The Oak Harbor Babe Ruth baseball team opened its season with an 8-7 win over host Burlington in a rain-soaked walkfest Saturday, April 27.

Each team collected only three hits but had little trouble picking up walks.

Oak Harbor had 19 walks and three hit batters, while Burlington added 12 walks. The game took three-and-a-half hours to complete.

Oak Harbor came back to earn the win. Shutout over the first four innings, Oak Harbor scored two in the fifth to make it 3-2. Burlington added a run in the bottom half of the inning, then Oak Harbor took its first lead, 7-4, with a five-run sixth.

Burlington countered with three runs in its half of the sixth to knot the game at 7, then Oak Harbor scored the game winner in the seventh.

Oak Harbor left nine runners stranded and left the bases load twice over the first four innings. Finally, in the fifth, the Wildcats broke through.

Dominic Jones’ single, a walk and three hit batters led to the two runs.

In the five-run sixth, Oak Harbor blended Kenneth Morrow’s hit (his second of the game) with seven walks and Burlington’s only error for the rally.

After the bases were loaded with walks in the seventh, Morrow’s sacrifice fly plated the winning run.

In all, Oak Harbor left 19 runners on base.

Burlington loaded the bases in the seventh with two outs. The next hitter appeared to drop in a single to center that would have tied the game, but Jordan Davenport fired the ball to second base, forcing the runner from first and ending the threat.

Coach Bill Young said, “Overall, we worked through some first-game jitters, gained confidence in our pitching, made some mistakes, demonstrated that we have areas to improve upon and managed to walk away with a win.”

Oak Harbor hosts Sedro-Woolley at 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 30, at Clover Valley Park.