The Federal Way Eagles are headed back to a familiar place — the Class 4A State Baseball Tournament.
Federal Way clinched a berth into the 16-team draw with a pair of one-run victories over Kentridge and Auburn Riverside at the West Central/Southwest District Tournament.
The wins earned the Eagles the fifth seed from the district and a local trip to Kent on Saturday for the opening round of the state tournament. Federal Way (16-6) will take on KingCo 4A champion Bothell at 1 p.m. at Kent Memorial Park in a loser-out contest. The Federal Way-Bothell winner will then play the winner of a game between Edmonds-Woodway and either Puyallup or Kentwood at 4 p.m. with a spot in the state semifinals on the line.
Federal Way finished third at last year’s state tournament after losing to Kentwood, 3-2, in the semifinals at Safeco Field. The Eagles came back and beat Shorewood in the third-fourth game, 11-3. This year’s state semifinals and finals will be played at Tacoma’s new Cheney Stadium.
Against Kentridge Thursday night at Kent Memorial, the Eagles fell behind 3-0 before rallying for a 5-4 win in a loser-out district game.
Kentridge’s Joe Wainhourse delivered a two-run single in the first inning and the Charges pushed its lead to 3-0 in the third on a fielder’s choice out that scored Michael Suguro from third.
Meanwhile, pitcher Nick Hamre was in control on the mound as he was perfect through three innings with six strikeouts.
Federal Way got to Hamre in the fourth. Drew Cratsenberg broke up the no-hitter and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Austin Weber. Federal Way added two more runs in the inning to tie the game 3-3. Weber scored on a Kentridge error and Brett Evans later tied the game on a single by Darrien Moran.
Nick Tanielu, Federal Way’s first-team All-League shortstop, put the Eagles up for good in the fifth with a single to right field that scored Cratsenberg. Tanielu came home moments later on a single by Moran, giving Federal Way a 5-3 lead.
Kentridge cut the deficit to 5-4 in the sixth on a sacrifice fly to left field by Sheldon Stober that scored Axl Snure.
Federal Way was forced into the loser-out game after an 8-5 loss to Olympia Tuesday afternoon.
Federal Way 11, Auburn Riverside 10
The Eagles earned the West Central/Southwest District’s fifth seed into the Class 4A State Baseball Tournament with the one-run victory over Auburn Riverside Saturday at Heritage Field in Puyallup.
Federal Way tallied six runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to take back the lead. The Ravens tallied nine of their 10 runs in the fifth and sixth innings to take a commanding 10-5 advantage.
The Eagles’ offense again leaned on Washington State-bound Tanielu. The senior shortstop finished 4 for 4, scored three runs and drove in three more for Federal Way. The Eagles finished with 14 hits, including a 2-for-3 day from Adam Yunker.
Federal Way took a quick 4-0 lead with two runs in the first and two more in the third.
Olympia 8, Federal Way 5
The Eagles were forced into the loser-out game against Kentridge after losing to the Narrows League champion Bears on May 10 at Kent Memorial Field. The win moved Olympia into the West Central/Southwest District semifinals and dropped Federal Way into the must-win game against the Chargers.
