OLLALA — In the Little League All-Star postseason, everything boils down to the amount of heart a team is willing to offer. No longer can players get by on talent alone — focus and sheer faith are now the fuel for success.

Throughout the District 2 tournament in Ollala, North Kitsap’s 11- and 12-year-old All-Star Americans have learned the lessons of determination. After an undefeated four-game jaunt into the District 2 championship, the NK Americans wouldn’t allow what manager Eric Milyard called one of the team’s worst showings to spell disaster in the title game against South Kitsap Southern.

What North lacked in execution it made up in desire, capturing the District 2 11- and 12-year-old championship by a count of 9-8.

“Heart, it took a lot of heart from pretty much everybody,” Milyard said of what led NK to prevail. “We probably played our worst game of the whole tournament as far as errors. They stayed in there, it was a little closer than I’d like to see, but that’s going to make them a better team.”

It all began with a one-run first inning for South Kitsap, followed by a one-run North Kitsap second inning to tie. Then in the third, SK cracked three hits, picking up four runs on NK errors to take a menacing 5-1 lead.

But in the bottom half of the inning, NK sliced the lead with two runs on no hits, reciprocally taking advantage of SK’s errors.

“It didn’t really look like they were under that much pressure,” said team bookkeeper Dave Bratlien. “No one was hanging their head or kicking the dirt.”

In the bottom of the fourth inning, NK’s Cody Combs held his head at full attention as he circled the bases after jacking a three-run home run to give NK the one-run advantage. The shot was an energizer that sparked a fire for the NK Americans, Bratlien said.

Despite two SK hits in the next inning, North held them to just one run while on offense the NK Americans rounded up three to take a 9-6 lead into the final inning.

But in the spirit of determination, SK rocked a sixth inning two-run home run, putting the pressure on NK in the waning hour of the game. North would bend, but it would not break, Milyard said.

“These kids are all like sponges, they listen and soak up everything. They do what they’re told to do and trust what we tell them,” Milyard said. “From the first day we came together as an All-Star team, the first thing we talked about was winning district and how we were going to get there.”

Now the team is focused on winning the state tournament and what that will take. Milyard said the NK Americans must shore up their defensive fielding if they are to find any success. However after witnessing the amount of heart that the team displayed throughout districts, Milyard’s faith is firmly founded.

“These kids will never quit, and as long as they have attitude we can go a long ways,” he said.

North will be put to the test beginning at 4:30 p.m. July 23 in Shoreline in its first game of the state tournament against the winner of Redmond North and Kent.