Central Whidbey wrapped up a berth in the state 13/14 Little League softball tournament by defeating North Whidbey 17-6 in five innings Tuesday at Coupeville High School.

With the win, Central Whidbey swept the best-of-three series for the District 11 pennant and will now face Ridgefield at 4 p.m. Saturday, July 12, in the state tournament at Meridian Park in Shoreline.

In Tuesday’s game, the Central Whidbey Venom scooted to a 4-0 lead in the top of the first, and North Whidbey came right back to knot the score in its half.

From that point, Central Whidbey pulled away to keep its record clean at 17-0. In fact, no team has been closer than 10 runs to the Venom this season.

Central Whidbey picked up its four runs with the help of four walks, singles by Katrina McGranahan and Bella Northup and a double by Sarah Wright.

Two walks and singles by Rylee Joseph, Madison Rude and Megan Flood produced North Whidbey’s four first-inning runs.

Central Whidbey continued to roll in the second inning, scoring five runs. Doubles by Wright and Veronica Crownover and singles by McGranahan, Northup and Hope Lodell highlighted the inning.

Singles by Wright and Northup plated a run in the third.

North Whidbey scored its final two runs in the bottom of the inning on a walk to Alyssa Mecom and base hits by Rude and Sam Payne.

The Venom added four runs in the fourth. Lodell, McGranahan and Tamika Nastali singled, and Wright doubled.

A three-run fifth finished the scoring. Wright recorded her fifth hit and fourth double and Lauren Rose singled in the inning.

Wright finished 5-for-5 with four doubles and five runs.

McGranahan and Northup had three hits each, and Lauren Rose rapped two.

McGranahan was the winning pitcher, giving up six hits and three walks and striking out seven.

For North Whidbey, Rude paced the offense with two singles. Yoyo Keiser, Joseph, Flood and Payne added singles.

(North Whidbey pitcher Rylee Joseph tosses to first base for an out after fielding a comebacker. Jim Waller photo.)