Cedar Park Christian battled, but came up short in the 1A state baseball championship game with a 5-3 loss to King’s Way Christian on Saturday at County Stadium in Yakima.

The Eagles led 3-1 after three innings, King’s cut the lead to 3-2 in the fourth and tacked on two runs in the sixth and one in the seventh.

For Cedar Park (24-3 overall), George Reidy had a double and scored a run; Luke Lampe had a hit, scored a run and stole a base; Michael Attalah doubled and scored a run; Zack Cokos had a hit and an RBI; Josiah Sargeant had a hit and an RBI; and Turner Glenn and Jack Flynn had one hit each.

Attalah took the loss, pitching six innings and striking out six batters.

Cedar Park Christian defeated Freeman, 6-1, in the semifinals on Friday.

Flynn was the winning pitcher with nine strikeouts, and Cedar Park got two hits each from Reidy, Lampe, Cokos and Glenn.

Coach Matt Stevens felt his team left a legacy this season and had no regrets.

“We knew coming into this year that it had the chance to be very special. We returned eight of nine starters, including five seniors. Our senior leaders were simply not going to be denied,” said coach Matt Stevens. “I couldn’t be more proud of a team. They were the most unified and focused team I have ever coached, set clear goals for this season and never wavered.”

Cedar Park’s pitching staff finished the season with a 1.73 ERA in 27 games (including playoffs) led by seniors Attalah and Flynn, who were a combined 13-2.

The Eagles also possessed a deep lineup, hitting .334 as a team (including playoffs) with seven players driving in double-digit runs.

Stevens said that arguably the team’s strongest component was its defense, which only committed 23 errors in 27 games.

“Our goal as a program is to grow young men on and off the field. We knew that if we committed to each other and to getting better every day, that we would give ourselves the chance to compete for a state championship,” Stevens said.