CASTLE ROCK — Easy to coach, hard to beat.

The Ilwaco baseball team relished the underdog role all season, winning close games with clean defense and a clutch offense all the way to a league and district championship, despite their green roster.
IHS’s Cinderella season struck midnight Saturday afternoon in Castle Rock, where the #3-seed Fishermen were upset 6-3 by the #14-seed Friday Harbor Wolverines in the opening round of the WIAA 2B State Tournament, ending a magical run for a young fishermen squad.

Friday Harbor tops Ilwaco in back-and-forth battle

The Ilwaco (18-4) — winners of eight of the previous nine games — entered on a streak after sailing through the 2B Pacific League a perfect 11-0 and capturing the 2B District 4 Championship, by beating Toutle Lake, Napavine and top-seeded Adna.
Friday Harbor (16-6) entered the game as #14 seed, but the Wolverines were on a seven-game win streak.
And with a 10 a.m. first pitch, anything was possible.
Friday Harbor came out swinging, scoring two runs aided by two uncharacteristic Ilwaco errors, taking an early 2-0 lead on Ilwaco starting pitcher Corbin Johnson (16).
The score (2-0) held until the bottom of the third, when Ilwaco freshman Cody Kaino (27) stole home on a passed ball, followed by a Dylan Pelas (11) RBI double, tying the game (2-2).
In the bottom of the fourth, Ilwaco took their first lead of the game (3-2) on a Keyton Fisher (2) two-out RBI single.
Friday Harbor answered in the top of the fifth, tying the game (3-3) on a RBI single by Joseph Holt (19), then retook the lead (4-3) after Johnson issued his second walk of the game with the bases loaded, sparking a Ilwaco pitching change.
Ilwaco junior Dylan Pelas (11) entered in relief, and the Fishermen got out of the jam, but not until yielding a couple fielder’s choice runs, extending the Friday Harbor lead to 6-3.
In the bottom of the seventh, Ilwaco threatened with runners in scoring position, but couldn’t squeeze any more runs across against Wolverine starting pitcher Jackson Feliz.
Game notes: Ilwaco finished with five hits, with Dylan Pelas (11) accounting for two RBIs. Ilwaco starting pitcher Corbin Johnson (16) pitched five innings, allowing five hits with six runs and four strikeouts.

Season notes

Ilwaco will lose one senior to graduation: Robert Sanders (14), who finished with a .375 batting average with nine hits and nine RBIs before being sidelined with a leg injury. The Fishermen could potentially return their entire starting lineup next season, including seven players named to the all-league list (Dylan Pelas (11), Corbin Johnon (16), Cody Kaino (27), Chase Cunningham (00), Haddox Hazen (9), Mark Ragan (7) and Keyton Fisher (2).
“In the two decades I’ve coached high school baseball, these young men are holistically some of the easiest I have ever coached — and we have all but one coming back next season,” summed Ilwaco assistant coach and athletic director Chris Patana.