Minutes following the 7-2 defeat to Olympia in the elite eight of the Class 4A state baseball playoffs, the Timberwolves were talking a little history.

“It was a great honor,” senior Michael Blake said of playing for Heritage. “We won our first state game. It was a good run.”

“As far as high school sports go,” added senior Ian Miller, “this is the biggest and best thing I’ve done.”

Heritage rallied for a 4-3, extra-inning victory over Tahoma earlier Saturday in the Tacoma regional, advancing to the regional final, the state’s elite eight. But Olympia pitcher Kramer Champlin shut down the Timberwolves through five innings, and the Bears scored five runs in the second inning to take command.

Olympia will play at Safeco Field in Seattle next week in the state semifinals.

The Timberwolves, who finished third in the 4A Greater St. Helens League, went 4-1 in the postseason, netting them a district tournament title and the program’s first trip to state.

“Hey, we went farther than anybody gave us credit for,” Heritage coach Don Freeman said. “We have a whole bunch of underclassmen. We’re going to be back. We’re going to be back.”

Freeman also pointed how close this squad was to getting to Safeco, noting how good Olympia is and the fact that Heritage made plenty of mistakes in the regional finals.

“We gave them one inning with a bunch of help,” he said. “We’re that close.”

Olympia scored five runs on three hits, an error, a walk, and a hit batter in the decisive second inning. The Bears added two more in the fourth on two walks, a hit batter, and a bunt single.

That was plenty of support for Champlin, who gave up four hits and struck out seven in five shut-out innings.

Heritage got two unearned runs in the sixth. Miller walked and Blake followed with a single. On a double steal, Miller was safe at third, then came home when the throw went into the outfield. Later, with Blake on third base, the throw back to the pitcher after a pitch got away and Blake jogged home.

Heritage, though, went three-up, three down in the bottom of the seventh, ending the season.

“It was a pleasure working with the kids this year,” Freeman said. “They just never gave up. They never knew when they were beat.”

That attitude certainly helped in the opening game of the regional Saturday. Sophomore Mike McDonald, who struggled in his previous three at-bats, hit a two-out, two-strike single to drive in two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning, saving Heritage’s season.

“So much stuff ran through my head,” McDonald said. “We’re going home if I miss it. I just came through. It was a big outburst, I guess. I didn’t want to let the seniors down.”

Miller would then win the game with a run-scoring single in the eighth inning, his fourth hit of the game, for the 4-3 victory.

Miller went the distance, striking out seven in eight innings for the win.

In the end, Miller, Blake, Gage Harshman, and Jordan Provinsal leave Heritage as the seniors who got that first victory at state. The rest of the Timberwolves plan on going on another run in 2009.