Prep Baseball Roundup: Montesano beats Seton Catholic for first district title in seven years

Published 1:30 am Monday, May 18, 2026

Montesano stayed unbeaten with a championship victory as we review the final games of district-tournament play.

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1A DISTRICT 4 CHAMPIONSHIP

Montesano 4, Seton Catholic 0

Montesano won its first district title in seven years with a 4-0 win over Seton Catholic in the 1A District 4 Tournament championship game on Saturday at Olympic Stadium in Hoquiam.

The Bulldogs (24-0 overall) rode the left arm of ace pitcher Caden Grubb, who was sharp in a throwing a complete-game, two-hit shutout over the defending district-champion Cougars (19-5).

Monte got a run on a Mason Fry two-out single in the bottom of the second to drive in pinch-runner Coco Wilson and made it 2-0 when shortstop Toren Crites drove in second baseman Zach Timmons with a fielder’s choice ground out with one out in the third.

The turned out to be plenty for Grubb as the junior hurler retired the first 11 batters he faced before giving up a two-out single to Dalton Woods in the top of the fourth inning.

Monte’s defense gave Grubb a lift by immediately cleaning up its own mess.

An error to leadoff the Cougars’ fifth inning gave Seton Catholic a sliver of hope, but it was quickly erased as Seton Catholic’s next hitter, James Lubisich, lined out to Bulldogs shortstop Toren Crites, who quickly wheeled a throw to Kole Kjesbu at first to double up Colin Hogaboom.

Grubb then struck out Gavin Dumas looking to end the frame.

The Bulldogs responded by loading the bases on a walk, a bunt single by center fielder Tyson Perry and an error on a Colton Grubb sacrifice bunt in the bottom of the fifth.

Crites then lined a shot to Lubisich at second, who made the catch as was able to double off Perry at second.

With Monte’s once-promising inning looking to be a lost opportunity, a passed ball allowed Timmons to score followed by Colton Grubb crossing the plate on a wild pitch for a 4-0 lead.

Caden Grubb did the rest, allowing a lone leadoff single to Kolten Gesser in the top of the seventh over the final two innings to secure the win, and the first district title for Montesano since 2019.

“It feels great, especially winning it here, in this stadium, it’s great. I can’t explain it. It’s so good,” said Caden Grubb, who spotted his fastball on the edges and mixed in a variety of off-speed pitches to keep the Cougars’ bats quiet. “I was pretty quiet all day. I didn’t talk to many people because I knew this was a big game and we needed to win this game. I was very locked-in all day. … The fastball was working for me, the change-up was a good pitch, everything just felt great for me today. That’s not always the case, but it was a good thing it happened for this game.”

“Today, the hitting wasn’t there, but the pitching was phenomenal from Caden,” Monte head coach Mike Osgood said. “He’s been lights out like that all year. We did just enough offensively for Caden to do his thing and these guys had a mission and they were ready for it today.”

Caden Grubb allowed two hits without a walk while striking out nine over seven innings pitched. The star lefty was efficient on the mound, throwing 60 strikes out of 78 pitches (77%) and facing two batters over the minimum.

“He was commanding everything,” said Colton Grubb, Monte’s standout catcher and Caden’s brother. “Everywhere we wanted to locate, he was locating with his change-up and fastball a lot. Man, he was just hucking. He hit his spots and that’s what we work on. It’s kind of showed the other two (district) games. Our pitchers are just pure dominating right now because they’re throwing strikes.”

Montesano’s staring-pitching prowess was on display at districts as the Bulldogs used just two different pitchers in its three tournament games. Caden Grubb, who also started the opener against King’s Way Christian, and starter Kolson Hendrickson combined for a sparkling 0.00 ERA on eight hits and four walks with 20 strikeouts in 19 innings pitched to lead Monte to the championship.

“With them two not giving up a run in three games, that’s just two guys that want the ball and don’t want to give it up, ever,” Osgood said of his two starting aces.

Of note was the fact that the Bulldogs were denied an opportunity to raise the district championship after the win as the coveted trophy mistakenly did not make the trip with the Cougars for Saturday’s game.

It didn’t dampen the spirits of Colton Grubb, who found some humor in the situation.

“(Winning districts) feels great. It would probably feel better if we had the trophy here, but that’s all right,” he said before offering his thoughts on the victory. “It’s great. We’ve worked hard all season. This was our second goal this season. First league champs, then district champs and now we have to go take it in state. This is the road to something great. We’ve just got to keep working at it and just keep in the same mindset we’ve had since the start of the season.”

As expected, undefeated Montesano earned the No. 1 seed in the state tournament and will host No. 16 Royal in the opening round at 1 p.m. on Saturday at Olympic Stadium in Hoquiam.

Seton Catholic 000 000 0 – 0 2 2

Montesano 011 020 x – 4 5 1

WP: Ca. Grubb (7 IP, 0R, 2H, 0BB, 9K). LP: Woods (4 IP, 2R, 2ER, 4H, 3BB, 2K).

Leading hitters: Montesano – Fry (2-3, RBI); Perry (1-2); Ca. Grubb (1-2); Kjesbu (1-2); Crites (0-3, RBI); Co. Grubb (0-1, R, BB); Timmons (0-2, 2R, 2BB). SC – Gesser (1-3); Woods (1-3).

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2A DISTRICT 4 ELIMINATION GAME

R.A. Long 5, Aberdeen 4

Aberdeen’s hopes at getting back to the state tournament for the second consecutive season were dashed with a 5-4 loss to R.A. Long a 2A District 4 Tournament elimination game on Saturday at W.F. West High School.

The Bobcats (13-10) played catch up the entire game as the Lumberjacks (14-10) scored three runs on a bases-loaded error in the Aberdeen outfield in a four-run top of the first inning.

Trailing 5-0 in the bottom of the fifth, the Bobcats rallied for four runs, keyed by an RBI double by second baseman Greg Edwards and a run-scoring single from outfielder Donovaan Hedgpeth.

An Aidan Baker RBI sacrifice fly followed by Hedgpeth crossing the plate on a passed ball put Aberdeen to within a run at 5-4.

With the bases loaded and two outs, pitcher Gabe Matthews popped out to right field to end the threat with the Bobcats down by a run.

Hedgpeth was left stranded at second after a two-out double in the sixth and the Cats failed to cash in on a Hill leadoff single in the seventh to suffer the season-ending loss.

Two costly Aberdeen errors led to five unearned runs for R.A. Long.

Hedgpeth and catcher Sam Schreiber had two hits each to lead the Bobcats.

R.A. Long 410 000 0 – 5 6 0

Aberdeen 000 040 0 – 4 8 2

WP: Young (5.2 IP, 4R, 4ER, 6H, 3BB, 4K). LP: Matthews (2 IP, 5R, 0ER, 4H, BB, 4K).

Leading hitters: RAL – Young (2-4, R); Worel (2-2); Johns (1-4, R); Booth (1-3, RBI). Aberdeen – Hedgpeth (2-3, 2B, R, RBI); Schreiber (2-4); Edwards (1-3, 2B, R, RBI); Fretts (1-3, R); Hill (1-3).

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2B DISTRICT 4 ELIMINATION GAME

Pe Ell-Willapa Valley 6, Ilwaco 2

Pe Ell-Willapa Valley advanced to the state playoff with a 6-2 victory over Ilwaco in a 2B District Tournament elimination game on Friday at South Bend High School.

The Titans (16-7) broke a 1-1 tie with the Fishermen (18-4) with three runs in the top of the fifth inning, highlighted by an RBI double by star shortstop Max Jarvis and a run-scoring single from pitcher Mauricio Morales.

Brody Magruder scored on a passed ball in the sixth while Kaiden Blain homered to lead off the seventh to put PWV up 6-2.

Morales picked up the win while Jarvis threw the final three innings for the Titans to earn the save.

PWV enters the 2B State Tournament as the No. 13 seed and will play at No. 4 Northwest Christian (Colbert) in the first round at 1 p.m. on Saturday.

PWV 100 031 1 – 6 8 1

Ilwaco 000 101 0 – 2 7 1

WP: Morales (4 IP, R, ER, 5H, 2K). LP: Pelas (5 IP, 4R, 4ER, 5H, 5BB, K). SV: Jarvis (3 IP, R, ER, 2H, 4K).

Leading hitters: PWV – Jarvis (2-3, 2 2B, R, 2RBI); Morales (2-4, 2B, RBI); Blain (1-4, HR, R, RBI); Ruddell (1-3, R); Clements (1-1, 2R); Magruder (1-3, 2B, R); Ruddell (1-3, R). Ilwaco – Pelas (2-3, 2B, R, 2SB); Cunningham (2-3, R, RBI, SB); Hazen (1-3, RBI); Kaino (1-3); Linquist (1-3).