POULSBO — Though the first official day of summer is barely in the books, North Kitsap’s boys of summer have already put an entire season in the books. And with the close of the 2006 regular Babe Ruth baseball season comes the beginning of the All-Star circuit.

Three NK teams — 13, 14 and 15 year olds — are currently gearing up for postseason district and state tournaments. Two of those tournaments — 15-year-old district and 14-year-old state — will be hosted at Snider Park in Poulsbo.

“That’ll be the first time that we’ve ever played a tournament at home,” said NK 14’s manager Ken LeMay, noting the excitement his players have expressed about playing for the hometown crowd July 19-24.

LeMay’s squad has already been shaping up at the practice fields behind Kingston Junior High School for the past week. Since summer began, the team has been hitting the field for two practices per day.

“I think a lot of these kids play the regular season just for All-Stars, they take the regular season as more of a practice or warm-up,” LeMay said. “But a lot of kids made this team because of their hard work.”

Each All-Star team is constructed at the close of the regular season in a round table discussion and ensuing voting process by all league coaches and the NK Babe Ruth board.

Joining LeMay as North Kitsap’s All-Star coaches in 2006, TRC coach Rick Ritter has stepped up to the plate as manager of the 15’s and Construction Development coach Jeff Reitan has earned the role of 13’s team manager.

“It’s been a long season, and now it’s time to buckle down into the good stuff,” said Reitan, a first-year All-Star coach. “I was fortunate enough to be selected as head coach and kind of have the in-charge feeling, but these (assistant coaches) are great, everybody brings their piece.”

NK’s 13-year-old squad has already hit the field, practicing for its slice of the All-Star series at a USSSA sponsored tournament in Bremerton June 17-18. The squad came out of the weekend with a record of three wins, one loss and ample confidence, Reitan said.

“We all know each other, so we have to just all play how we know how to play. We all have experience with state tournaments in either Babe Ruth or Little League,” said 13-year-old catcher Nick Benish. “We’re just working on making everything as good as it can be … doing everything we can do to be perfect.”

That quest for perfection will take the All-Star Stage in Sequim next week as North Kitsap 13’s will travel to their district tournament. If qualified, the team will attend the state tourney July 12-17 in Moses Lake.

“Some people are talking ahead of themselves, saying we will be in the state tournament,” Reitan said. “We’ve got to take it one game at a time, actually more like one inning at a time.”

The goal of the state tournament is in each NK team’s sights as they take the field. The NK 15’s will host their division’s district tournament July 1 and 2, while the NK 14’s have already received a berth into state, which NK will host July 19-24.

“Our chances are good, but this is baseball,” coach LeMay said of the state stage. “Keep them positive, keep them moving forward, don’t let them dwell on the negative things.”