4 Washington high school (WIAA) regional baseball games you should not have missed Saturday

Nationally-ranked Puyallup survives big scare from Lake Stevens; Elliott Cribby leads second 4A KingCo program to final four in Eastlake

With Class 4A regional-round wins, Eastlake slides right into Yakima and the final four. / Photo by Steve Faber

Given a few hours Saturday night to digest the crazy ending - and near-season ender - in the WIAA Class 4A regional baseball tournament at his home Heritage Park, Puyallup High School baseball coach Marc Wiese's mind went a few different directions.

The consensus national top-five ranked Vikings (High School On SI has Puyallup No. 2) were three outs away from being shockingly eliminated from the postseason, but rallied for three seventh-inning runs to put away Lake Stevens, 6-5.

D.J. Ringenbach's sharp run-scoring single with two outs in the seventh inning sent No. 1 seed Puyallup to next week's state semifinals in Yakima.

Wiese succinctly summed it up: "I guess it was a hard day."

Even in Oregon State University signee Mason Pike's early-game no-hitter (17 strikeouts, two walks), the Vikings, it took four sixth-inning runs to finally turn away Moses Lake, 5-0.

Against Lake Stevens, Puyallup held a 3-1 headed into the seventh inning, but ran into trouble, giving up two quick hits and committing an infield error to set up a big inning - four runs - capped by Julian Wilson's two-run single.

"I think we tried to do too much at times today, but these (players) feel like the next guy is always going to pick then up," Wiese said.

Against Lake Stevens reliever Blake Moser, Puyallup quickly loaded with bases on three consecutive walks to Riley Sanoy, Pike and Gage Thompson.

Kyler Malnar's ground ball scored Sanoy and Pike, and the game was tied, 5-5.

Three batters later, Ringenbach, whom Wiese said "has had some of the biggest hits we've had this year," came through with the game-winning single to center field, scoring pinch runner Jacek Garden.

"We've played 28 games. We're 28-0," Wiese said. "We found a way to win, but we were pretty lucky."

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EASTLAKE HEADED TO FINAL FOUR

Eastlake scored three third-inning runs, highlighted by Jayden Matsuoka's two-run triple, and the Wolves got four innings of shutout baseball from their bullpen in earning a 4-2 victory over KingCo foe Issaquah in the Class 4A quarterfinals in Sammamish.

"It's somebody new every game, and it's been amazing to watch," Eastlake baseball coach Elliott Cribby said.

The Wolves are returning to the final four for the first time since 2023 when they defeated Sumner for the WIAA title.

Earlier in the day, Eastlake held off Curtis, 1-0. Cruz Payne drove in the game's lone run with a fifth-inning groundout. Rodrigo Montano pitched five innings of one-hit ball to earn the victory.

This is the second KingCo program coach Cribby has guided to at least the Class 4A semifinals in his first season. Mount Si won the 2011 state title under the former University of Washington pitcher.

"On a daily basis, it's our relentless pursuit of details -and being able to execute those details," Cribby said.

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JACKSON STUNS TOP EASTERN WASHINGTON HOPEFUL

How good were the teams in the Class 4A District 1/2 championships? Three of them are through to the state semifinals, including two clubs who got it done on fhe road.

One of those was 10th-seeded Jackson, which upended 4A/3A Mid-Columbia Conference champion and No. 2 seed Kamiakin, 6-4, in the WIAA quarterfinals at LaPierre Field in Kennewick.

The Timberwolves are in the final four for the first time since 2011. And now they'll see the team they lost to in the bi-district championship game - Eastlake.

"You don't think we are fired up for that game?" first-year Jackson coach Joe Fleury said.

But first, the Timberwolves had to figure out Kamiakin - especially after an error led to three Braves' runs in the fourth inning, giving Kamiakin a 3-2 lead.

Jackson tied it in the fifth inning on a Kamiakin error - and regained the lead, 5-3, on Sam Craig's two-run single to center field.

Craig also came in and got the two-plus inning save, leaving multiple runners stranded in each of the final three innings.

"Sam was the first guy named as a captain (for 2025)," Fleury said. "He is a gritty dude."

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GIG HARBOR STALKING 3A TITLE

It wasn't that long ago when Gig Harbor was viewed as one of the elite prorgams in Class 3A, winning WIAA championships in 1997 and 2017.

But after three consecutive early regional-round exits (2022-24), coupled with the fact the Tides lost to Peninsula in the Class 3A District 3/4 championship game last week, the fact they were awarded the No. 2 overall WIAA seed raised some eyebrows.

Don't worry - the Tides came through just fine.

After eking out a 3-2 over defending Class 3A champion West Seattle in the opener, Gig Harbor handled Inglemoor, 6-2, in the state quarterfinals to advance to the final four for the first time since 2019.

After Cooper Richter's run-scoring single gave the Vikings an early 1-0 lead, outfielder Daniel Porras erased it for the Tides with his two-run home blast to right field - his third home run of the season.

Gig Harbor added a pair of runs in each of the third and fourth innings to grab a 6-1 lead, backing starting pitcher Jake Cuda's complete-game victory (six hits, two earned runs, five strikeouts).

"We've had a couple of tough years (in 2023 and 2024)," first-year Tides baseball coach Ben Sleeter said. "There is a lot of talent here. I told them when I took the job this year, there is state-championship talent. We've just got to go do it.

"An unbelievable group of kids here."

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