“The North Whidbey Little League All-Stars bested the Aberdeen All-Stars 10-8 at the State Tournament in Issaquah Monday night, bouncing back from an opening round loss to Bainbridge Island and staying alive in the double-elimination tournament. The outcome however, did not look promising at first.In the first two innings of Monday night’s game, North Whidbey pitcher Andrew Bighouse gave up six runs on four walks, four base hits and one error.But strong defense and explosive batting in the bottom of the second, helped North Whidbey bounce back. Eventually.After going down, 1-2-3 in the their first turn at bat, North Whidbey’s batters erupted in the second inning, blasting nine runs. Daniel Lura, Brendan Kays, Chris Valencia, Jordan Young and Eric McCardle all recorded base hits and Aaron Bell, Chris Reilly, and Josh Eacrett all walked – each leading to a score. Daniel and Aaron both recorded singles a second time through the line-up before the inning came to an end with North Whidbey ahead, 9-6. Aberdeen scored two more runs in the third inning and North Whidbey one of their own in the fourth before the pitching and defense settled down to end the game. Eric McCardle pitched five innings and a balanced offense and defense shut the Aberdeen All-Stars down after the fourth inning. The Magnolia Moment (defensive gem) of the game was turned in by Josh Eacrett, who was also celebrating his 10th birthday Monday. Following a ground out Aberdeen collected two base hits in the fifth but a line drive to Eacrett and a step on second base accounted for an unassisted double play. In last Saturday’s 6-5 loss to Bainbridge Island in Is, North Whidbey’s All-Stars came out swinging. In game one of the State Tournament in Issaquah, the 9- and 10-year-old boys from Whidbey Island scored five runs in the top of the first inning. Unfortunately, that was all they would score and Bainbridge would score more. The Bainbridge Islanders scored four runs in the second inning, one in the third and another in the fourth, to take the win away. North Whidbey’s Johnny Encinas led off the first inning with a single over third base. Then Chris Vallery walked and Eric McCardle singled scoring Encinas. Aaron Bell hit into a fielder’s choice but he and Vallery scored on Daniel Lura’s double to left center. Josh Eacrett walked and he and Daniel scored on Chris Valencia’s single. Jordan Young and Johnny Encinas then both walked loading the bases before the inning came to an end. From there on, North Whidbey managed only two more hits by Aaron Bell and Daniel Lura as the second Bainbridge pitcher was able to shut them down. North Whidbey pitchers Brendan Kays and Eric McCardle pitched well scattering five hits and allowing only two runs but that was just enough to end the game. 6-5 Bainbridge Island.David Lura and Linda Hierholzer contributed to this story.”