NWLL reaches championship round | 10/11 baseball

The North Whidbey Little League 10/11 all-star baseball team will try to collect the district title and get a little revenge along the way when it meets Sedro-Woolley for the championship at Windjammer Park Friday, July 8, at 6 p.m.

NWLL earned the right to meet Sedro-Woolley by completing a run through the losers' bracket with a 6-5 win over South Whidbey in seven innings Thursday, July 7.

Sedro-Woolley topped North Whidbey 12-9 in the opening game of the tournament by overcoming a three-run deficit in the final inning.

North Whidbey will have to beat Sedro-Woolley twice if it wants to claim the title. If NWLL wins Friday, the two teams will collide again Saturday at 10 a.m. at Windjammer Park to determine who moves on to the state tournament.

North Whidbey built a 5-0 lead over South Whidbey Thursday and then hung on to stay alive in the tournament.

NWLL allowed South Whidbey to get back into the game when its pitchers took a trip on the wild side, walking 13 hitters over the final three innings.

North Whidbey surrendered six walks in the fourth to allow South Whidbey to trim the lead to 5-4.

In the sixth, NWLL walked three more with no outs but looked like it might escape when a strike out and pop up stalled the threat. Another walk, however, forced in the tying run before a strike out ended the inning.

North Whidbey's Paul Southerland led off the bottom of the sixth by being hit by a pitch. Two wild pitches moved pinch runner Jakob Daily to third with no outs. The winning run died there as three NWLL hitters fanned.

Pitching in the seventh, Southerland recorded two quick outs but walked the bases loaded before getting the last out.

Ewan Preedit led off the seventh with a double (his second of the game), advanced to third on a bunt by Kenneth Morrow and scored the winning run on a bunt by Eli Bryson.

Jacob McMurdo had two hits, including a double, and Dominic Stevens added a single, triple and run.

Kamren Mebane doubled and Southerland singled for North Whidbey's other hits.

Contact Whidbey News Times Sports editor Jim Waller at jwaller@whidbeynewsgroup.com or 360-675-6611 ext. 5060.

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