A year after losing in the district championship game, the Timberwolves made true on their promise to return to the postseason.

This year, they left Propstra Stadium with the trophy.

Nick Coale hit his second home run in as many games and drove in four runs, and Ian Miller knocked in three runs, leading Heritage to an 8-4 victory over 4A Greater St. Helens League champion Battle Ground.

Heritage clinched a berth to the Class 4A state tournament — its first appearance in the program’s history — and will play in the Tacoma Regional at Heidelberg Park on May 17.

Battle Ground, meanwhile, has a one-game playoff against Lake Washington of Redmond at 2 p.m. Saturday at Propstra. The winner of that game earns a berth in the Kent Regional at state.

Heritage won the league title a year ago, only to lose in the district title game. The Timberwolves then lost the one-game playoff to state. They don’t have to worry about that now.

“To tell you the truth, it just seems like we made history now,” Miller said. “After last year, it just feels like it was meant to be. After the seniors helped us last year, this just felt like the next step for us.”

Coale has taken a big step in his progress as a hitter this postseason. Two of his three home runs this season came in the district tournament. Against the Tigers, his three-run homer in the fifth inning was the kill shot, giving the Timberwolves an 8-4 lead.

“I think it has something to do with the superstitions we have in the dugout,” Coale said, pointing to a couple of props. “We’re fishing for hits and sniping the pitcher.”

Don’t worry. No real violence here. The Timberwolves’ “rifle” is a baseball bat with an empty water bottle as its scope and a plastic drinking cup as its silencer. The fishing pole is a bat with a string.

Hey, don’t laugh. It works for them. The Timberwolves had to win three games in this tournament to come away with the title.

“The kids got hot at the right time,” said Heritage coach Don Freeman, back in Clark County after coaching in Oregon the past three years. “It isn’t who has the best team; it’s who is hot at the end. We just happened to do enough things right to get us over the hump.”

Heritage jumped out to a 4-0 lead, but the Tigers rallied to tie the game through four innings. The Timberwolves put it away, though, in the fifth.

Miller’s third hit of the game, a single, drove home Justin Harvey for a 5-4 lead. After a single by Michael Blake, Coale went deep for the four-run advantage.

“I don’t think anyone on our team was nervous,” Coale said, referring to when the Tigers came back to tie. “Every person who came up was driving the ball. We didn’t think four (runs) was where we were going to stop. We figured we’d keep rolling.”

The one-run lead helped, but Coale wanted more.

“Once we see a sign of weakness, we try to attack,” he said.

Miller was supposed to be the starting pitcher, but his arm was still sore from pitching Monday. Instead, he was the designated hitter. He had a two-run double in the third inning.

Miller’s replacement on the mound, Kyle Grissom, got through four innings of work. He then got the win when the Timberwolves scored those four runs in the top of the fifth. Blake pitched the final three innings for the save, working himself out of a no-out situation in the sixth inning with runners on second and third base.

Heritage scored a run in the first inning on a balk, then added three in the third. Miller had the two-run double and Coale hit a sacrifice fly.

The Tigers plated two runs in the bottom of the third at Matt Cossman’s two-out double. Tracy Chelini had a run-scoring double, and Timmy Walker drove in another run in the fourth inning.

The Tigers had a major setback prior to the game when starting third baseman Kyle Osterhout suffered an ankle injury in warm-ups. He was not able to play.

Battle Ground coach Billy Hayes did not use that as an excuse, though.

“They were the better team today, bottom line,” he said, referring to the Timberwolves.

In fact, he hopes his squad can learn from how Heritage handled adversity. The Timberwolves were the No. 3 seed coming into district.

“They weren’t hanging their heads when they didn’t win league. Let’s use them as an example,” Hayes said. “We don’t have time to hang our heads. We have to battle on Saturday.”

The Timberwolves can celebrate this weekend. State will be calling them next week.