PORT ANGELES — Kody Williams knows what he wants and is determined to get it.
So far, his plan has been working.
Williams, a pitcher and first baseman for the Port Angeles Roughriders, made up his mind a while ago that he wanted to play college baseball at Skagit Valley College and the Cardinals’ coach Grady Tweit. Last week, Williams made that wish come true, signing a commitment to play for the Cardinals.
“I knew where I wanted to go. I’ve known Grady for years,” Williams said. He said he never seriously considered any other school.
“Grady is getting a good one,” said his high school and Wilder Baseball Club coach Zac Moore.
Williams takes his education as seriously as his baseball. He often can be found at the sidelines of local sporting events as part of the medical staff at games and is a teacher’s assistant. He plans to study kinesiology at Skagit Valley and a four-year school and move on to coaching or working in strength and conditioning.
Williams had a decent sophomore season for the Riders baseball team. There were signs and glimmers that he was a very good player. But, no one saw coming all that he accomplished in the 2025 season.
No one but Williams, that is.
Williams was spectacular for the Riders in 2025, turning himself into the team’s best and most reliable starting pitcher. He threw a no-hitter, several one-hitters and several complete games. He finished the season with a 5-0 record and a 2.05 ERA.
He made first-team all-Olympic League as a pitcher and helped Port Angeles win its first game at the state tournament in 24 years. Williams, ever the perfectionist, felt his game at state wasn’t his best, but he kept the heavily favored Tumwater Thunderbirds in check over four innings, allowing just two earned runs as the Riders came back to win the game in extra innings.
Williams finished the season with 51 innings pitched in nine starts and 31 strikeouts to just nine walks and two hit batsmen. The sky is the limit for what he can accomplish his senior year coming up in a few months.
That was the result of just plain hard work, Moore said. Moore said the path was anything but easy for Williams, but that by choosing the hard road, he chose the right road.
“He put a lot of effort in during the offseason. He was working out almost every day,” Moore said. “He stood up to the challenge and made himself better. He made everyone around him better. He wasn’t going to take mediocre.”
Coaches, friends and family spoke about Williams’ leadership skills. Moore said he “leads without needing to be the loudest voice in the room.”
There is a long baseball pipeline between Port Angeles and Skagit Valley. He will join former teammates Colton Romero and Kaleb Mullins. A long list of former Roughriders who have gone on the play for the Cardinals, including Wyatt Hall, who was recently named the Skagit Valley College Athlete of the Year and now plays for Cal State, San Bernardino.
Williams said he wants to continue to play baseball at a four-year school after Skagit Valley, but he has no plans on a specific school just yet.
“I’ll sit down with Grady and look at my options and what’s the best fit,” he said. “For the next two years, I’m focused on Skagit Valley.”
“You continue to write your own story. I can’t wait to see what the next chapter brings,” Moore told Williams.
