Tension built for six innings between the South Whidbey and North Whidbey All-Stars.

The South End 9- and 10-year-old All-Stars led 1-0 before North Whidbey tied the game. The tension and the tie finally broke in extra innings, and it was like a dam bursting. In a pitching duel at South Whidbey Community Park, South Whidbey scored 12 runs in the eighth inning, and closing pitcher Drew Fry wracked up a pair of strikeouts for the final two outs to advance to the Little League District 11 championship game Saturday.

“Our strategy was we’re going for the win,” said South Whidbey team manager Chris Schott.

“I’m really proud of these guys.”

Against North Whidbey aces Brandon Barnes and Nick Krantz, the South End’s batters struggled to get on base. Through seven innings, Brandon and Nick allowed only one run and combined to give up five hits and three walks about nine strikeouts, led by Brandon,who started on the mound, with one run (on errors), three hits, a walk and eight strikeouts.

“The first two kids who pitched had good control, good velocity,” Schott said. “They could mix it up with location.”

Alex Black had a promising start when he walked on four straight pitches. The speedster stole second and third base on passed balls, and scored on an overthrow at third. South Whidbey seized the lead early and kept it for five innings.

In the fifth, Drew relieved Brighten Schott, who had come in for Nick Young in the third. South Whidbey’s coaches said they were concerned with keeping pitch counts at 35 or lower in order to have their throwers eligible for Saturday’s game. They had to win first, however.

Nerves seemed to hit South Whidbey, as errors mounted in the bottom of the fifth. North reserve George Daily reached first on an error. A hit and another error put runners on the corners, but South Whidbey first baseman Carlson Filla held the ball too long and George bolted home to tie the game 1-1. Admittedly, the tension of the game affected Carlson.

“I was a little nervous. It was pretty tense,” he said.

South Whidbey’s coaches opted for an intentional walk to load the bases. Drew pitched South Whidbey out of the potentially game-ending situation with back-to-back strikeouts.

“I was surprised when we were going to intentionally walk him and get the bases loaded,” Drew said. “When I tried to throw it low, I tried to throw it a little slower . . . because then they would hit grounders.”

South Whidbey hit through the lineup against North’s reserve pitchers in the eighth. With no outs and the bases loaded, Carlson recovered from his previous errors and ripped an RBI single into left field that broke the tie and gave South Whidbey its go-ahead run.

“I felt good about it. I felt good that we actually scored some runs in the last couple innings,” Carlson said.

With the seven-inning scoring drought finished, South Whidbey went to work and jacked seven more base hits and three walks for a 13-1 edge.

South Whidbey’s pitchers were brilliant through eight innings. Nick Young finished with five strikeouts and one hit in two innings. Brighton tallied three strikeouts against one hit and one walk. Drew had seven strikeouts against two hits and one walk (and it was intentional).

For the championship and the state tournament berth, South Whidbey will face the winner between North Whidbey and South Skagit, which played Friday night. The championship game is scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday, July 7 at South Whidbey Community Park.