It was two-and-out for the Central/South Whidbey Junior (13-14) Little League softball team last weekend at the state tournament at David Douglas Park in Vancouver.
The club dropped the tournament opener to Stilly Valley 13-3, then fell 11-3 to District 7 (Seattle).
Central/South Whidbey out hit Stilly Valley 9-7 but couldn’t overcome seven errors that led to 11 unearned runs.
Central/South Whidbey picked up a run in the first around hits by Chantel Brown and Haley Viers. In the third inning, Chevy Reyes was hit by a pitch and then scored after singles by Hailey Hammer and Mackenzie Hezel. In the fifth, Hammer singled, Calli Patterson walked and McKayla Bailey plated Hammer with a base hit.
Brown, Viers and Hammer all finished 2-for-3 in the game.
In the second-round loss to District 7, Central/South Whidbey could muster just two hits and suffered 11 strikeouts.
One of the hits was a lead-off home run by Brown. The second hit was an RBI single by Reyes in the sixth. The final local run came in the seventh when Ana Johnson led off with a walk. Pinch runner Patterson stole second, moved to third on a ground out and scored on a passed ball.
Unlike the opener, Central/South Whidbey played solid defense in the second game and committed only one error.
Assistant coach David King said, “Overall they kept their heads up and kept battling.”
The team advance to the state tourney after capturing the Junior Little League district championship in Oak Harbor earlier this month.
The island girls defeated Burlington/Sedro-Woolley 17-2 and 12-7 to grab the title.
Coach Donnie Brown said his team batted around in the fourth inning of the first game to put the contest out of reach. Chevy Reyes’ triple highlighted the big inning.
In the second game, Brown said Central/South Whidbey led throughout, although Burlington/Sedro-Woolley was always close.
Brown said, “All the girls hit well.” He added that the offense was aided by the base stealing of Hailey Viera and Brown.
Mckayla Bailey and Hezel were the winning pitchers.
