BURLINGTON — Taking one for the team.

That’s exactly what Rhys Mattila did for his 11-12 North Whidbey Little League All -Star team in a 7-6 win over South Skagit American at the District 11 Tournament on Thursday afternoon.

With the bases loaded and the scored tied at 6-6 in the bottom of the final inning, Mattila stepped to the plate to face South Skagit American.

The first pitch was a ball — just skimming the top of Mattila’s helmet.

That was a sign of things to come. The next pitch nailed Mattila, who fell to the ground — as if he’d been shot — then writhed in obvious pain.

The agony, however, was short lived as the winning run trotted home as Mattila limped to first with a season-saving RBI.

Moments later he was mobbed by ecstatic teammates.

The loss ends South Skagit’s season while North Whidbey advances to face Central Whidbey in another loser out game today at 6 p.m.

“Well, it made for an exciting game,” said North Whidbey coach Jerry Newton. “I wasn’t really expecting him (Mattila) to get hit. What I was looking at was sending the runner home if the pitch got away from the catcher.”

Mattila has made a living this season getting plunked. Of course, none of them had as big a consequence as this one.

“I really wasn’t surprised (when I got hit),” Mattila said nonchalantly. “I get hit a lot. I mean, at least once a game. I’m a ball magnet.”

It’s happened so many times that Mattila has come up with several theories as to why he usually ends up wearing baseballs.

“Well, I’m big” he explained, “and I have really slow reflexes.”

In this game, those attributes certainly paid off.

“It’s nice to get the winning RBI,” Mattila said. “Now we get to keep playing.”

Both teams plated runs in the early innings. South Skagit scored twice in the first as did North Whidbey. North Whidbey took a 3-2 lead in the second. In the third South Skagit plated a pair to retake the lead 4-3, only to see the score knotted again.

It appeared North Whidbey had the game in the bag leading 6-4 heading into the sixth inning.

Skagit scored twice in the first as did North Whidbey. North Whidbey took a 3-2 lead in the second. In the third South Skagit plated a pair to retake the lead 4-3, only to see the score knotted again.

But, once again, South Skagit rallied, as Cameron Sherman singled-in two teammates who had been issued walks moments before.

Sherman’s hit to left-center field was deep enough to score the runs, however, it wasn’t long enough to stretch into a double.

The tying run crossed the plate a fraction of a second before Sherman was thrown out at second base to end the inning.

From the plate, South Whidbey’s Joshua Labrie was a force.

Labrie went 2-for-4 with a double, triple and three RBI.

Newton said he was just pleased his team is still around.

“We played better today,” Newton admitted. “We are playing okay, considering we’ve only had about three weeks to put together six teams into one team. We’ve really had to pull things together.”

• Vince Richardson can be reached at 360-416-2181 or by e-mail at .