“The South Whidbey Little League Junior Baseball team has done it again. They are the District 11 champions for the second straight year.To defend their title, they had to defeat the best of the South Skagit County, San Juan Islands, and Anacortes Little League baseball programs.The South Skagit American team was the opening opponent in the District 11 tournament. The South Whidbey boys put them into the losers bracket with a 9 to 1 score. Michael Osburn pitched 6 innings for the win. Osburn gave up 6 walks, but matched them with six strikeouts. Stefan Kolbo got the save by putting down three straight batters in the seventh inning. The second team South Whidbey would face was Islands, representing all of the San Juans except San Juan Island. The South Whidbey Islanders dominated the Islanders from the north. The final was 11 to 1. The ten run rule was in effect and the game was stopped at the end of five innings. Joel Friesen was on the hill and allowed four bases on balls while striking out nine. Superb defense took care of the rest of the Islands’ at-bats. The Southend boys then put the always-tough Anacortes nine away, 9 to 6. Stefan Kolbo went the distance, giving up five bb’s and sending seven batters back to the dugout, bats in hand after strike three.This set up the final with Islands who worked their way back through the losers bracket. Osburn went six innings for the team, but struggled with control problems. An uncharacteristic nine walks kept the Orcas-Lopez boys in the game. Michael got the win however, and Conley White baffled them with his pitches for the save. The difference was the seven runs garnered by South Whidbey in the first inning plus two more in the sixth to win 9 to 7. Islands never quit, but neither did our guys, said coach Harvey Friesen. Even though the contest didn’t proceed as smoothly as the first two games, they stayed with it and wouldn’t give up. Each team-member is an integral contributor to the goal of winning one game at a time, he said. The Washington State Junior Baseball tournament began July 19 in Vancouver, Wash. The team consists of 11 players, all age 14: Conley White, Tony Parra, Montana Morley, Dustin Sidhu, Joel Friesen, Dane Guetlin, Michael Osburn, Michael McNany Greene, Stefan Kolbo, Jason Mannie, and Andrew Hosmer. Harvey Friesen, Dave Guetlin and Mike Morley coach the team. However they fare at Vancouver, they have proven themselves to be winners, and have demonstrated that commitment and hard work pays off, Friesen said. “