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 2A state baseball tournament, there was an instant classic to decide the championship but in the end nothing (including a squirrel) could stop Bainbridge from repeating as champions as the Spartans took down Tumwater 1-0 in 8 innings to win their second consecutive title. Orting would defeat Selah 5-1 to take third which was their first trophy since 1977.
Below are the 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 2A below.
2A State Baseball Tournament
2A Trophy Round @ Joe Martin Field (Bellingham)
Saturday, May 30th
Orting 5, Selah 1 (Third Place)
Bainbridge 1, Tumwater 0 (8 Innings) (Championship) (Coverage Below)
2A Semifinals @ Joe Martin Field (Bellingham)
Friday, May 29th
Tumwater 3, Selah 1
Bainbridge 6, Orting 1
2A Regional Round
Saturday, May 23rd
Othello Regional
Othello 1, Chief Sealth 0 (10 Innings)
Selah 8, Columbia River 0
Selah 8, Othello 7 (Yakima Herald Republic)
Centralia Regional (Wheeler Field)
Tumwater 7, Port Angeles 0 (Coverage Below)
Nathan Hale 4, Ellensburg 3 (Coverage Below)
Tumwater 5, Nathan Hale 0 (Coverage Below)
Spokane Regional (Shadle Park HS)
Orting 5, West Valley (Spokane) 1
Sehome 7, WF West 6
Orting 14, Sehome 3
Bainbridge Regional
Fife 7, Lynden 5
Bainbridge 8, Pullman 2 (Meegan M. Reid, Kitsap Sun)
Bainbridge 5, Fife 0 (Jeff Graham, Kitsap Sun)
Title Game Recap
Bainbridge 1, Tumwater 0 (8 Innings)
(Bellingham, WA) For the first championship game in Bellingham, the #1 seed in the 2A classification would look to repeat as champions as the Bainbridge Spartans tried to become the fourth team to ever do that at the 2A level. The last team to do it? The team that took the field across from them on Saturday afternoon in the #2 Tumwater Thunderbirds who were back in the title game for the first time since winning back-to-back championships in 2022 and 2023. Two very well coached teams would duke it out for all the marbles in one of the most anticipated championship games of the year.
It was not the pitching matchup many expected as Luke Overbay would pitch in the semifinals for Tumwater while Trey Thompson threw five pitches before leaving the Bainbridge semifinal win. Instead, senior Braeden Konrad would take the mound for his final high school start for the Thunderbirds. Fellow senior McCrea Curfman would get the start for Bainbridge in his final high school game before heading to Utah Valley.
Both starters had strong starts to the game as Bainbridge got the game’s first hit on a leadoff single by Dom D’Amico in the bottom of the 1st, but a smooth double play turned by Isaiah Rodriguez erased that to begin a pitcher’s duel. McCrea Curfman was perfect his first time through the order with three strikeouts as he worked ahead in the count consistently. Tumwater’s defense was strong as a single in the 2nd by Braden French was erased on a fielder’s choice before Braeden Konrad put up a 1-2-3 inning in the 3rd to keep the game scoreless early.
Tumwater changed their approach against Curfman the second time through the order and they began to have much more success. The T-Birds were aggressive from the moment they stepped into the batters box and both Max Bunn and Jimmy Womach singled on the first pitch of their second at-bats to put some traffic on for Tumwater. Curfman would still get out of trouble as Will Rohrbacher was a vacuum at third to retire Charlie Crawford in the 4th before Curfman was back on track with a 1-2-3 inning in the 5th.
Bainbridge looked to be finally breaking through in the bottom of the 5th against Konrad. The senior lost the feel for the strike zone after striking out AJ Larsen and walked the next three batters he faced. With the bases loaded and nobody out, manager Lyle Overbay left Konrad out on the mound after a discussion and it paid off. Konrad struck out Dom D’Amico for a huge second out before Henry Olsen sent a fly ball to left. Charlie Crawford was there to put it away and the bases were left loaded on a fantastic escape job by Braeden Konrad to keep the game scoreless.
In the next half inning, Tumwater put together their best opportunity of the game. A beautiful bunt single by Isaiah Rodriguez started the inning and Peyton Davis then reached on an error to put two on with nobody out. Max Bunn got a bunt down but McCrea Curfman fielded it quickly and cut down Rodriguez at third for out number one. Luke Overbay came to the plate and chopped one to Rohrbacher at third and would be thrown out at first while runners moved up to second and third. This time it was Bainbridge manager Thomas Henshaw making a big decision as he intentionally walked Jimmy Womach to load the bases. Curfman would record his first strikeout since the 2nd inning as he got Charlie Crawford swinging to strand the bases loaded himself.
Jimmy Womach would take off the catcher’s gear and took over on the mound for the bottom of the 6th and pitched a scoreless inning. Tumwater stranded a runner at second in the 7th after an error which put Bainbridge at the plate needing just one run to win the state title. A walk to Tenzing Dikman was followed by a bunt by Wyndham Kochenash. Luke Overbay fielded the bunt at third but his throw to second went into center field. Peyton Davis was there to back it up and actually threw out the courtesy runner in Chase Hay after he rounded second too far for the first out. After Emerson White was hit by a pitch, the winning run was in scoring position but Womach would strikeout Dom D’Amico for the second out. Then came a massive play as Henry Olsen dunked a single into center field. Bainbridge looked to walk it off as Kochenash was waved home. However, a magnificent throw by Peyton Davis in center was on the money to Rodriguez behind the plate who tagged out Kochenash to keep the game alive. Two massive plays by Peyton Davis in the 7th sent the 2A title game to extras still scoreless.
McCrea Curfman was out for the 8th inning as Trey Thompson began to warm up for Bainbridge in the bullpen despite having to leave the semifinal game after just five pitches. Peyton Davis was hit by a pitch to begin the 8th and moved into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt by Max Bunn. Bainbridge would intentionally walk Luke Overbay this time to bring up Jimmy Womach. He would hit a grounder to third and Will Rohrbacher stepped on the bad to erase Davis for the second out. Charlie Crawford would get ahold of one on a line drive but a leaping catch by Rohrbacher would take a hit away from Crawford and a run away from Tumwater as the game remained scoreless.
A one-out walk by Trey Thompson would lead to Eli Morgan coming in as a pinch runner. After a delay due to a squirrel getting on the field, Braden French singled for his third hit of the game to put the winning run in scoring position. A walk to AJ Larsen loaded the bases and brought Tumwater’s infield in with just one out and Tenzing Dikman coming to the plate. Dikman would put the ball in play on a chopper to short and a tricky in-between hop clipped off the glove of Overbay to end the marathon. Morgan scored the winning run and for the second consecutive year, the Bainbridge Spartans were 2A baseball state champions with a 1-0 win over Tumwater in an 8-inning thriller.
Our Thorbeckes MVP of the game went to McCrea Curfman for the Bainbridge Spartans. Curfman was outstanding on the mound for the Spartans and made adjustments after Tumwater got aggressive at the plate. He didn’t stack up the strikeouts as he had four, but did go eight scoreless innings with just four hits and two walks allowed and both of those walks were intentional walks. He trusted his defense and just made sure to throw strikes and with the very talented team behind him that was a state championship winning strategy.
After not ever winning a baseball state title, the Bainbridge Spartans have now won back-to-back 2A state titles in their first two years in the classification. A powerhouse has been established on the island and an incredible coaching staff has loaded the team who will be right in the mix next season in a chance to pull off the first three-peat in 2A baseball. While they graduate 11 seniors, they get to go out with the very rare title of back-to-back state champions.
Tumwater made it back to the state title game for the third time this decade and are now 2-2 in 2A baseball championship games. It was an outstanding season for Tumwater who seemed destined to be the runners up in their own league after back-to-back losses in April but used that as fuel to win 15-consecutive games. They allowed just two runs in their four state games and while they graduate 10 seniors themselves, the T-Birds will get right back to work to try to use the second-place finish as fuel for next year.
Notable Performances
Tumwater
- Braeden Konrad- 5 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 6 SO
- Max Bunn- 1-3, Sac Bunt
- Jimmy Womach- 1-3, BB
Bainbridge
- McCrea Curfman- 8 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 SO
- Braden French- 3-4
- Tenzing Dikman- 0-2, RBI, 2 BB
ESN Postgame Show
Highlights
Davis Sends it to Extras
Rohrbacher Takes Away a Hit
Bainbridge Walks it Off
Featured Regional Recap
Tumwater 7, Port Angeles 0
(Centralia, WA) In a rematch of last year’s state tournament in which Port Angeles ended Tumwater’s season, the two met again as Port Angeles looked to repeat their previous success and Tumwater looking for revenge. In the end though, only one team can advance. The T-Birds come in as the two seed in the bracket and Port Angeles the #15 seed as both looked to make their way to the semifinals of the state tournament.
Jimmy Womach would start things on the mound for Tumwater and didn’t take long before he got going. The only runners reaching base were due to errors but were left stranded as Womach delivered three strikeouts to get out of the top of the first. Tumwater would respond with two runs in the first inning as Luke Overbay would be walked and moved to second on a wild pitch. Jimmy Womach would then get a RBI single to drive in Overbay. Charlie Crawford would also get an RBI double the next at bat to get an early 2-0 lead. Jimmy Womach would continue to deal in the second with only one runner getting one base but would be left stranded as Tumwater would be due up to bat once again. In the bottom of the second Tumwater would add three more runs as the bats stayed hot. After a walk to Konrad Blake and a single from Henry Arthur, Kade Acker sliced a ball into right field for a two run RBI triple. Luke Overbay would then get an RBI off of an error. Tumwater led 5-0 going into the third inning.
Both teams couldn’t produce much offensively but the pitching and defense remained solid as the third went scoreless for both teams. It wasn’t until the bottom of the fourth that the next run would be scored for Tumwater. Peyton Davis would be walked and get to second on a stolen base before reaching home on an errant throw to add another run for the T-Birds. At this point in the game both teams had found their groove defensively. Womach worked through the lineup of Port Angeles striking out many of the batters across from him while the defense for the Rough Riders would hold Tumwater scoreless and hitless until the sixth inning. In the bottom of the sixth, Jett Hopton would reach on an error followed by an RBI single from Peyton Davis on a dropped ball to bring the game to 7-0.
Tumwater just needed three outs to advance to the quarterfinals, and they did just that with Braeden Konrad coming in to close the show for the Thunderbirds. Konrad delivered two strikeouts out of the three outs and Tumwater would walk away with the victory to face the winner of Nathan Hale and Ellensburg. The Thorbeckes’ MVP of the game went to Jimmy Womach who dominated the game on the bump for Tumwater as well as having an RBI in the game as well. Womach’s day on the mound was one of the biggest factors in this win for the T-Birds as well as getting it done with the bat.
Notable Performances
Tumwater:
- Jimmy Womach – 6 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 8 Ks
- Kade Acker – 1-2, 2 RBI, BB, (Triple)
- Charlie Crawford – 2-3, RBI
Port Angeles:
- Kody Williams – 3 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 1 BB
- Brayden Martin – 3 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 4 BB, 2 Ks
- Ian Smithson – 1-3 (Double)
ESN Postgame Show
Game Highlights
Crawford RBI Double
Acker Two-Run Triple
Waddell Diving Catch
Nathan Hale 4, Ellensburg 3
(Centralia, WA) In game two in Centralia, the #10 Ellensburg Bulldogs traveled west to battle the #7 Nathan Hale Raiders. A dominant program in the 2010s, winning back-to-back titles in 2017 and 2018 but a very tough CWAC had kept them from getting to the tourney too often since then. For Nathan Hale, they would be making just their third state tournament appearance in baseball in school history and would look to net their first win since 1980.
Julian Gonzalez got the start on the mound for Nathan Hale opposite of Carter Peone for Ellensburg. Peone would double with two outs but Gonzalez got Easton Armstrong looking to strand two in scoring position in the top of the 1st. Eliot Jennings recorded a double for Nathan Hale to leadoff the home half of the 1st to set the table for the Raiders. He moved up on a groundout by Julian Gonzalez but back-to-back strikeouts by Peone kept it scoreless as both pitchers got out of 1st inning trouble.
A two-out walk and hit batter were stranded in the top of the 2nd on a terrific sliding catch by Josh Earlywine in center to keep things scoreless while Peone followed with a clean 1-2-3 2nd. Peone would then double again with one out in the 3rd to get into scoring position. Jake Snow cashed in with an RBI single to right to give Ellensburg the first run of the game. Another single by Easton Armstrong followed and Ty Breinholt moved the runners up to second and third with two outs. An error brought home another run followed by an RBI single for Wyatt Green to make it 3-0 Bulldogs through three innings of play.
Nathan Hale got something going in the bottom of the 4th after Julian Gonzales was hit by a pitch and an error allowed Lando Laru to reach with nobody out. After a strikeout, Jack Dire roped a double down the left field line to bring home Gonzalez and get Nathan Hale on the board with runners on second and third and still just one out. Josh Earlywine then got it done at the plate as well with a two-run single and just like that the game was tied at 3-3 moving into the 5th.
Another sliding catch by Earlywine allowed Gonzalez to retire the side in order in the top of the 5th. Nathan Hale would play a little small ball in the bottom of the 5th after a leadoff single by Sean LeMoine. Eliot Jennings moved him up with a sacrifice bunt before Julian Gonzalez got him to third with a groundout to second. With a runner on third and two outs, Lando Laru clutched up with an RBI single to right field, bringing home LeMoine and giving Nathan Hale their first lead of the day over Ellensburg, 4-3 going to the 6th.
Jake Snow took over on the mound for Ellensburg in the bottom of the 6th and the Raiders jumped on him. Singles by Josh Earlywine and Kai Drohan put runners on second and third with one out. A terrific catch behind the plate by Wyatt Green recorded a second out for Ellensburg and they were able toe escape the jam with a grounder to second to keep the score 4-3 as we moved to the 7th and final inning.
Jack Dire came on to try to close things out for Nathan Hale in the top of the 7th after a strong outing by Julian Gonzalez. He set the tone by striking out Carter Peone to being the inning before Jake Snow grounded out to Sean LeMoine at short who made yet another terrific play for the Raiders. One out away, Nathan Hale was able to put this one away as Dire got Easton Armstrong to fly out to Josh Earlywine in center. Four unanswered runs gave Nathan Hale their first state baseball win since 1980, as they defeated Ellensburg 4-3.
Our Thorbeckes MVP of the game went to Josh Earlywine for Nathan Hale. The center fielder made two terrific sliding catches as well as a handful of running catches where he didn’t have to leave his feet. At the plate, Earlywine went 2-3 with a couple of runs batted in on a game-tying single for the Raiders in their comeback win.
The win sent Nathan Hale into the state quarterfinals for a matchup with #2 Tumwater on Saturday at 4pm. Ellensburg would see their season come to an end after a return to state after a couple year hiatus.
Notable Performances
Ellensburg
- Carter Peone- 5 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 0 BB, 4 SO, 2-3, 2 2B, R, BB
- Jake Snow- 2-4, RBI, R
- Wyatt Green- 1-2, RBI, BB
Nathan Hale
- Josh Earlywine- 2-3, 2 RBI, Terrific Defense
- Jack Dire- 1-3, 2B, RBI
- Julian Gonzalez- 5 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 3 SO
ESN Postgame Show
Game Highlights
Wyatt Green RBI Single
Nathan Hale Ties it Up
Laru Go-Ahead Single
Tumwater 5, Nathan Hale 0
(Centralia, WA) The third and final game on Saturday at Wheeler Field would decide who made it to Joe Martin Field in Bellingham for the 2A semifinals. #2 Tumwater came in off of a shutout of Port Angeles and looked to get to the semifinals for the first time since winning back-to-back state titles in 2022 and 2023. For the #7 Nathan Hale Raiders, they had a comeback win to defeat Ellensburg 4-3 and were looking to get to the semifinals for the first time in program history.
Luke Overbay would start on the mound for the Thunderbirds to face the top of Nathan Hale’s line-up. It only took three pitches to get the first two outs and struck out the third shortly after for a one-two-three inning to open the game for the T-Birds. On the other end, Kai Malloch would be on the bump for Nathan Hale. A similar story for the Raiders with two quick outs including a strikeout but a hit-by-pitch would send Luke Overbay to first base. A groundout though would end the inning with both teams going scoreless through one.
In the second, PJ Sale would lead off with a single for the Raiders before a Luke Overbay strikeout. Josh Earlywine would then reach on an error to put runners on the corners. Earlywine would then get to second off a steal which would be followed by a walk to Kai Drohan to load the bases. Isaiah Rodriguez then on a short infield groundball would get the lead runner out and save a run for Tumwater. Then, in a short hit up the middle, center fielder Peyton Davis made a diving catch to save another set of runs for Nathan Hale as the bases are left loaded with no runs scored. In the bottom of the second, Liam Gustafson would draw a walk which then turned into two runners on boards after a bunt from Wyatt Chase with two outs. Runners would be left stranded though as Malloch would retire the side.
Luke Overbay would deliver another one-two-three inning including a strikeout to send his team back to the batter’s box in the third. Kai Malloch would deliver a quick two outs with a strikeout as well, but Luke Overbay delivered a triple with two outs to put him in scoring position for Tumwater. Malloch would get the strikeout for the third out though and yet another scoreless inning for both teams. Overbay in the fourth would get a strike out looking to lead off but would walk Jack Dire to put a runner on for the Raiders. Dire would steal second and attempted to steal third but would be thrown out by Jimmy Womach to end the half inning.
Charlie Crawford would lead off the bottom of the fourth with a single followed by Liam Gustafson reaching on an error to put runners on first and second with no outs. Max Bunn would then drive in the first run of the game for Tumwater with an RBI double. Wyatt Chase followed this up with an RBI double of his own for the T-Birds. Henry Arthur continued the onslaught with a two run RBI to bring the score to 4-0. Nathan Hale would get the three outs soon after, but damage would already be done by Tumwater. Overbay got right back to work in the fifth inning with two straight strikeouts and would get the third out shortly after to get Tumwater back up to the plate. Jack Dire would come into pitch in the fifth and get two quick outs before Liam Gustafson hit a single into left field. He would be left stranded though for a scoreless fifth inning.
Luke Overbay and the Tumwater defense would retire three straight once again in just six pitches to get right back to the plate on offense. With two outs, Peyton Davis launched a ball into left field for a double and Jett Hopton would come inn to pinch run. Kade Acker would drive Hopton home with an RBI double in the next at bat. Tumwater would go into the seventh inning leading 5-0 and only needed three outs to send themselves to the semifinals. They would get the outs in short order helped by great defensive play from Isaiah Rodriguez and the strikeout to end it all from Luke Overbay. Tumwater wins 5-0 and sends themselves to the semifinals at Joe Martin Stadium in Bellingham.
Luke Overbay took home the Thorbecks’ MVP of the game award with an absolutely dominant performance with the shutout and only allowing one hit over seven innings as well as getting it done in the batter’s box as well. The future Michigan Wolverine carved through his opponents with ease and led his team to the semifinals of the 2A state tournament.
Notable Performances
Nathan Hale
- PJ Sale- 1-3
- Kai Malloch- 4 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 2 SO
Tumwater
- Luke Overbay- 7 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 8 SO, 1-2, 3B, 2 BB
- Wyatt Chase- 2-3, 2B, RBI, R
- Henry Arthur- 1-3, 2 RBI
ESN Postgame Show
Game Highlights
Davis Sliding Catch
Tumwater Breaks Through
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