6/2/2026
As we come to the end of May, we are now into the thick of things for State Baseball and we will crown new state champions this week.
For the 1A state baseball tournament, the King’s Knights denied Montesano of their perfect season as the #11 Knights won the first state title in program history despite recording just one hit. Seton Catholic won their first trophy in program history with a 9-2 win against perennial contenders in Overlake/Bear Creek.
Below are the state results, link to 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 go to our Broadcast Schedule page and links to the games and broadcasts ESN covers will be included.
Here is our tournament coverage for 1A below.
1A State Baseball Tournament
Trophy Round @ Joe Martin Field (Bellingham)
Saturday, May 30th
Seton Catholic 9, Overlake/Bear Creek 2 (Third Place)
King’s 2, Montesano 1 (8 Innings) (Championship) (Coverage Below)
1A Semifinals @ Joe Martin Field (Bellingham)
Friday, May 29th
King’s 5, Overlake/Bear Creek 1
Montesano 5, Seton Catholic 1
Regional Round
Saturday, May 23rd
Bellingham Regional @ Joe Martin Field
King’s 8, Lakeside (Nine Mile Falls) 2
Lynden Christian 7, Naches Valley 0
King’s 12, Lynden Christian 2 (Zen Hill, Lynden Tribune)
Wenatchee Regional
Overlake/Bear Creek 6, Zillah 5
Cashmere 12, Castle Rock 1
Overlake/Bear Creek 12, Cashmere 10
Spokane Regional @ Whitworth University
Rochester 6, Colville 0 (The Chronicle)
Seton Catholic 5, Klahowya 1
Seton Catholic 9, Rochester 2 (The Columbian)
Hoquiam Regional
Charles Wright Academy/Life Christian Academy 4, Cedar Park Christian 1
Montesano 10, Royal 1
Montesano 3, Charles Wright Academy/Life Christian Academy 0 (Ryan Sparks, The Daily World)
Title Game Recap
King’s 2, Montesano 1 (8 Innings)
(Bellingham, WA) One school would be walking away with their first 1A baseball state title as the #11 King’s Knights looked to complete their Cinderella story. Standing in their way, the undefeated #1 Montesano Bulldogs who had been completely dominant all season long as they would look to take home the big trophy for the first time in school history. In the final high school sporting event of the 2025/2026 school year some history was guaranteed to be made.
Kolson Hendrickson got off to a hot start for Montesano with a quick 1-2-3 top of the 1st. Brady Reiss was not as fortunate as he hit Colton Grubb with two outs to extend the inning. Toren Crites would then work a walk and Montesano had two on and a chance to grab an early run. Caden Grubb would put the first pitch he saw in play on the ground to John Bjella who handled it without issue to strand a couple and get King’s off the hook early.
Another quick inning for Hendrickson allowed Montesano to add on to the pressure put on Brady Reiss and this time they cashed in in the 2nd. Montesano loaded the bases on a Kole Kjesbu walk, Mason Fry single, and Kolson Hendrickson hit by pitch. With the bases loaded and nobody out, Casey Daniels ripped a grounder into left to score Kjesbu to make it 1-0 with the bases still loaded. The Knights tightened things up on defense as a grounder from Zach Timmons to John Bjella allowed King’s to cutdown a run at the plate. Tyson Perry sent a grounder to Nate Bjella who flipped it to John for a Bjella double play. Bases loaded with one out netted the Bulldogs just one run but they were still in front 1-0.
Brady Reiss locked in after the 2nd but a couple of walks by John Bjella and Koa Higashino were left on base for the Knights. They could not cash in on free bases but Higashino would reach on an error that put him in scoring position with nobody out in the 6th. A wild pitch put him on third and seemingly in the blink of an eye, the Knights had the tying run 90-feet away. Nate Echelbarger got the job done with a fly ball to left that was deep enough to score Higashino and all of a sudden the game was tied at 1-1.
Montesano had just one hit after the 2nd inning but King’s had just one hit in the entire game. A leadoff double by Titan Root in the 7th put the go-ahead runner in scoring position for the Knights. That seemed to just make Kolson Hendrickson mad as he retired the next three he faced to give Montesano a chance to walk it off in the bottom of the 7th. The Bulldogs just could not get Brady Reiss out of his groove as he retired the side despite hitting a batter with two outs. We were headed to extras once again in Bellingham, this time in the 1A championship game.
In the 8th, Knight Root would reach to begin the inning on another Montesano error. Kolson Hendrickson would strikeout Koa Higashino and Jakob Fowler but did intentionally walk Nate Echelbarger. With two on and two outs, Hendrickson was over his pitch count so the Bulldogs went to their bullpen and brought in Damon Bird. He struggled as he walked Brady Reiss to load the bases and then fell behind Titan Root 3-0 before he was pulled for Kole Kjesbu. Kjesbu was in a very bad spot with a 3-0 count and the bases loaded. His first pitch to Titan Root missed for a ball, bringing in Sam Ruhlman and giving King’s the 2-1 lead going into the bottom of the 8th.
Brady Reiss had enough pitches left to go out for the bottom of the 8th to try to close out the first baseball state title for the Knights. He would face 2, 3, and 4 in the Montesano order but got off to a great start as Tyson Perry flew out to center on the first pitch of the inning. Colton Grubb’s fly ball was caught in left by Knight Root putting King’s one out away. Toren Crites was the last chance for Montesano but a grounder to Nate Bjella would seal the deal. The celebration was on as the King’s Knights had won their first state title in program history with a 2-1 win over the previously undefeated Montesano Bulldogs in 8 innings.
Our Thorbeckes MVP of the game went to Brady Reiss for the King’s Knights. The junior was terrific on the mound after a very bumpy start. He threw all eight innings with three hits allowed and one run and two walks with five strikeouts. Two of the hits were in the first two innings and both of the walks were as well. After allowing a single in the third, Reiss retired 17 of the final 18 batters he faced with one hit by pitch mixed in. It was unbelievable the way he settled in to pitch his team to a state title.
The King’s Knights did not have a baseball team until 2015 and now in their 11th season, they have their first state title. Just five seniors will leave the team which will have most of their starters back next season. It was not always pretty this season as the Knights were 11-6 at the end of April. They dominated their regional but mustered just four hits all weekend long in Bellingham but their pitching allowed just two runs on six hits. They capitalized on each and every opportunity they got and an unselfish approach along with elite pitching got the job done for King’s as the clock got stuck at 11:59pm to allow their Cinderella Story to live on forever.
Montesano had one of the best seasons of any high school baseball team in the state. The Bulldogs did not just go 27-1, but they dominated all but five of their games as they allowed 36 total runs in 28 games. This was an all-around juggernaut that had one slip up that cost them. There is nothing for this squad to hang their heads about with an electric season. Seven players will graduate but they left quite the legacy that the next generation will be more than eager to build upon.
Notable Performances
King’s
- Brady Reiss- 8 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 SO, 0-2, 2 BB
- Titan Root- 1-3, 2B, RBI
- Nate Echelbarger- 0-2, Sac Fly, RBI, BB
Montesano
- Kolson Hendrickson- 7.2 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 4 BB, 9 SO, 0-2, HBP
- Toren Crites- 1-2, BB
- Casey Daniels- 1-2, RBI
ESN Postgame Show
Highlights
King’s Ties it
King’s Wins First Title
www.elisportsnetwork.com
