POULSBO — For many teams this year, underestimating the North Kitsap Vikings fastpitch squad was a big mistake.

In some ways, you couldn’t blame NK’s opponents. It appeared North’s talent pool had fallen off with the graduation of a powerful 2004 senior group. And during the regular season, the team was battered around on more than a few occasions, such as early on to Gig Harbor in a 9-1 loss and a painful slide in May that saw three straight defeats to Port Angeles, Central Kitsap and South Kitsap.

But the faithful followers of Vikings fastpitch saw flashes of brilliance from the squad, such as its pair of extra-inning, nail-biting losses to eventual Bridge champions South Kitsap.

What NK players discovered — and their opponents failed to notice — was that any talent they may have lost in 2004 they made up for in chemistry in 2005.

“It was such a rush last year but the natural mindset was that it was over,” Vikings coach Dan Kolda said at the start of the season. “However, as the season approached, all of the sudden, we realized we had a really good fill in here.”

Anyone paying attention to the team could’ve easily picked up on the fact the it had confidence. After all, the Vikings were picking themselves to make the same dent in the playoffs as they had the year before.

“We lost a lot of good players last year but I think we’ll make it up through the season,” North Kitsap senior captain Chrystal Camus said before a single game was played in 2005. “And I think we’ll go just as far as last year.”

“I think we probably have the deepest lineup, the most talented team,” added starting pitcher Rachael Kramer after the team blanked Bremerton 10-0 early in the season. “And we just need to put it together.”

Qualifying quietly for the district tournament, North Kitsap went to Tacoma as an underdog — a role they were just beginning to relish.

On May 27, the team earned what was perhaps the biggest victory the Vikings ever had: a 4-3 win against eventual state runners-up, the Prairie Falcons. Kramer kept one of the best hitting clubs in the state to three runs just long enough for Molly McCluskey to make a head-first dive into first and score Camus for the win.

The feeling was that the win was a fluke, a glitch by one of the state’s most talented teams. The Vikings proved that wasn’t the case against another perennial favorite, Decatur, the very next day.

The Golden Gators were looking to single-handedly knock Kitsap County from the district tournament, following their victories against South and Central. North, however, behind the pitching of Coreena Stout, took a 1-0 win and with it, the team’s first ever bid to the state tournament.

The Vikings entered state once again as a team on the outside looking in. But when they left the tournament after posting a 2-2 record — including wins versus Henry Jackson of Mill Creek and Southridge of the Tri-Cities — they’d put NK on the state fastpitch map and the 2005 squad in school history.

As coach Kolda plans for 2006, he knows the team may have exhausted its “underdog” status. The team is graduating three seniors — McCluskey, Katie Benish and Camus — but otherwise the core of the state-qualifying, giant-killing Vikings will be back next year.

For now, the team can savor a run unparalleled by any fastpitch from Poulsbo.

“This is the first year I’ve walked away with total resolve in having a complete season,” Kolda said. “I can’t imagine us doing any more with this group this season. We could do no wrong at (the state) tournament.”