About halfway into the summer, Little League softball is heating up for South Whidbey teams.

As South Whidbey’s 11-12-year-old girls fight their way through a state championship tournament held at the South Whidbey Community Park this week, plenty of other local teams are bringing home glory and hardware.

Taking top honors so far this season are the 11- and 12-year-old All Stars. Managed by Mike Newman and coached by Lori Brown and Henry Pope, this best-of-the-best team won six of seven games at a June 29-July 9 tournament in Burlington.

After starting with an 11-3 victory over the host team and a surprise 9-5 loss against the South Skagit Nationals, the South Whidbey girls beat Coupeville, Sedro-Wooley, the South Skagit Americans and, to avenge the early loss, the Nationals.

In the championship game against the Nationals, the South Whidbey girls proved that the early loss was a fluke, bombing the opposition 14-4.

Team members at the tournament were Lindsey Newman, Samantha Pope, Mary Brown, Rebecca Stratton, Cassie Bosman, Nikki Parra, Morgan Tuttle, Courtney Bosman, Laurent Stelling, Nikki Nelson, Tylyn Linehan and Melanie Murphy.

Show equal toughness this week are the 11- and 12-year-olds playing in the state tournament. On their home fields, the South Whidbey girls beat a tough Bainbridge team 1-0 in the first round Saturday behind Lindsay Newman’s pitching.

Samantha Pope scored the only run in the game on a bloop double, a stolen base and wild pitch in the second inning.

The team played again Tuesday night, but the game had not started at press time. The tournament championship game will be held Sunday at the community park.

Also playing this week is the 9-10-year-old Little League softball team managed by Clay Cochran and coached by Henry Pope. The South Whidbey girls won a 5-4 game over Mount Vernon Saturday in their state tournament. Play was ongoing this week.

Also coming home a winner was the 10-12-year-old Blue Jays. At the Ted Reep Memorial Tournament in Mount Vernon in June, the South Whidbey team took the first place trophy for the second year running.

To achieve the feat, they beat teams from Sedro-Woolley, North Whidbey and South Skagit County. Their 4-0 record in the tourney did the trick and added to the team’s overall 14-2 season record. The team was managed by Mike Newman and is coached by Ed Gemkow and Lori Brown.