Kangs Lose Heartbreaker to Mount Si in KingCo 3A Title Game

BELLEVUE – The Lake Washington High baseball team took a tough 1-0 loss Friday night in the KingCo 3A championship game when Mount Si scored on a walk-off single in the eighth, and now must play again twice to win a state berth.

The Kangaroos’ heartbreaking loss to top-seeded Si at Bannerwood Park means that they’ll play another game Saturday – and possibly another Tuesday.

Second-seeded Lake Washington (12-10) will face either Mercer Island or Sammamish at 4 p.m. here, with the winner advancing to a winner-to-state game Tuesday against the third team out of Metro.

But that’s a ways off, and the sting from Friday’s defeat won’t easily fade. This one hurt so much that head coach Derek Bingham had to compose himself midway through a post-game interview.

“I felt like we left everything on the field, and so did they, and that’s why this is so hard,” he said. “You play that exact same game five times and you probably split five times.”

Mount Si (18-3), fifth in this week’s rankings at washingtonbaseballpoll.com, earned the automatic state berth. The only other season meeting -- a 2-1 Kangaroo loss April 15 in Snoqualmie -- also ended with a walk-off hit.

In the eighth inning with one out, Si's Ryan Atkinson (who reached on a fielder’s choice) stole second base. The throw ended up in shallow centerfield, allowing him to reach third.

“That was a tough break with (catcher) Stevie (Semler),” Bingham said. “The ball got caught up in his glove and then the ball sailed on him a little bit.”

With the infield and outfield playing in, leadoff hitter Dustin Breshear then singled to right centerfield to win it.

“The first perfectly-placed ball in the entire game just happened to be theirs,” Bingham said. “They got that one break and they capitalized and that’s why they won.”

Ironically, Lake Washington had its best scoring opportunity in the top half of the extra frame.

Nori Shimizu became the first batter to reach third base in the game after a single up the middle, a stolen base and a balk – all with two outs. But Reece Karalus struck out Victor Mayorquin on a fastball to end the inning after Mayorquin had fouled off three straight pitches.

Lake Washington starter Spencer Jackson (seven hits, four strikeouts) and Karalus went toe to toe in a classic pitcher’s dual in which neither issued a walk. Karalus (three hits, six strikeouts) was so dominant that at one point he retired 21 of 22 batters.

“The pitchers had so much command – I think that’s the thing I was most impressed with,” Bingham said. “There were so few pitches in the middle of the plate. There were a lot of pitches on the outer half, a lot of breaking balls for strikes.”

Chris Moore’s terrific catch deep in centerfield in the third likely prevented a Wildcat run and Mayorquin’s diving catch in left field two batters later definitely prevented a run.

“In my eight years of doing this, it’s probably one of the best games I’ve been involved with – in terms of each team smashing the ball and getting ground balls run down in the gap, catching line drives and all that,” Bingham said.

But the Kangaroos’ defensive clinic was only just beginning.

Wesley Russell’s splendid defense at the hot corner helped the Kangaroos escape trouble. His line drive catch resulted in a double play in the fourth and his clean pick in the fifth of a sharp line drive capped off a 1-2-3 inning.

Not to be outdone, first baseman Zach Johnson’s brilliant line-drive catch resulted in a double play to end the sixth.

“Zach’s been big for us all year defensively, and Russ came up huge,” Bingham said. “It’s not only the plays that they made but the time that they made the plays.”

Bingham said that Johnson, who had two home runs in Thursday’s semifinal win over Sammamish, will get the nod Saturday.

“We told our guys we’ve got the toughest bounce-back in the world,” Bingham said. “But if we keep playing the way we are and with so much confidence, we’ll be fine.”