For the sixth consecutive season, the Olympia baseball team is headed to the state tournament.
The Bears knocked off Emerald Ridge 8-3 in the District 3/4 4A Tournament quarterfinals Tuesday, defeating the Jaguars for the second time in a postseason setting in a seven-day span. Olympia also beat Emerald Ridge 3-1 in the South Puget Sound League semifinals May 5.
Entering the game, the fifth-seeded Bears were motivated to prove they were the better team than the fourth-seeded Jaguars.
“We were certainly surprised by how the bracket turned out. We believe we earned the opportunity to host,” Olympia head coach Derek Weldon said. “We always have a chip on our shoulder, but there was definitely a little extra today.”
Olympia proved it was fired up in the first inning, as Milo Tolbert put the Bears on the board first with an RBI single. The Bears opened up a 6-0 lead in the second inning against Jaguars ace Jackson Dion, fueled by RBI singles from DJ Johnson, Noah Miller and Travis Kunkel, as well as a fielder’s choice created by Tolbert. Sawyer Dean also scored a run before the inning ended on the base paths.
The last time Dion pitched against the Bears, he struck out 13 and allowed just one hit in a 4-0 Jaguars win April 24. On Tuesday, Olympia chased him from the game in the second inning.
Emerald Ridge scored a run off Kunkel with two outs in the second, and Olympia tacked on its seventh run in the fifth inning as Brayden Cheeka scored on a wild pitch. The Jaguars tallied a pair of runs in the fifth to end Kunkel’s solid day. The senior right-hander went 4.1 innings and struck out four while allowing three runs on seven hits, walking just one batter.
Peyton Crass took over and pitched 2.2 perfect innings to seal the game, and he even gave himself a run of insurance at the plate with an RBI single in the seventh inning.
“Big win. So proud of our program. Kunk and Crass were an incredible 1-2 punch again today on the bump,” Weldon said. “Offensively, we had nine guys working in unison, which allows our offense to go. That was Oly baseball.”
Olympia (19-5) advances to the district semifinals to face top-seeded Tahoma Saturday at Tahoma High School. The last time the Bears made it to the district semis, they beat Tahoma 11-0 in 2024 and went on to win the district title.
