The North Whidbey Little League 11/12 baseball team reached the championship series the hard way — battling through the consolation bracket.

North Whidbey won its third game in three days when it dumped Central Whidbey 7-3 Wednesday, July 2, in Langley.

The victory eliminated Central Whidbey from the tournament and lifted North Whidbey into the finals against Burlington.

North Whidbey will have to defeat Burlington twice to take the title and grab a trip to the state tournament.

The first game is 6 p.m. Thursday, July 3. The second, if necessary, is 3 p.m. Friday.

Burlington rolled to the finals with three easy wins: 12-0, 17-0, 28-0.

Central Whidbey jumped to a 1-0 lead in the first inning against North Whidbey on consecutive singles by Mason Testeroff, Elliott Johnson and Matt Hilborn.

North Whidbey took advantage of Central Whidbey errors in its half of the first to take the lead, one it would never relinquish.

Central Whidbey, which posted an 11-3 record during the regular season, scored its final two runs in the fifth when Johnson and Hilborn singled and scored on Noah Meffert’s base hit.

North Whidbey, once again, produced a balanced offensive attack. George Dailey and Trevor Sheils led the way with triples, while Andrew Dixon and Jeremiah Dailey added doubles. Aiden McCarthy, Austin Boesch and Cody Byars all singled.

Logan Gonzales and Noah Miller pitched in with an RBI each.

Sheils started the game on the mound and recorded two strikeouts. Boesch followed and also picked up two strikeouts.

Byers and Gonzales threw next, fanning three each.

“We had great offense and defense tonight,” said team spokesman Judie Gonzales. “Everyone did their part to help win.”