MIHS boys soccer and baseball notch 3A KingCo tourney titles
Published 10:30 am Wednesday, May 13, 2026
In a massive evening for Mercer Island High School (MIHS) sports, the Islander boys soccer and baseball teams won 3A KingCo tournament championships on May 12 and both advance to state.
In soccer, the Islanders beat Inglemoor, 5-2, on their home pitch. Earlier in the tourney, MIHS beat Liberty (Renton), 3-1, on May 7.
On the baseball front, the Islanders defeated Inglemoor, 5-3, at Bannerwood Park in Bellevue. On May 9, MIHS beat Interlake, 8-3, in the tourney.
BOYS SOCCER
After securing first place in the KingCo Crest Division — as the only 3A squad in a division with copious 4A teams — Mercer Island continued its winning ways by scoring the 3A KingCo tourney title.
Head coach Meelod Shaterian’s team finished league play with a 9-2-0 record heading into the tourney and now the Islanders are set for state with a 12-2-1 overall mark.
The defending 3A state and KingCo tourney champs bolted out to a 5-1 lead against Inglemoor on May 12 behind two goals from Bridge Gerry and one apiece from Mattias Perrenoud, Dylan Jones and Dylan Hall. Shaterian said that one of Gerry’s goals involved teammate Kyle Cupic making a run down the wing and delivering a ball into the box for Gerry to nail a one-time volley into the back of the net.
“I really believe we’re the hardest working team there is. I think our pressing intensity is second to none, our movement off the ball is second to none. We outwork every single team we play. I think it’s a nightmare to play us because you will be on the ball for half a second and somebody will be in your face,” said Shaterian, noting that his senior captains Cupic (defender) and Tyler Shelton (center defensive midfielder) registered big games against Inglemoor.
Presently, the Islanders are on a 10-game winning streak and are more successful than they were last year despite losing 13 seniors, the coach said.
“We’ve just been clicking. The boys have been working, they’ve been hungry to prove themselves,” said Shaterian, adding that sophomores Jones and Hall are making an impact during their first season on the squad. “It’s just been a collection of boys that have worked really hard for each other. And we’ve managed to stay healthy, which has been a big piece of it for the most part.”
Another key player is sophomore starting goalkeeper Adam Kiviat, who started in the net last year and saved a penalty kick in the state championship match.
MIHS sports a close-knit squad and Shaterian said that he knows he can trust the team and that the Islanders trust him as well.
BASEBALL
MIHS rebounded from a pair of losses to Inglemoor (9-7 and 5-2 in late March) to notch the 3A tourney crown. Inglemoor finished the regular 3A KingCo Crest season in first with a 12-0 record and MIHS was second in the Crest with a 9-3 record.
Islander head coach Chris Lawler said it was “super fun” to watch his team triumph and punch its ticket to state.
“We feel like we stacked up pretty well against them. Our keys were to play clean defensively, throw strikes, no errors on the basepaths, and then get two to three timely hits. To be honest, those all came to fruition last night,” said Lawler, whose team sports a 15-7 overall record.
After MIHS struck first with a run in the first inning, Inglemoor built a 3-1 lead until the Islanders unleashed their bats in an immense top of the fifth inning. To get to that at-bat just down by two, MIHS got out of a bases-loaded jam by closing the door on Inglemoor in the bottom of the fourth.
In the Islanders’ fifth, Hugs Aufranc first nailed a two-out RBI single and Ewan Shea later doubled into the gap on an 0-2 pitch to drive in two more runs and give the locals a 4-3 lead (they tacked on a run in the ensuing innings). MIHS starting pitcher Kalden Short then reeled off a shutdown 1-2-3 bottom of the fifth inning to keep the locals ahead. Short and some strong MIHS defense kept Inglemoor off the board in the sixth, and then reliever Brady Dolence sealed the win in the seventh.
“We felt like we got contributions just all across the lineup. And both of our pitchers that threw, we thought really lived up to the moment — which obviously it was a big game, a lot of adrenaline, a lot of hype around it. We felt like we put them in a spot to be successful, (and) they delivered,” Lawler said.
In MIHS all-league honors, Dolence is the KingCo Crest player of the year (also a first-team outfielder), Short is a first-team pitcher, Tino Pozzo is a first-team outfielder, Liam Sirianni is a first-team shortstop, Will Turba is a second-team pitcher, Ethan Nguyen is a second-team second baseman, Shea is a second-team designated hitter, and honorable mentions are infielder Aufranc, catcher Cody Anderson and pitcher Chase Koehler.
