A Season Like No Other: Eastlake's Story is one of Life, Loss, and Family
In his first season with the Wolves, coach Elliott Cribby leads Eastlake back to state while navigating fatherhood, grief, and the bond of a team turned family.
SAMMAMISH, Wash. – When asked to describe Eastlake’s run to the Class 4A state playoffs, Thomas Wood didn’t hesitate.
“It’s nothing short of a movie,” the senior lefty said.
In many cases, this would tip toward hyperbole, but he’s right. The Wolves’ 2025 season has all the elements of a memorable script: A powerhouse program welcomes a new coach, the team battles adversity, grows into a family, and makes a run to state.
But that’s only the beginning. In this story, right in the middle of the district tournament, the coach’s wife gives birth to their first child.
For Eastlake coach Elliott Cribby, this script is real life. His first season with the Wolves is a story about what it means to be human. It’s messy and beautiful, difficult and magical.
“It’s been a whirlwind experience for me and my family,” Cribby said before practice on Wednesday. “Becoming a father has been, without a doubt, my greatest source of achievement, pride, and inspiration. I am lucky and truly grateful that she has come into my life.”
For Cribby, the past week has run the gamut of emotions. Just days after Eastlake clinched a state berth on May 10, Cassie went into labor. Cribby’s daughter, Peyton, was born in time to meet her grandmother, Nancy, who passed away two days later.
While Cribby’s family experienced a powerful wave of joy and grief they are still processing, Eastlake beat Issaquah to advance to the district title game. Then, on Saturday, Cribby rejoined his Eastlake baseball family as the Wolves claimed the district championship.
Any one of these moments would create an indelible memory. Cribby experienced three in one week.
He’s able to carry the weight of these moments because of the two families he’s building: One at home with Cassie and Peyton (who’s already earned the nickname “Poppy”), and one in the dugout with 26 players who have chosen each other through the daily grind of a long baseball season.
“We started out with a new coaching staff, and we had to figure things out,” said senior Cody O’Donnell. “But it’s all come together. We really glued together as a team. Our team chemistry is amazing – we’ve been winning games and doing everything we need to do.”
Junior Larson Kohlmann added, “These guys are like my brothers. It’s awesome coming out here every day and working with them. It’s a blessing.”
From a baseball standpoint, Cribby’s first year with the Wolves is starting to resemble his debut as a high school head coach. In 2011, as a 25-year-old, he led Mount Si to a state championship, followed by a second-place finish the next year.
“It’s been awesome,” Cribby said. “I’ve really, really enjoyed it. It’s got a little bit of a Mount Si aura going on.”
But Cribby isn’t the kind of coach who looks beyond the next game. The task at hand is an opening-round home matchup against Curtis on Saturday at 1 p.m. And, while the Wolves refuse to look too far ahead, they do pass by the banners lining the chain-link fence as they walk to the field every day, reminders of years of league, district, and state success, including a 2023 state title.
“That’s just the expectation,” Wood said. “That’s what we expect every year, year in and year out.”
For Cribby, this season has been about approaching everything – on and off the field – through a lens of personal and athletic growth, fueled by challenge and adversity.
“We’ve tried to bring that here with these guys as they’re growing into adulthood,” Cribby said. “To be able to teach them about baseball, life, failure, and adversity.”
That lens comes from experience. Cribby spent years chasing dreams of climbing the coaching ladder, always “running and gunning,” always thinking ahead, future-tripping in a way that made him lose sight of what mattered most.
Eventually, he hit a wall – and stepped back.
“I needed to press the reset button on my life,” he said.
He quit drinking. He focused on his health. He reassessed his priorities, which included, at times, stepping back from baseball. He got married. He became a father. And now, he’s coaching again – focused on setting an example for his players by living a life of honesty, openness, and a willingness to support those around him.
“You know, slowly but surely, the miracles do happen if you work hard enough and wait around long enough,” he said. “They’re happening.”
From team hiking trips to a six-game winning streak, the Wolves are living up to their moniker, embracing a pack mentality.
“Spending every day of the week, almost six days a week, basically, for two, three months with a group of people, you're going to get to know every one of them very well,” junior Rodrigo Montano said. “It feels like a second family. It just feels nice, because I know I can have a lot of fun every day with these guys around me.”
It may not be Hollywood, but if Eastlake’s season were a movie, you’d smile, you’d cry, you’d be inspired, because the best stories aren’t made up, they’re lived.
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Great story, Mason. Thanks for sharing. Go Wolves!!