Shorewood baseball runs through state’s first round

Published 10:21 pm Tuesday, May 19, 2026

SHORELINE — The Stormrays weren’t fazed by the moment.

Tied 1-1 with No. 20 Central Valley (9-17) in the fifth inning of a loser-out opening round state 3A tournament game, No. 13 Shorewood (19-5) watched as Finn Bachler worked the count with the bases loaded and two outs.

Up 3-0, he watched the final pitch sail out of the zone to bring in Adam Jaramillo to take the lead.

One hitter later, Cameron Falk brought two of the remaining runners in on a single to right field to break the game open. One inning later, Shorewood calmly loaded the bases with one out and watched as the runs poured in off a walk, a balk, a sacrifice fly and a single to make it 9-1 — a lead it would hold onto for a blowout win.

“It takes a mentality of no moment being too big, having a competitive mindset going, not letting all the extra stuff, the extra people… the energy not getting too big for you,” Shorewood coach Ben Andrews, a sophomore on the Stormrays’ 2011 team that finished second at state, said of what it takes to succeed at state.

Shorewood, of course, had been in this situation before.

Their 9-1 win over Edmonds-Woodway on Saturday in a winner-to-state district consolation game helped set up their second straight year playing against a 20th seed as the 13th seed to open state. And 364 days prior, the Stormrays answered the pressure with a 5-3 win over Ridgeline at Meridian Park Baseball Field.

“I think it’s good that a lot of our team has had this experience before, and we can play with a lot of that confidence, knowing we got it done last time,” Jaramillo said, having finished 2-for-3 with a game-high three runs scored.

The win moved Shorewood on to a Saturday second-round matchup with No. 4 Decatur at 1:00 p.m. at Auburn H.S.

On Tuesday, Danny Morgan (RBI) and Nolan Chang (1-for-2) each scored twice while Kanata Barber (2-for-3) and Lukas Wanke also scored a run each. Finn Bachler and Cameron Falk (2-for-3) cleaned up well toward the bottom of the order, each bringing in two runs for Shorewood.

On the mound, Max Rojas took care of the final 3 1/3 shutout innings with two hits and a walk allowed to pair with five Ks and a win on his record.

“I love playing state baseball, this is the most fun baseball I’ve played in my life,” Rojas said. “I’m just trying to come out here with all my other seniors, go get the job done ‘cause this is the last time we can do it.”

Shorewood starter Aaron James (3 IP, 3 H, 2 BB, R, ER, 3 K) recovered from a walk and an early hit by pitch to get out of the first unscathed. Bachler had plenty to do with it, sprinting to make a tough running play on the ball in midfield before heaving it shortstop Calan Sporn (2-for-3, RBI) for a double play at second.

From there, Jaramillo got the scoring started for Shorewood at the top of the first, singling on the first Central Valley pitch of the game before tagging up from third to score on a Morgan sacrifice fly.

Then came three scoreless frames as Adams responded to allowing a single with a fly out and a forced strikeout looking. He fist-pumped and shouted to his dugout as the playoff intensity began to show.

“A lot of players, we wear our hearts on our sleeve, and we play with a lot of energy,” Jaramillo said, as each dugout made sure to keep the decibels high all game. “Making sure that we keep our energy up throughout the whole game ensures that we find a lot of success.”

Sporn singled and stole second for Shorewood in the ensuing frame, but Central Valley starter DeSean Dunbar held him there with a K to end the inning. Central then tied it up at 1-1 when Aaron Belarde (run) singled with two out and was brought home by a line-drive shot past third from Tyson Blake (RBI).

The teams remained locked at 1-1 for a few frames, as the Bears managed three hits from Nixon Spear (2-for-3), Adam Campos (1-for-2) and Owen Bendele (2-for-3), but had multiple fly-outs doom their inning.

Andrews watched as his team held solid through it.

“When you get to the fourth inning and it’s just 1-1, it’s just about sticking to the process, getting our order back to the top,” Andrews said.

Rojas came in with Spear on third and two outs. He settled things down, forcing a final pop-out to end the frame.

After Falk and Chang were left stranded in scoring position, Rojas kept his foot on the pedal to help Stormrays hang around.

He struck Belarde out swinging before allowing a single. Rojas then induced a popout and struck a man out swinging. He threw three fingers up to the Bears’ dugout for the number of Ks he’d posted as he walked off.

“Their energy just kept me going,” Rojas said of Central Valley. “They were a very chirpy team… it gave me a little bit of energy to kind of keep pushing forward throughout the game, and also resetting whenever I needed to.”

Andrews and his staff appreciate that they have something special with Rojas.

“We knew we were going to him. He’s kind of our number one reliever after our starter, so you’ll probably see him again on Saturday,” Andrews said.

Then came the Shorewood onslaught.

Jaramillo led off the fifth with a single to right field before two quick outs threatened to keep the game even heading into the sixth.

But as was the theme all day, the Stormrays stayed patient.

Morgan and Chang each held strong to draw two straight four-pitch walks to load the bases, before Bachler did the same to score Jaramillo.

Falk drove in Chang and Morgan in the following at-bat to make it 4-1 before Rojas tossed his final and most dominant frame. The senior went 1-2-3, managing a four-pitch strikeout, a fly out on a full count and a ground out to short on a 2-2 count.

After a flyout, Jaramillo walked while Barber singled to right field to move Jaramillo to third. After Lukas Wanke (run) was intentionally walked, Morgan stepped back to the plate.

He calmly took the opening ball and then watched a one go flying past home to score Jaramillo. Three pitches later, Barber scored off another wild pitch to make it 6-1. With the bases still loaded and just one out, the pitcher balked to walk Chang and score Wanke.

Bachler continued the damage with a sacrifice fly to center field to score Morgan before Sporn finished the Stormrays’ coming up just short of the run rule with a single to score Chang.

The Bears managed to get three on base in the final frame, but two Ks from Rojas ended the affair at 9-1.

With a solid Decatur squad on the horizon, Jaramillo and the Stormrays aren’t ready to go home yet.

“We live for May, man,” he said. “It’s super important for us to make it far in playoffs and into state, and we try our best to win every game.”