CASTLE ROCK — No doubt about it, Damon Casetta-Stubbs said: the pink flamingo is a mainstay.
If you know anything about the King’s Way Christian High School baseball team, a fun-loving bunch that gets down to business when it matters most, you’re familiar with the turquoise sombrero and cowboy hat that reside in the dugout every game.
How they got there, no one really knows, but what the players do know is they symbolize everything from good luck charms to rally caps.
“It gets us going, gets us riled up,” catcher Karter Graves said. “It keeps the dugout happy.”
So does that air-filled flamingo, which made an inaugural appearance at Saturday’s 1A District title game. Casetta-Stubbs found the toy inside the high school’s gymnasium this week, so naturally, it’s now a permanent fixture, especially after the Casetta-Stubbs-led performance against Castle Rock.
“It’ll be here, for sure,” Casetta-Stubbs said.
The hard-throwing right-hander fanned 12 batters over six innings, as he and reliever Sam Lauderdale combined for a no-hitter in a 3-1 victory over the Rockets.
The victory gives King’s Way (19-2 overall) the No. 1 seed into next week’s 1A regional round of the state tournament, where it’ll face Cascade Christian of Puyallup at 1 p.m. next Saturday back at Castle Rock.
A three-run first inning was all the Knights needed offensively, getting after Rockets starter Colton Titus for a 31-pitch inning. Lauderdale, Brannon Meriweather and Riley Danberg had consecutive hits with Lauderdale and Danberg driving in runs as part of a quick 3-0 lead. Titus settled in after a rocky first, and struck out seven over five innings.
The only hits the Rockets (14-8) were courtesy of Casetta-Stubbs: hit batters, anyway.
The Seattle University commit had four, in addition to one walk, but no damage was done after Castle Rock’s one run scored on a fielder’s choice.
Things did get interesting in the fifth, though. That was the Rockets’ best threat to cut into King’s Way’s 3-1 lead, getting runners on via two hit batters, then an intentional walk with two down.
Casetta-Stubbs, though, notched his third strikeout of the inning to end it for his fourth multi-strikeout inning.
Lauderdale struck out the side to end the game in the seventh. It’s the team’s second combined no-hitter with those two players this season.
Saturday’s win also was a piece of history; it’s the program’s first district title in its three-year infancy. All three years now, the Knights have qualified for the district tournament, and reached at least the round of 16 at the Class 1A state tournament. Last year, King’s Way fell in extra innings in a game that would’ve sent them to the state semifinals.
Now, they want to take it a step further and get past the regional round for the first time.
And Graves believes they have all the tools to do so.
“Hopefully,” he said, “we can hold up another trophy that looks like the one we just got.”
Montesano 14, La Center 2 — In a lot of ways, Saturday’s loss in the consolation game to the Bulldogs was the tale of the La Center Wildcats’ season: up and down.
“We achieved at times,” coach Rob Williamson said, “and underachieved at times.”
Montesano, champions of the 1A Evergreen League, scored five runs in the fourth, and another seven in the final frame to eliminate La Center in Castle Rock.
Its season ends at 8-11.
For the second year in a row, the No. 1 team from the 1A Evergreen League eliminated La Center by using its ace. Last year, it was King’s Way Christian in a winner-to-regional game.
Saturday, it was Montesano’s Nate Kloempken, who allowed jus two hits and two earned runs and struck out six in six innings of work.
La Center starter Clint Smith, described by Williamson as “our best guy the final three weeks of the season,” allowed five earned runs on six hits and struck out four.
With Montesano’s lead at 1-0 entering the fourth, that’s when the Bulldogs’ gained momentum for good. It sent nine batters to the plate, scoring five runs, including back-to-back extra-base hits by Matt Plato and Evan Bates. Bates’ 2-run homerun to left-center made it a 6-0 Bulldogs lead.
La Center cut the deficit to 6-2 with a pair of RBI doubles by Beau Castleberry and Jack Ossenkop.
Montesano sent 10 batters to the plate in its seven-run seventh inning.
