Coupeville Sports

Win or lose, a great team with a fantastic future. (Heidi Monroe photo)

Veronica Crownover, one of the younger players on the Venom, blasts a hit. (John Fisken photo)

Sarah Wright, who bashed a homer over the fence in game two, poses with grandparents Ron and Gretchen Smith. (Heidi Monroe photo)

An incredible season ended a few runs short.

Despite battling down to the final batter Monday, the Central Whidbey Little League Juniors All-Star softball squad couldn’t quite overcome a hot-hitting Woodinville team, falling 15-12 in its third and final game at the state tourney in Shoreline.

The loss knocked the Venom (18-2) out of the double-elimination tourney, making them the third team to exit the eight-team event.

Still, even a loss can’t take away from what was a season of huge offensive explosions and an opening 17-game stretch where Central beat every opponent by 10 or more runs.

Early on Monday, it looked like the Venom would keep the momentum going from their win against Mercer Island a day before. Jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the early going, things were hoppin’.

After that it became a back-and-forth war of attrition between two high-powered offenses, as the teams chipped away at each other.

An RBI single from Tamika Nastali staked Central to a 4-2 lead, and, after Woodinville surged, Katrina McGranahan knotted things at five, knocking in Hope Lodell with a base hit.

Things stayed that way into the fifth, then fell apart a bit as Woodinville surged for six runs in the bottom of the inning.

Trailing 12-5 with only two turns at bat left, Central rallied, pulling back within 12-10.

Robin Cedillo and Veronica Crownover smacked back-to-back RBI singles, then Lodell crunched a two-run base knock.

Woodinville was not ready to yield, however, tacking on three more to stretch the lead back out to five.

Even then, the Venom came hard, scoring twice in their final at-bat, with McGranahan and Sarah Wright skipping home before Central ran out of chances.

The combined 27 runs was the most scored in any of the nine games played at the state tourney so far.

The season-ending loss was the final game reppin’ Whidbey Island for Emily Licence, who also made it to state with Cedillo during their freshman season at Coupeville High School. She and her family are moving to California.

Many of the other 10 players on the Venom squad will move up to CHS in the fall, while hurler Bella Northup, the team’s lone South Whidbey player, will enter high school in Langley.