ANACORTES — If there was a question of whether or not the North Whidbey junior all-stars could hit, it was quickly erased in the team’s District 11 tournament opener Saturday morning in Anacortes.

The local group of 13-14 year-olds batted through their lineup four times and scored 24 runs in slightly less than an hour en route to a 29-1 victory over Sedro-Woolley.

“Everyone on the team hit,” coach Toby Spanos said. “There were just so many good plays by everyone.”

Pitcher Mason Fakkema started the game for the NWLL all-stars and Marcus Jordan pitched the final four innings, allowing just the one run.

“Marcus really shut the entire team down,” Spanos said.

Everyone in the lineup had at least one hit, with the highlight coming on a deep shot off the bat of 14-year-old Jevon Payne. He drilled a ball all the way to the wall, just five feet shy of the 345-foot marker.

North Whidbey’s luck with the bats didn’t continue on Sunday, however, as they lost their first game of the double elimination tournament, 12-5, to South Whidbey.

“We were hitting the balls and they were going right at people, they were hitting the balls and they were going in the gaps,” Spanos said.

The loss bumped North Whidbey into the losers bracket. They faced the South Skagit Americans Monday night in an elimination game. A win and the local team will continue the tournament at 5:30 p.m., tomorrow, July 6 against either Friday Harbor or Central Whidbey.

CENTRAL WHIDBEY

The Central Whidbey junior all-star team started its tournament run off strong Saturday afternoon, defeating Bellingham 9-5.

CWLL led the entire game and held a 9-2 lead into the final inning.

Several players came up with big hits, including starting pitcher J.D. Wilcox. He went 3-for-4 with two triples, a single and an RBI. Chase Griffin, Ian Smith, Isaac Wacker and Eric King were all 2-for-4 at the plate.

Wilcox pitched five innings and allowed just the two runs.

“It was excellent hitting by J.D. and excellent pitching,” coach Bob Brown said.

The win advanced CWLL into a game with Friday Harbor at 5:30 p.m., today, July 5 in Anacortes.

“That’s a big game for us, they’re one of the tougher teams along with South Whidbey,” Brown said.

The winner of tonight’s game moves into the semifinals on July 8.

Several other District 11 all-star tournaments get underway this week, including 9-10 year-old baseball, 10-11 year-old baseball, 9-10 softball, 11-12 year-old softball (at Oak Harbor’s Volunteer Park) and 13-14 year-old junior softball.