Underdog King’s baseball wins first state title

Published 9:49 am Wednesday, June 3, 2026

If you were around the King’s baseball program just a few seasons ago, the sight last Saturday at Joe Martin Stadium in Bellingham would’ve seemed surreal.

The Knights (18-8) were brandishing a Class 1A state championship trophy in just their second-ever run in the tournament.

Just a few years removed from a 7-16 season and a team that was struggling to maintain a junior varsity program, No. 11 King’s pulled multiple upsets to win the ultimate prize in a 2-1 title-game win over undefeated No. 1 seed Montesano.

Second-year head coach Henry Carson has had to deal with the typical struggles of modern high school baseball, including persuading his players to commit to the team while they balance club careers. Once his team bought in, however, the sky was the limit with its first run to state last season and the ultimate prize in 2026.

“You only get them for so many months,” Carson, 25, said of the players. “It starts with just being able to motivate the players and hopefully getting them to a place where they want to work hard in the off-season and they care about their high school team just as much as their own career. … We were able to make it something that the kids wanted to be a part of and wanted to work hard for.”

Junior pitcher Brady Reiss was an example of that buy-in.

Reiss played a reliever role this season until Senior Night, when Carson and his staff asked the talented slinger to try starting again. Reiss had been relieving because of an elbow issue that lingered from his sophomore season, and preferred a shorter role to avoid having to throw another pitcher in early in games.

But seeing how deep the Knights’ 2026 bullpen was, Reiss obliged and went on to deliver two gems in the state tournament to propel the Knights to a 2-1 win to clinch the title.

“It was just having trust in my team and trusting that all our hard work was gonna pay off,” Reiss said. “I knew that I had talent behind me and was just able to trust that if I wasn’t pitching at my best, or locating all my pitches, that they’d have me.”

To that effect, fellow junior pitcher Sam Ruhlman delivered two quality starts in the state opening round and semifinal to keep King’s run alive.

Things weren’t easy for the Knights to reach the tournament, however.

Seeded No. 4 at the District 1/2 tournament, the Knights were knocked out of title contention against No. 1 Lynden Christian. Needing two wins in the consolation bracket to make the state tournament, King’s was tested by No. 2 University Prep in a 13-inning grudge match.

The Knights survived 8-6, and Carson pointed to the district tournament as the turning point for his squad.

“We had four or five chances where we were one pitch away from being eliminated, and not even going to the state tournament,” Carson said. “That was definitely a gut check for our team, and getting past that was pretty cool, because you’re super close to the end. Once you’re that close to the end, it makes the end not as scary.”

The Knights hit new heights when the state tournament hit.

King’s kicked off its run with a dominant loser-out win on May 23 over No. 6 Lakeside, winning 8-2. Ruhlman pitched 6.2 innings to give up just three hits with six Ks while freshman Koa Higashino (2-for-3, 2 runs, 2 RBI, 2B) led a 14-for-31 attack.

Later in the day, the Knights mustered an even more dominant quarterfinal win against No. 3 Lynden Christian, winning 12-2 in seven innings. King’s led just 1-0 for a majority of the game after a run in the opening inning, only to explode for eight runs in the sixth.

Carson’s team managed that strong stretch with its typical small-ball style, as the runs were scored on two walks, two singles, a hit-by-pitch and a sacrifice fly.

“Over the course of the year, the boys just got better and better at it,” Carson said of small-ball staples like bunting. “We get into that Lakeside game… we had two (sacrifice) bunts and two safety squeezes and all four of them worked out to the point where the other team didn’t record an out.

“Once the boys start to see that that stuff works and that’s winning baseball at this level, I think it made them even more committed to working on it.”

Higashino scored three runs to lead the effort, while junior Nate Echelbarger and senior Jakob Fowler each went 3-for-4 for two RBI and a run. Reiss pitched the whole way, striking out five with just three hits and no walks allowed.

In the Friday semis, King’s ran into another Cinderella story in the No. 10 Overlake/Bear Creek Growls.

The Growls, an Emerald Sound Conference rival of the Knights, presented a challenge that King’s needed no extra motivation to conquer.

The Knights established themselves with an opening salvo of four runs in the first two frames, allowing the Growls, who had just scored 12 in the quarters, to score just one run in the third in a 5-1 win.

Ruhlman earned his second win of the tournament in a complete-game gem, allowing three hits and three walks to five Ks and zero earned runs. Higashino (1-for-2, RBI) continued to stand out on the basepath, stealing three bases for two runs.

But King’s was in for its toughest test yet in the Saturday championship with 28-0 No. 1 seed Montesano. It was the same squad that had knocked Carson’s squad out in the opening round of the 2025 tournament in a 9-8 thriller.

“They were talked about all year because they were undefeated, and over the course of the year, it came up, ‘We want to play Montesano,’” Carson said. “There wasn’t really a fear around it.”

The rematch was about as far from the 2025 edition as possible, as the Bulldogs scored their lone run in the second frame. They had to contend with eight strong innings of Reiss pitching, as he threw 60 strikes in 99 pitches with five Ks, just two hits and two walks allowed in the biggest game of the season.

“You could just tell… how much he cared whether we won or lost,” Carson said. “He just threw a little bit harder and just absolutely dominated.”

Unbeknownst to the Bulldogs, Reiss had injured his arm just two days before the game practicing fielding. After a trip to the chiropractor, however, he was ready to put in a complete game.

“Emotion came into play a lot for me,” Reiss said. “A lot of those guys I’ve known most of my life… I really took that to heart and just started grinding.”

On the other end was a gem from Montesano’s Kolson Hendrickson. Hendrickson went 7 2/3 frames, allowing just one hit and four walks with no earned runs and 10 Ks. He was removed in the eighth as he hit the maximum pitch count, leaving the door open for the Knights.

With two outs and Echelbarger and Ruhlman on first and second, Reiss continued his strong day, at the plate this time, with a five-pitch walk to load the bases. Sophomore Titan Root then stepped to the plate, knowing what needed to be done.

He watched three balls go by before a pitching change.

One pitch away from taking the lead, Carson talked quickly with Root.

“I told him, ‘No, you’re not swinging right here. But I want you to get your time in case he starts you off with a fastball,’” Carson said of the meeting.

But the first pitch from the reliever missed high, scoring Ruhlman.

That would do it, as Root caught the final groundout from sophomore Kevan McGeever to clinch King’s first title.

The loneliest spot on the diamond was suddenly the most crowded, as the Knights dogpiled Reiss on the mound almost immediately.

“That was surreal — I just started yelling. I didn’t know what to do,” Reiss said with a laugh. “At that point, I was close to tears. And then, as soon as I stood up, one of the seniors, Luke Helton… gave me a hug, and then that’s when the bawling started.

“A lot of people didn’t believe in us that we could do it, but we all believed as a program that we could.”