Avery Kain pitches Kentwood to 4A championship | Prep baseball

As Matt Bell threw the ball to first base for the final out, Avery Kain fell to his knees.

He threw up his arms and pointed his index fingers toward the Safeco Field roof. He was able to work in a fist pump before he was buried under a mound of his Kentwood teammates.

The junior saved his best game for state's biggest stage, throwing a two-hitter and leading the Conquerors to the Class 4A championship on Saturday with an 8-0 victory over Richland.

"That's the best feeling in the world," Kain said of the postgame dog pile.

But, before he could slow down the defending champion Bombers, he had to first find his control. Sitting at an interview table after the victory, he admitted his first eight warmup pitches were off target.

"He didn't throw a strike until the first pitch of the game," Kentwood coach Jon Aarstad said.

After getting that first one over the plate, Kain felt the pressure ease. He worked quickly and attacked Richland hitters. He allowed the Bombers (20-6) to get runners in scoring position only once and needed just 74 pitches to get through all seven innings.

"I think, if I would have tried to start somebody else, he would have gone after me," Aarstad said.

After watching the boys basketball team win a state title this year, Kain, a junior who has already committed to Washington State, started thinking about bringing another title back to Kentwood.

"Just wait," he told teammates like Alec Wilson, who also played basketball.

To finish off the run, though, the Conks (21-3) needed to knock off a program that has won three titles since 2005.

"They're a better baseball team than we are," said Richland coach Ben Jacobs, whose team had a total of three hits in two games over the weekend.

Kain also contributed a two-run double during a five-run third inning.

The Bombers never found a way to answer.

"We just couldn't adjust, and that's what killed us," said Richland's Chris Cecil.

It started with Kain.

Third-fourth

Federal Way 11,

Shorewood 3

Federal Way found its offense, smacking three home runs against the Thunderbirds.

Austin Weber hit two-run shots to right field in the first and third to get the Eagles (19-6) going, and T.J. Horsfall hit a three-run blast to left in the fourth. Horsfall also pitched six innings, giving up three runs on four hits with six strikeouts.

Adam Girton hit a two-run double for the Thunderbirds (18-11).

Mason Kelley: 206-464-8277 or mkelley@seattletimes.com