(Photos by Joe Christian for WSB)

10:59 PM: The West Seattle High School Wildcats will play Mount Vernon HS for the state 3A baseball championship on Saturday night. That’s after West Seattle’s just-concluded shutout defeat of Eastside Catholic, 6-0 in Pasco. This is the third consecutive year the Wildcats have made it to the state final four – but the first time since 2013 that they’ve slugged their way into the title game. Details from tonight’s win, plus photos, coming up later!

ADDED 3:01 AM: #27, senior Miles Chandler, got the win for the Wildcats, pitching 5 shutout innings – with five strikeouts – despite a bit of turbulence in the 1st inning, when he got into a bases-loaded jam, but got out of it without yielding a run. That was the biggest threat the Crusaders posed for the entire game.

#7, senior Caden Fahy, had four of the six WSHS RBI, starting with two when he hit a triple in the top of the third.

That brought in #13, senior Parker Eley, and #14, junior Clay Pecore, who had a 2-for-3 night.

With a single in the fourth, Fahy brought in Pecore again, and #1, junior Dex Pudduck.

That was after #5, senior Matthew Hazelgrove, had smacked a two-run single of his own, which scored #24, junior Lukas Cheha, and #42, senior Sabin Tomlinson.

#6, senior John Langen, closed the shutout by holding Eastside Catholic to two hits in two innings.

Head coach Dylan Mclauchlin and the Wildcats are scheduled to take the field at 7:15 tonight (Saturday, May 25).

The time might vary depending on the games that precede it (which is why this game started so late). The Mount Vernon Bulldogs got the other championship-game spot by beating Edmonds-Woodway 9-7 earlier in the evening. While this is WSHS’s third year in a row to reach the semifinals, it’s the first trip in almost a quarter-century for Mount Vernon.