With a District 1 3A Baseball Tournament championship trophy on the line, the Lynnwood Royals and Edmonds-Woodway Warriors went toe-to-toe on Saturday, each looking for that one timely stroke that could be the difference maker. After neither team could break through and push even a single run across the plate during the regulation seven innings of play, the teams would have to go into extra frames to determine a winner.

After the Warriors went scoreless in their half of the eighth inning, Lynnwood got their opportunity to swing their bats — and Mason Lane grabbed his chance to be a hero.

The senior smashed an RBI double into the gap between center and right field, knocking in teammate Tommy McMahon from second and giving the Royals a dramatic 1-0 walk-off victory at Funko Field in Everett to claim the district title.

“As soon as I hit it I knew; I knew we had it,” Lane said of his game-winning double.

McMahon had led off the bottom of the eighth with a stinging single to right off Edmonds-Woodway starter Gibby Marshall-Inman, then moved up to second on a sacrifice bunt by Keenan Masters to set up Mason’s heroics.

Mason had gone 0-for-3 leading up to the eighth, but remembered what he had seen from Marshall-Inman earlier in the game.

“I learned in my previous three at bats and I got the job done — got the ‘W,’ he said.

After McMahon scored, the Lynnwood dugout emptied out onto the infield, met up with Mason near second base and piled on top of him in celebration.

Marshall-Inman took the loss after pitching the complete game for the Warriors, giving up just five hits, walking four and striking out nine.

Lynnwood starting pitcher Leyon Camantigue also threw a gem, yielding just four hits in six-plus innings of work, walking two and striking out five. The Royals’ Jace Hampson earned the win by pitching a scoreless seventh and eighth innings, striking out two along the way.

E-W, the No. 6 seed in the district tourney, had a chance to score a possible game-winning run of their own in the top half of the eighth inning. Junior Grant Oliver tried to score from second base on a sharply hit ball by Marshall-Inman to Lane at first base. Lane bobbled the hot ground ball, then recovered in time to throw to catcher Jaxon Kaulfuss, who applied the tag on the darting Oliver.

Warriors’ Coach Daniel Somoza was reflective following the one-run, extra-inning loss. “That was a great game; both teams really played their hearts out,” Somoza said. “You just needed that one big hit and they got it and we didn’t. That’s what it came down to.”

“I’m super proud of this team. We wanted to win that game but it just didn’t go our way,” he added.

The Royals, the No. 1 seed in the district tournament, earned their first district crown since 2015 with the win. Lynnwood now heads to the 3A state tourney, hoping to pick up the school’s first trophy there since a fourth-place finish in 1991.

The Warriors will also head to the state tournament for their 10th time in school history and fourth year in a row dating back to 2017 (there were no WIAA state baseball tournaments held in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic).

The 3A state tournament will begin with four play-in games Tuesday, May 14, followed by regional-round contests on May 21. Initial matchups will be determined by a seeding process and likely announced by the WIAA on Sunday, May 16.

To view the entire 2022 District 1 3A Baseball Tournament bracket, click www.wescoathletics.com/m2/tourn.php?act=vt&tid=3584. 

Prep Baseball: Edmonds-Woodway vs. Lynnwood, May 14 (District 1 3A Baseball Tournament championship game)

E-W 0   0   0     0   0   0     0   0   —   0   4   0

Lynnwood 0   0   0     0   0   0     0   1   —   1   5   1

Winning pitcher: Jace Hampson (Lynnwood)

Losing pitcher: Gibby Marshall-Inman (Edmonds-Woodway)

Lynnwood hitting: Jace Hampson, triple; Tommy McMahon, two singles; Keenan Masters, single; Eli Stephenson, single

Edmonds-Woodway hitting: Jacob Gabler, double; Jack Beers, double; Jens Simonsen, single; Drew Warner, single

Records: Lynnwood 14-8 overall; Edmonds-Woodway 14-10 overall

Next games (both teams): WIAA 3A State Baseball Tournament; opponents, dates, times and locations to be determined

— By Doug Petrowski