The Mount Si High School baseball team heads to Tacoma and the final four of the state 3A championships this week after downing Timberline and Enumclaw Saturday afternoon, May 21, at Bellevue’s Bannerwood Park.

With the state trip more than a decade in the making, the Mount Si boys had to overcome the daunting prospect of state play. But strong moves, like junior Ryan Atkinson’s first home run of his high school career, built confidence and helped power the big wins.

“We’re prepared and ready for this,” head coach Elliott Cribby said going into the Enumclaw matchup. “This is what the kids have wanted ever since they started playing baseball. We’ve put ourselves in position to do it. Now we just have to get it done.”

The Wildcats did just that in a 6-2 defeat of Enumclaw, with pitcher Reece Karalus and the Mount Si defense holding the Hornets to runs in the first and sixth. Enumclaw’s Kyle Thompson came home on a Tyler Carlson double at the top of the first, but Wildcats’ Dustin Breshears came home in short order thanks to a stolen base. Robb Lane came home next on a single by Max Brown. The game was scoreless until the third, when Atkinson came home on a Tim Proudfoot hit. Breshears made it home again on a Trevor Lane single.

Thompson scored again in the sixth for the Hornets on a double by Michael Lucarelli. But the ‘Cats kept climbing, overcoming two quick outs at the beginning of their half of the inning to score Nate Sinner and Justin Henak on an Atkinson hit.

Going in, Atkinson said he wanted to “Just stay within myself and try to win the game.”

Karalus held the Hornets to a single, followed by three fly outs, in the seventh to put it in the bag.

Cribby said Karalus kept the batters off balance all game long.

A couple hours earlier, Mount Si handled the Timberline Blazers, 4-2, with some masterful defense, big hits and solid mound presence by Trevor Lane, who threw 120 pitches.

“We came out with the mentality that we were going to play our own ball game,” Lane said. “I found my zone, got in a rhythm and just pitched on from there.”

The ‘Cats were down by two at the top of the third, but that changed when Atkinson whacked the first home run of his career.

“He wasn’t trying to do too much with it,” said the junior, who connected with a 340-foot dinger.

“We never gave up,” Karalus said of the game. “We just stayed in it. We kept on hitting.”

“I can’t really describe it,” Brown said of the feeling. “In the past, we’re used to choking and stuff. Not this year.”