North Kitsap started the Olympic League tournament Saturday with a hard-fought victory over Sequim, but ended falling in the title game against Bainbridge.

The Vikings didn’t beat Sequim in either of their regular season matchups, so getting that 2-1 win was extra sweet for the team. So much so that pitcher Makayla Stockman jumped into the arms of catcher Julia Schuchart after recording the final out.

“I don’t think I’ve wanted anything more,” Stockman said. “Well, I wanted to play PA after playing Sequim because they were the two teams we haven’t beat this year.”

Stockman was locked in against Sequim, allowing just one run and striking out eight over seven innings.

“She was on,” coach Clay Blackwood said. “She stayed ahead of hitters, we’ve talked about that all year, staying ahead of hitters and not getting worn out by the fifth inning. Not a lot of deep counts, that was huge today.”

Offense was hard to come by for both teams as Sequim pitcher Lainey Vig was nearly equally as effective, but the Vikings managed to eek out a couple of runs.

Stockman scored the first run of the game, opening the third inning with a walk and moving to second on a dropped third strike. Vig lost a little of her control, and Stockman eventually came around to score on two wild pitches.

After Sequim tied the game in the bottom of the fifth, North Kitsap managed another run.

Kayla Jarreau opened the inning with a hard single down the leftfield line. Samantha Burgh came up to bunt and put it down in the perfect spot as she raced to first for a single. Makalya Beaudoin, who was running for Jarreau, was able to move up to third and then came home on Alissa Dvorak’s sacrifice fly to center.

Sequim managed two hits in the bottom of the sixth but Stockman induced a pop-up to end the threat. In the seventh, she finished off the game with two strikeouts.

“That was a good win for us,” Blackwood said. “We’ve been talking about it all week, we just have to come out and play a complete game, and I think we played a complete game. We didn’t score as many runs as we wanted, but I think we played a complete defensive game.”

They were likely expecting to face Port Angeles in the championship game, but after Bainbridge stunned the Roughriders in a 13-12 slugfest earlier in the day, the Vikings would square off with the Spartans instead for the championship.

“We can’t take anybody lightly,” Blackwood said following the Sequim game. “I watched that PA game this morning, [Bainbridge] gets the job done, too.”

The offense couldn’t quite get things going against Bainbridge pitcher Miranda Grogger. Stockman knocked in their only run of the game in the third inning for the Vikings. They did bring the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the seventh after Burgh singled and Rachel Martin pinch-hit a double. Kendra Hawkins’s fly ball nearly went over the fence to tie the game, but fell just a few feet short and was tracked down in centerfield.

North Kitsap 2, Sequim 1

NK 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 — 2 4 1

SQ 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 — 1 5 0

WP: Stockman LP: Vig

Pitching

North Kitsap — Stockman 7 IP, 5 H, R, ER, 3 BB, 8 K.

Sequim — Vig 7 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 5 BB, 3 K.

Hitting

North Kitsap — Wetzsteon 1-3, 2B, BB; Burgh 2-2; Dvorak 0-2, RBI; Jarreau 1-1, BB, R;

Sequim — Bates 2-4, 2 SB, R; Grubb 1-3, SB; Fili 1-2, BB; Robideau 1-2, 2 BB.

Alissa Dvorak (left) and Makayla Beaudoin (right) celebrate after Beaudoin scores the go-ahead run against Sequim on Dvorak’s sacrifice fly. (Mark Krulish/Kitsap News Group)