King’s Way baseball beats Montesano for district title

CASTLE ROCK – King’s Way Christian is the reigning Class 1A state baseball champion. But the Knights still feel like they have a lot to prove.

“We still have that little chip on our shoulder,” senior catcher Hunter Aarhus said. “Everyone is out to get us. We’re ready to play and ready to prove it again.”

King’s Way will enter next weekend’s state playoffs coming off one of its best wins of the year. The Knights claimed the District 4 title Saturday with a 4-2 victory over Montesano, which suffered just its second loss of the season.

“It was probably the biggest challenge that we’ve had to date,” King’s Way coach Gregg Swenson said. “I told our guys we have to stay locked in and focused on every pitch.”

King’s Way had both solid pitching and clutch hitting Saturday at Castle Rock High.

Aarhus had three hits, including an RBI triple in the sixth inning that gave King’s Way a 3-2 lead. He would then score on a balk.

Brannan Meriwether settled down after allowing two runs and six hits in the first three innings. He retired six of the last seven hitters he faced before handing the ball to the bullpen after five innings.

“I got on him a little bit in the second inning,” Swenson said. “From that moment on, he really went after people. He really commanded his fastball.”

Meriwether also led off the fifth inning with a double, then scored on Riley Danberg’s two-out single to erase Montesano’s 2-1 lead.

Damon Casetta-Stubbs and Sam Lauderdale each pitched one inning in relief after both had dominant starts earlier in the district tournament.

After striking out 18 in a first-round win, Lauderdale struck out three in the seventh inning, stranding runners on first and third.

Swenson wanted Casetta-Stubbs and Lauderdale to each pitch an inning Saturday to stay sharp for next weekend’s regional round. Two of the state’s top pitchers just happened to be available to close out a close game.

“It looked like a really good move when you can bring those two in at the back end of a ballgame,” Swenson said.

King’s Way (16-6) will face Meridian of Bellingham next Saturday at Castle Rock. The winner will face either La Center or Bellevue Christian later that day for a berth in the state semifinals.

Montesano (19-2) is the district’s No. 2 seed and must travel to Tacoma for the regional round.

King’s Way hopes to channel the poise it showed Saturday against a team that has reached state eight of the last 10 years.

“You’ve got to play the best to be the best team,” Meriwether said. “It lets us know that hey, we can compete with anyone.”

Though King’s Way is riding high after a district title, Swenson stressed the need to refocus and not dwell on Saturday’s triumph.

“We move on to next week and the next opponent,” Swenson said. “If we don’t have the same attention and focus on our next opponent, then you can be on the wrong end of things.”

KING’S WAY CHRISTIAN 4, MONTESANO 2

King’s Way    010     012     0 — 4  8 1

Montesano    101     000     0 – 2 8 0

King’s Way Christian

Pitching – Brannan Meriwether 5 IP, 2 K, 0 BB; Damon Casetta-Stubbs 1 IP, 2 K, 1 BB; Sam Lauderdale 1 IP, 3 K, 0 BB, Save. Offensive highlights – Brannan Meriwether 2-3 R, 2B; Sam Lauderdale 1-4; Riley Danberg 1-4, RBI; Damon Casetta-Stubbs 1-2, R; Hunter Aarhus 3-3, R, 2 RBI, 3B.

Montesano

Pitching – Nate Kloempken 5.1 IP, 10 K, 3 BB; Evan Bates 1.2 IP, 2 K , 1 BB. Offensive highlights – Matt Plato 2-3, 2 R, RBI, HR; Evan Bates 1-3, RBI, 2B; Kyle Trout 1-3; Carter Olsen 1-3; Carson Klinger 3-3.