The Kalama Curse strikes again.

The season came to an abrupt and agonizing end as the Friday Harbor baseball team fell 3-2 to top-ranked Kalama Saturday in the opening round of the 1A state tournament.

Trailing 3-0 in the sixth inning, the Wolverines sliced the deficit down to a single run when senior Richie Ochoa belted a two-out, bases-loaded line drive that drove in two runs.

But Kalama (24-2) got out of the inning with a one-run lead intact when Friday Harbor senior Michael Knowles was called out in a close call at the plate while trying to steal home on a passed ball. The Wolverines were ousted from the tournament after failing to score in the seventh and final inning.

It’s the second time in two years that the Wolverines have fallen to Kalama in the regional round of the 1A state tournament. Friday Harbor was eliminated in a quarterfinal clash against the Chinooks and a 3-1 loss in 2006. Both losses took place at Daniels Field in Anacortes.

Kalama shutout Orting 8-0 in the quarterfinal match up and will face Cashmere in the semi-final round of the tournament, which begins May 29 in Yakima.

Though Ochoa tallied the team’s only RBIs, the Chinooks handed the hard-throwing lefty his only loss of the season on the mound. Friday Harbor ended the season with a eighth-place finish at State, its fifth-consecutive Northwest 1A/2B League title and a record of 21-2 overall.