Perfection shattered: Montesano suffers heartbreaking 2-1 loss to King’s in state-championship game

Published 1:30 am Sunday, May 31, 2026

BELLINGHAM–The coronation of the Montesano baseball team was all set.

The top-ranked Bulldogs, perfect through 27 games leading up to Saturday’s 1A State Championship game against the No. 11 King’s Knights, were one game away from making their state-title dreams come true.

Instead, it turned into a nightmare they won’t soon forget.

A lack of Monte’s typical execution led to glaring mistakes that cost the Bulldogs dearly in a 2-1 extra-inning loss at Joe Martin Stadium.

The first example came in the bottom of the second inning as the Bulldogs (27-1 overall) loaded the bases with no outs against the Knights (18-8) and their starting pitcher Brady Reiss.

Monte senior third baseman Casey Daniels singled on a ground ball to left field, scoring senior first baseman Kole Kjesbu for a 1-0 lead.

But with a golden opportunity to put a crooked number on the scoreboard, the Monte offense failed to convert. Senior second baseman Zach Timmons followed with a grounder to shortstop John Bjella, who threw home to force out senior left fielder Mason Fry for the first out of the inning.

Senior center fielder Tyson Perry then grounded into an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play, ending what turned out to be Monte’s best run-scoring opportunity of the game.

“We should have got a couple of more there,” Monte head coach Mike Osgood said.

But through the first five innings of play, the 1-0 lead seemed to be plenty as Bulldogs junior starting pitcher Kolson Hendrickson befuddled Knight’s hitters.

The Monte right-hander retired eight of the first nine batters he faced and didn’t allow a base hit through the first six innings of play.

However, in the Knights’ half of the sixth, a combination of Monte miscues led to King’s tying the ball game.

With the Bulldogs six outs away from a state title, Koa Higashino led off with a grounder to Daniels, whose throw skipped past Kole Kjesbu at first, allowing Higashino to advance to second on the error.

A few pitches later, Higashino advanced to third on a wild pitch. Knights catcher Nate Echelbarger then drove in Higashino with a sacrifice fly to Mason Fry in left.

Hendrickson struck out Jakob Fowler and got Reiss to ground out to end the frame with the no-hitter still intact, but the game tied at 1-1.

Titan Root led off the top of the seventh with a double for the first hit of the game off Hendrickson, who locked in to get the next three batters out to end the threat.

Monte had a shot to win the game in the bottom half of the seventh when Daniels was hit by a pitch with two outs, but Timmons followed with a soft liner that was caught by Bjella at short to send the game to extra innings.

Fortunes fell apart for the Bulldogs in the top of the eighth as Root reached on a Daniels throwing error to lead off the frame.

Pinch-runner Sam Ruhlman then stole second before Hendrickson, who was nearing the 105 total pitch limit, struck out Higashino for the first out of the inning.

After an intentional walk to Echelbarger, Hendrickson ended his night on the bump by striking out Jakob Fowler for the second out of the inning.

Monte reliever Damon Bird replaced Hendrickson and struggled to find the zone, walking Reiss on five pitches to load the bases then throwing three straight balls to Titan Root, forcing Osgood to replace him on the mound with Kjesbu. The left-hander’s first pitch to Root was a ball, allowing the go-ahead run to come in to score.

Kjesbu then got second baseman Nate Bjella to fly out to Perry to end the inning, but the damage had been done.

Reiss, who was also nearing the pitch limit, needed just six pitches to retire the Monte side in the bottom of the eighth, getting Crites to ground out to Nate Bjella to end the game, and crush Monte’s hopes of hoisting the state-championship trophy.

“It just came down to not throwing enough strikes at the end of the game and not playing defense,” Osgood said. “That’s what we’ve talked about all season long: You have to find away to do two or three aspects of the game right. We pitched pretty well, Kolson threw a heck of a game. … We just didn’t make the plays behind him when we needed to. That’s just how the game goes.”

Reiss earned the win, retiring 13 straight Bulldogs batters until hitting Daniels with a pitch in the seventh.

“Tip your hat to (Reiss). He threw well all game, a lot better than we anticipated,” Osgood said. “You’re not going to score a lot of runs at this point of the season. You just can’t give the other team free runs.”

Hendrickson was charged with the loss, allowing two unearned runs on one hit and four walks with 10 strikeouts in 7 2-3 innings pitched.

“It sucks. Going 27-0 and losing this one here, it hurts,” Osgood said. “We had a great group of seniors that meant the world to us, great assistant coaches that got these guys ready to play every day. I’m really proud of the team we became throughout the year. We battled adversity like crazy all season long. It’s not the outcome we wanted, obviously, but we just got to accept it and know there is always tomorrow. These guys are going to go out and be great men and great leaders, whatever they do in life.”

The game was the last for seniors Kjesbu, Crites, Daniels, Timmons, Perry, Fry and Carter Ames.

King’s 000 001 01 – 2 1 0

Montesano 010 000 00 – 1 3 2

WP: Reiss (8 IP, R, ER, 3H, 2BB, 5K). LP: Hendrickson (7.2 IP, 2R, 0ER, H, 4BB, 10K).

Leading hitters: King’s – T. Root (1-3, 2B, RBI); Echelbarger (0-2, RBI, SF); Higashino (0-3, R). Montesano – Daniels (1-2, RBI); Fry (1-3, SB); Crites (1-3); Kjesbu (0-2, R, BB).