BELLINGHAM – Junior Liam Gustafson provided the cushion, and fellow junior Luke Overbay laid on it comfortably.

Gustafson’s two-run triple gave No. 2 Tumwater the lead in Friday’s 2A state semifinal against No. 11 Selah. Overbay made sure the Thunderbirds never lost that lead, pitching a complete game, giving up just four hits and striking out 13 in a 3-1 victory.

“It works every single time,” Overbay said. “I always tell my boys to get me some insurance runs because I’ll feel so much better. I’ll have a bunch of time. I can wait and just pound the (strike) zone.”

Selah (18-9) looked to be in business in the top of the second inning. Christian Keller singled to start the inning, and Colton Barthel followed with a double.

However, Keller was thrown out at home on a fielder’s choice, and – following a walk to load the bases – Overbay retired the next two batters.

Tumwater (23-4) also had its opportunities in the first two innings, all thwarted by Selah starting pitcher, junior Braxton Young.

In an attempt to limit Overbay’s offensive impact on the game, the Vikings implemented a strategy of four outfielders every time the junior came to the plate. Selah head coach Mike Archer said the reasoning was this season 96 percent of Overbay’s outs came in the outfield.

For the most part the strategy worked – until the third inning

In the bottom of the third inning, the T-Birds finally got to Young, and it was Overbay who got it started. He led off the inning sneaking a single to right field. After Young recorded a strikeout, he walked senior Charlie Crawford on four pitches. He then threw three consecutive balls to Gustafson, who took advantage of being ahead in the count with a triple down the right-field line, scoring Overbay and Crawford.

Tumwater added one more run in the inning to take a 3-0 lead.

It wasn’t hits that hurt Young and the Vikings the most. It was giving up extra baserunners with walks and hit batters. Young walked two and hit four during the first three innings. It didn’t cost Selah in the first two innings, but the third inning proved the Vikings couldn’t continue to play with fire.

“We got ourselves in a couple of jams with that,” Archer said. “We got of them in the first and second inning. That’s kind of atypical (for our team).”

There wasn’t much offense to speak of after the third inning. Overbay went into cruise control and Young bounced back by retiring nine of the next 10 batters.

“He came back up and threw great against a tough hitting lineup,” Archer said of Young. “He threw really well against them.”

The Viks tallied their lone in the seventh. A Barthel single and an error put runners on the corners, and Barthel scored on Jack Kennedy’s ground out.

But Overbay struck out the next batter to end the game.

Selah will have to wait at least one more season to get back to the state championship game after beating Fife for the title in 2019, though the future looks bright for the Vikings. Selah has eight players that are either freshman or sophomores.

The Vikings entered Friday 18-8 and continued to get better throughout. For instance, Selah had lost its first three meetings with Othello this season. But when it mattered most, the Vikings beat the Huskies 8-7 in the state quarterfinals to advance to the final four.

Archer said that is the key for young teams like his.

“I don’t know that we ever really had downs, we’re just really, really young and we were climbing the hill all year,” Archer said. “That’s the way it goes. I’m proud of these guys. The key to a baseball season is being different in May than you were in March – and these guys were.”

The Vikings will play No. 13 Orting, which lost 6-1 to top-seeded and defending champion Bainbridge in the other semifinal, at 10 a.m. on Saturday in the third-fourth place game.

Archer expects his team will be ready to compete again.

“It needs to hurt them,” Archer said. “It needs to bother them that they got beat. That’s what makes them champions. They’ll get after it (tomorrow).

Tumwater will face Bainbridge at 4 p.m. Saturday in the championship game. The T-birds are looking for their first title since winning back-to-back championships in 2022 and 2023. Overbay watched his older brother Alex, who graduated in 2023, help the team to those titles and now has an opportunity to win one of his own.

“I watched my brother here,” Overbay said. “I saw the winning run. It was the greatest moment ever. I want that. I want them more than anything. This team wants that. This team deserves that. I love these boys and we want it.”