The Mount Si baseball team claimed a 1-0 win over Lake Washington Friday, May 13, at Bannerwood Park in Bellevue, claiming the Kingco 3A title and an automatic berth to state play, the first trip in 14 years.

To get there, the Wildcats had to run a gauntlet of the Kangs’ battery, with pitcher Spencer Jackson giving up seven hits. But Mount Si senior pitcher Reece Karalus and the Wildcat defense also kept up the pressure; between the strikes and flyouts, the game was scoreless for eight innings.

“Reece is the guy that kept us in the game,” head coach Elliott Cribby said. “He gets better as he goes through a game.”

Max Brown also ruled the field, grabbing a number of critical fly balls.

Hits did happen: Tim Proudfoot singled in the first inning, as did Max Brown in the second, Nate Sinner in the fourth inning and Robb Lane in the sixth. But the game was a battle of the defenses.

Mount Si had a scare at the top of the seventh and in the eighth, when Lake Washington’s Nori Shimizu singled, then stole second and made it third on a balk. Karalus stopped the threat by striking out the Kangs batter.

The decision came in the bottom of the eighth, when Ryan Atkinson made it to first on a fielder’s choice, stole third, then came home on a big Dustin Breshears hit.

Atkinson’s fake bunt play set the table for Breshears, whose smooth line drive hit a sweet spot between second base and right field, ending it with a walkoff.

“The baseball gods were finally smiling on us,” Cribby said.

Mount Si heads into regionals with a 1 p.m., Saturday, May 21, game at Bannerwood Park in Bellevue. A win in that match means play at 4 p.m. at the park.