Opportunity knocked but the North Whidbey Junior Baseball (13/14) team couldn’t break down the door in a 3-1 loss to South Skagit in the District 11 championship game at Fort Nugent Park Tuesday, July 3.

South Skagit won the best-of-three series 2-1 and earned a trip to the state tournament.

North Whidbey created a handful of opportunities to score, leaving 13 men on base, but could push only one run across.

That lone run came in the bottom of the seventh on a wild pitch. North Whidbey ended the game with runners at second and third and twice left the bases loaded.

South Skagit scored single runs in the first, second and fourth innings.

North Whidbey received five walks and five errors from South Skagit, but couldn’t come up with the big hit. NWLL finished with only four hits, two from Avery Aguirre. Zack VanHeuklom and Cory Score also singled.

North Whidbey coach Shawn Philp said, “We played really good defense today, and we hit the ball well but right at them.

“We were waiting for the hit to break a rally, we just didn’t get it.”

He added, “I’m happy for South Skagit; they have a good club.”

Other members of the North Whidbey team are Chris Levy, Brandon Philp, Cooper Stone, Steven Richards, Damian Simpkins, Dominic Jones, Isaiah Brown, Austin Hauter and Keith Montenegro.