It’s the stuff that baseball dreams are made of.

Will Simms launched a home run that bounced off the scoreboard and pushed the South Whidbey All Stars to a first-round victory over Lacamas at the state Little League tournament.

The solo shot was the first homer of the year for Simms, who also came in to pitch in relief in the 4-2 win for the 10/11 team.

“It was awesome,” recalled team manager Craig Antich, who added that the score broke open a 2-1 game for South Whidbey.

“They played really good, both sides of the ball,” he said, adding that the Whidbey defense has also been on fire.

“We had two inning-ending double plays with men in scoring position that really pretty much ended their scoring opportunities.”

Antich also heaped praise on Charlie Patterson, who pitched five complete innings. “He had an outstanding performance,” Antich said.

The South Whidbey Little League All Stars 10/11 — the reigning District 11 champs after their 4-1 victory over Sedro-Woolley earlier this month — had played two games at the tournament in Selah by the Record’s press time.

In the second game, West Seattle slipped past South Whidbey 9-6.

“We battled hard. It was a very long, hot game; we were up 5-1 and then West Seattle scored eight runs in the third,” Antich said.

South Whidbey still had plenty of fight left, though.

Max Devina also pitched two great innings, and teammate Josiah Colby had a inning-ending, diving catch that put the kibosh on West Seattle’s scoring frenzy in the third.

And Parker Buchanan homered over the deep left field fence for his second homer of the season.

“That ball was smoking,” Antich said, adding that the rocket blast off Buchanan’s bat was into the wind.

South Whidbey will continue to play as long as they win. The team of All Stars also includes Gary Skym, Josiah Sergeant, Tyler Heggenes, Hunter Newman, Austin Heston, Trenton Piehler and coaches Bill Patterson, Eddie Sergeant and Paul Divina.

“The kids are playing loose,” he added. “They are having the time of their lives, they really are. They are enjoying the experience.”

“The experience here has just been awesome; you can’t say enough about it,” he said.

South Whidbey is the smallest team in the tournament, a contest filled with teams that pull from larger pools of talent, such as Bellevue, Seattle and Spokane.

“We’re just small Mayberry compared to what’s going on,” Antich said, drawing a comparison to the humble hometown of TV-land’s Andy Griffith.

“We’re just ejoying it all,” he said.