The North Whidbey Little League junior softball team earned a trip to the state tournament without throwing another pitch, and the North Whidbey minor softball and the Central Whidbey major softball teams won Thursday, putting themselves just one victory away from a state berth.
Junior Softball (13/14)
Anacortes won the opening game of the best-of-three series 11-7 Sunday; then with North Whidbey leading 7-2 in the fourth inning in the second game Monday, an Anacortes player was injured.
That player has not recovered and Anacortes does not have any substitutes, so North Whidbey was awarded the District 11 title.
North Whidbey will compete in the state tournament beginning Saturday, June 30, in Poulsbo.
Major Softball (10-12)
Central Whidbey defeated host Sedro-Woolley 8-6 Thursday, June 14, in the second round of the three-team district tournament.
The game was originally scheduled for Wednesday but was rained out.
South Skagit and Sedro-Woolley play in the consolation bracket to see who will get another shot at Central Whidbey at noon Saturday at Janiki Field in Sedro-Woolley for the district championship. That winner will have to beat Central Whidbey twice to claim the title.
In Central Whidbey’s win over Sedro-Woolley Thursday, the Coupeville club scored four runs in the fourth inning to break a 3-3 tie.
Savina Wells finished with two hits, two walks and three runs for Central Whidbey.
Sofia Peters singled twice; Maya Lucero and Lydia Ster each singled; Vivian Farris walked twice and scored twice; and Gwen Gustafson scored two runs.
Minor Softball (8-10)
In a pitching duel between North Whidbey’s Reese Wasinger and Sedro-Woolley’s Reagan Evans, it was Wasinger’s accuracy that proved to be the difference in NW’s 8-6 win in Oak Harbor Thursday.
Both pitched two hitters, all infield singles.
Wasinger accounted for all but one out with 17 strikeouts in six innings; Evans fanned 13 in five innings.
Evans, however, walked nine and hit a batter and eight of those came around to score on stolen bases, wild pitches or errors.
Wasinger surrendered only five walks.
Down 3-0, North Whidbey scored four runs in the third inning to get back into the game.
A three-run fifth inning, when Joelle Hasler and Scarlet Nations both singled, helped secure the contest.
Olivia Aranguri-Plummer and Hasler each scored two runs in the game to lead the NW offense; Aranguri-Plummer also had four stolen bases. Mia Reagan, Piper Lansing, Wasinger and Keli Aranguri-Plummer also scored.
The two teams meet again at 6 p.m. Friday, June 15, at Oak Harbor’s Volunteer Park in the second game of the best-of-three series to determine who will represent District 11 in the state tournament.
North Whidbey pitcher Reese Wasinger throws another strike in her win over Sedro-Woolley Thursday. (Photo by Jim Waller/Whidbey News-Times)
Olivia Aranguri-Plummer sneaks under the tag of Sedro-Woolley catcher Bryar Hart for a NW run. (Photo by Jim Waller/Whidbey News-Times)
Above, Joelle Hasler celebrates an inning-ending strkeout for North Whidbey. In the series of photos below, Mia Regan reacts to each strike in the top of the sixth inning as North Whidbey closes in on the victory. (Photo by Jim Waller/Whidbey News-Times)
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