Kentwood’s baseball team is ready to take its one-pitch warrior mentality to Pasco for the 4A state final four this weekend.

“The key for us is to stay relaxed,” said senior outfielder Carson McCord.

And take it one pitch at a time.

That strategy has worked for the 23-2 Conquerors all season and Taylor Jones, who pitches as well as plays first base, doesn’t want to see that change.

“If we continue to do what we do, we’ll be all right,” Jones said. “Don’t do anything different. Absolutely nothing different.”

Senior Lucas Gately said the team’s consistency will help them win a state title.

Then there’s the other things Kentwood does well.

“Playing as a team,” Gately said. “No one’s ever negative. Everyone’s picking each other up. And hitting the crap out of the ball.”

Kentwood’s bats were pretty hot in the first two rounds of state.

First, there was the 8-3 victory over Edmonds-Woodway in which Kentwood had 13 hits.

Cash McGuire went 3-for-3 with three triples and three RBIs against Edmonds-Woodway while McCord was 3-for-4 with a run scored, a double and an RBI.

Jones said McCord has been hot at the plate lately.

“I’m feeling really comfortable,” McCord said. “I’m seeing the ball really well. We’re all pretty much clicking pretty well.”

Kentwood’s been clicking so well, in fact, the 5-0 win over Redmond in the second round of state on May 19 almost seemed easy.

Add to that it was a little payback when the Conks punched the Mustangs out of the tournament to make it to the final four.

“I didn’t really about it until I got into the parking lot,” McCord said. “We didn’t get as far as we wanted to last year and we lost to Redmond in the quarterfinals. We got a little revenge.”

McCord, who is batting .418 on the season through May 19 with an on base percentage of .568, went 1-for-2 in that game with a double and an RBI.

Reese McGuire, a junior who catches for the Conks, led Kentwood at the plate with a 2-for-3 performance  with an RBI while senior Cash McGuire was 1-for-3 with two RBIs.

In the semi-final Kentwood gets Todd Beamer, which knocked off Tahoma 3-2 in the quarterfinals, and Jones said that the Conks’ relaxed attitude as well as its experience should help the team bring home another state title.

Gately said just being two years removed from the last championship helps.

“A lot of us have a lot of experience at the state tournament,” Gately said. “Especially the three or four of us who were with the 2010 team, we saw how calm they were and now we’re trying to replicate that.”

McCord said this year’s squad can draw some comparisons to the 2010 championship team among them the fact there were a number of seniors on both whom brought significant experience to the field.

There’s that chemistry, too.

“We play as a family,” Gately said. “We really feed off each other. One of our vocal leaders, Skyler (Genger), he really brings us together as a team.”

Taking it one pitch at a time, staying relaxed, hitting the ball well, strong pitching and a stellar defense — Kentwood seems to have it all.

The other significant piece is first-year head coach Mark Zender, whom Jones described as “old school.”

“We’re coached well,” Jones said. “A big part of how a team acts … depends on how they’re coached.”

Gately added, “Zender lets us play and he gets results out of that.”

Right now, though, it’s time to prepare for the final two games of the season.

“We just need to stress fundamentals this week,” McCord said. “If we go out and play like we did all year I think we’ll be all right.”

And take it one pitch at a time because that approach has worked.