POULSBO — It was quite possibly the North Kitsap Junior Babe Ruth’s version of “The shot heard around the world.”

In the pouring rain of the district tournament in 1997, the 15 year olds team was battling for a district title in North Kitsap. Late in the game, NKBR’s Joe Mohr came to the plate and hit a line drive that cleared the left field fence, sending the game-winning home-run out of the park and his team to the state tournament.

“That really got the momentum going,” said Jack Nannery, the team’s manager.“And we never looked back.”

Four games up of state play later, the North Kitsap 15s brought home the NKBR junior league’s first-ever state championship, beating host Bellingham in the final game. The feat had taken 33 years to accomplish.

“It was a great group of young men that liked each other and pulled together,” Nannery recalled. “For me, it was a big surprise — it had never happened, we had never gotten over the hump.”

But given the establishment of a great facility combined with a growing community and talented pool of players, many in the North Kitsap community saw state success coming. Since that year, three teams have won the state title, including the 2001 14s team that also won the regionals and went on to the Babe Ruth world series.

Following Lindley Smith’s presidency, which largely spanned from 1964-1984, Bob Reister took the reigns of the league in 1985, for three years. During that time, the league was formally incorporated and the infield was filled in with grass and an irrigation system installed. Reister said he also fondly remembers the volunteers who gave time and money to help keep the league afloat. Whether it was Jim Weible, who’d wake up at 4 a.m. to water the field or financial help from companies like Cedar Farms and Kitsap Tire, Reister said he couldn’t believe the support and enthusiasm on which the league stood.

“The program was the most positive thing I’ve ever done in my life,” he said. “It was a time when baseball in North Kitsap needed a push. And it got one.”

Reister also presided when Aaron Sele — one of the greatest players to ever come out of North Kitsap — played ball. Reister recalled a time when he got to experience one of Sele’s fastballs.

“Aaron was pitching with his dad one day, and I said, ‘Let me catch,’” Reister said. “The third ball (Sele) threw (to me) was so fast I couldn’t see it coming.”

During the mid- to late-1980s more programs, such as T-ball and fall ball, were developed and played at facilities near the Babe Ruth field, an aspect which made it possible for North Kitsap kids to further hone their skills.

“Our feeder programs are developing these kids into very good baseball players (as a result),” said Bryan Johansen, who coached in Babe Ruth from 1987-1995. “They’re just putting out exceptional ball players.”

During the late ‘80s and through the ‘90s, several presidents led the leagues, including Steve Schenck, Ralph Milleson, Felix Trujillo and Bud Brown. New amenities were added as well, including a large behind-home-plate scorers’ booth and concession stand. In the last five years, new bleachers, new fencing and a new backstop have also been added.

“Just looking at it, it’s incredible how much it has changed,” said Brent Stenman, who has been Babe Ruth treasurer since 1993 and was NKBR’s president from 2000-2003. “We’ve really structured it more. And the level of play has gotten better.”

Stenman played in NKBR in the late 1970s and became a coach of a 13 year old team in 1985. Though he went undefeated his first year, he recalled Bud Brown saying that he couldn’t coach an All-Star team.

“He thought we were too young,” Stenman said.

Stenman’s team, which over the years he coached with Steve Hagan, Rich Smallbeck and Keary (Reister) Myres, sometimes went from the best team in the league to its worst.

“We finished everywhere, over the whole spectrum,” Stenman recalled. “With the draft (system), it’s just a big cycle.”

Through the years, Stenman added, the organization in Babe Ruth has improved, alleviating some of the burden on one or two members of the organization. For instance, Stenman said Brown would keep all of the jerseys at his home before a storage shed was built.

Sponsor and player registration prices have inflated — in 1964, it was $7.50 for a family to play, whereas now, it is $100 — yet that could be much higher, Stenman said.

“That’s still one of the cheapest deals in the state,” said Stenman, who is also the assistant commissioner for Babe Ruth in Washington. “And we can keep it low because we have a concession stand.”

Virg Taylor, who has been involved in the league since 1979 and was president of North Kitsap Little League, said the league has stood all these years due to all the volunteers that do the little things — but also because of great leadership.

“Bud Brown did a great job, and Brent (Stenman) has continued to do one,” Taylor said. “He’s become the stalwart of the league.”

And it all goes back to the leader who took on the organization for more than 20 years, Taylor commented — the iron-man himself, Lindley Smith.

“(Smith) deserves even more than just having the field named after him,” Taylor said with a laugh.