CAMAS — In the midst of a cloud of talent at the 2006 Pacific Northwest Regional Babe Ruth tournament, North Kitsap’s 16-year-old All-Stars combined and energized into a lightning bolt in the team’s opener.

Representing North Washington State, NK played a double-header Thursday facing Alberta, Canada in the morning and Moscow, Idaho in the afternoon. North’s squad picked up wins in both games carrying momentum from an opening round thriller against British Columbia.

“There are some very, very good teams here … there will not be any easy wins here,” NK manager Brent Stenman said after surveying the regional competition Thursday morning.

Raring to go after finishing second at the state tournament and receiving a bid to play at regionals after the state champion Kent squad backed out, North Kitsap’s first game was laden with excitement and execution, Stenman noted. Both at the plate and in the field July 26, there was no shortage of exhilaration as NK held on to beat British Columbia by a count of 6-4.

North utilized a small ball strategy at the plate, combined with straight-jacket defense to capture the game. British Columbia out hit the North squad by a count of 6-4, but NK took every bit of advantage scoring three runs on those four hits.

On defense, NK center fielder James Smith’s arm was the demise of multiple B.C. advances.

Early in the game, he gunned down a runner trying to stretch a double into a triple, then later in the game he, relay man Taylor Zehrung and catcher Jamaal Smith picked off two B.C. runners at the plate.

In the sixth inning, already clutching a 3-1 lead, North got creative to locomote three more runners around the diamond and across the plate. To begin, NK scored one runner on a passed ball, prompted be a fake suicide squeeze. Then two more “huge” runs came on two “perfectly executed” squeeze plays, Stenman said.

In the bottom of the inning, B.C. bounced right back with three runs of their own before loading the bases with one out. Then, in what Stenman noted as one of the biggest plays of the game, NK’s second baseman Tyler Seth gloved a hard hit ball to his left, spun the ball to Zehrung at second base who completed the double play in the nick of time to seal the inning and douse the B.C. spirits.

In the seventh inning, despite attempts, B.C. would not recover as North posted the 6-4 ‘W.’

Thursday, North posted two more ‘W’s’ as they bettered the Alberta Canada representative — Calgary — by a count of 8-5 before downing the Idaho representative — Moscow — 12-2.

Headed into the weekend, North was 3-0 in pool play on the tournament, but Friday held one of the teams biggest tests, Stenman said, as it faced off with the “heavily favored” host team which won its first game by a lopsided count of 24-3 — Ryder Baseball Club. Results of the NK/Ryder contest were unavailable at press time.

North wraps up pool play at 4 p.m. today against the South Washington State squad — Elma.