away by Liam Gustafson for the first out before Luke McMillan grounded out to Isaiah Rodriguez at second. Down to the last out, WF West could not solve Konrad as Reece Marquez hit a chopper that took Jayden Stacy right to the bag at first base to put this one away. In a flip of the script from last season, Tumwater had done what was done to them last year and took both games from WF West to go from second place to first as they downed the Bearcats 3-1 to put themselves one win away from a league title.

Our Thorbeckes MVP of the game went to Tumwater’s starting pitcher on Tuesday in Braeden Konrad. Konrad had a shaky start to his day but was incredible down the stretch as he pitched all seven innings while allowing one unearned run on four hits with no walks and 10 strikeouts. He lived in the strike zone and only allowed one baserunner in the final four innings and that was via an error. Konrad retired 12 of the final 13 batters he faced to put the T-Birds on the cusp of a league title.

Tumwater now controls their own destiny in the Evergreen 2A conference with a record of 16-4 and 12-2 in league play. They can win the league title in their regular season finale on Thursday at 4:30pm at Shelton. WF West falls to 17-3 and 12-2 in EvCo 2A play and has to hope Tumwater loses on Thursday while the Bearcats win. They host Aberdeen at 4:30pm for their final game before the postseason.

Notable Performances

WF West

Tumwater

• Braeden Konrad- 7 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 10 SO
• Wyatt Chase- 1-1, 2B, RBI, HBP
• Jayden Stacy- 0-2, 2 R, BB

Link to watch full game replay on the NFHS Network (subscription required)

ESN Postgame Show

Highlights

Marquez Diving Catch

Tumwater Cuts Down Tying Run

Chase RBI Double

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