Watch: Olympia beats Puyallup in WIAA 4A state baseball championship behind Taber Fast's
PASCO, Wash. — Olympia won its first state baseball championship, 7-6 over Puyallup, in the school’s 115-year history in epic fashion.
Puyallup was facing a two-run deficit with runners on second and third with two outs in the bottom of the seventh.
Senior outfielder Garrett Ringer hit a line drive to right field. The first runner scored, but Texas Tech-bound pitcher Taber Fast, playing right field, zipped the throw home to Bears catcher Lane Fuller, who caught just in time to tag out the tying run moments before his outstretching hands could touch home.
Olympia had been knocking on the door for a couple years.
(Washington high school baseball state championship live updates, results, how to watch)
The Bears reached the 4A state in 2019 for the first time in program history on a walk-off double to beat Issaquah in the semifinals before losing to Moses Lake in the final to finish second.
The next season was cancelled during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the 2021 season was shortened and did not have a postseason.
This year, the Bears entered the Class 4A state tournament the top overall seed. The No. 2 seed was 4A South Puget Sound League foe Puyallup. Olympia won three of the team's four head-to-head matchups this season.
“Olympia is 115 some-odd years old and it’s the first in school history. That’s something we’ve drilled in – create a legacy,” fifth-year head coach Derek Weldon said. “This is not just about this team, this is about the 2020 team, the 2021 team that all wanted to be the first. These guys are doing it for them.
“It’s about the ‘O’ … I’m really proud. ”
--Andy Buhler; @AndyBuhler.
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