A combined Little League All-Star softball team made up of players from East Jefferson of Chimacum, Port Townsend and Sequim, captured district and state championships and is headed to the regional tournament.
The East Jefferson/Port Townsend/Sequim Junior Softball squad went 3-1 at districts and 4-0 at state to earn a berth at regionals in Marana, Ariz., which is near Tucson, on Aug. 2-9.
The regional champion advances to the Little League World Series.
Team members include, from East Jefferson, Ryley Eldridge, Ashley Kelly, Mechelle Nisbet, Shanya Nisbet and Madeline Nordberg.
Megan Lee from Port Townsend.
And from Sequim, McKenzie Bentz, Hailey Kapetan, Jocelyn Lopez, Allysen Motelius and Kyla Rigg.
Manager is Dan Rigg while the coaches are Lauralee Kiesel, Mike Eldridge and Kevin Kapetan.
The team is working on fundraising and is accepting donations to help send it to regionals to represent the North Olympic Peninsula and Washington state.
Donate at http://www.gofundme.com/w4k04.
The area team was perfect at state, beating a central Seattle team twice for the right to play at regionals.
The EJ/PT/Sequim team opened state by pounding Sedro-Woolley 19-2.
Nordberg and Eldridge combined on the mound to hold back Sedro-Woolley.
Nordberg struck out six in three innings while Eldridge fanned five in two innings.
Earning three hits and an RBI each were Motelius and Mechelle Nisbet while Nordberg and Kelly both connected on two hits with two RBIs.
Shanya Nisbet earned two hits and had an RBI while Bentz and Kapetan brought home two runners each.
In the second game, the area team ripped North Central/Queen Anne/RUG of Seattle 17-3.
Again, Nordberg and Eldridge combined on the mound in the five-inning game.
Eldridge struck out four in three innings.
Motelius led at the plate with five hits and three RBIs while Eldridge rapped out three hits with a double and two RBIs.
Lopez earned two hits and three RBIs.
In the semifinals, EJ/PT/Sequim nipped Evergreen 4-2.
Nordberg and Eldridge combined for seven innings with Nordberg striking out six in four innings, and Eldridge fanning five in three innings.
Then in the state championship game, the North Olympic team defeated NC/QA/RUG of Seattle a second time, 8-4.
Nordberg and Eldridge combined to strike out seven in the seven-inning game.
Eldridge strikes out two batters in the seventh inning with the game on the line.
At districts the weekend before, the area team went 3-1, opening with two shutouts, blanking Gig Harbor/Key Peninsula 5-0 before smashing Bainbridge Island 15-0.
Gig Harbor/Key Peninsula came back to beat EJ/PT/Sequim 6-1 in the semifinals.
But the area team shaded Gig Harbor/Key Peninsula 3-2 in the district championship game to earn the state berth.
