SPANAWAY — For the second time in as many years, the Central Kitsap fastpitch team is headed to the state tournament as a No. 2 seed.

The Lady Cougars (19-4), coming off three consecutive victories in which they outscored their opponents 9-2 and beat the state’s top-ranked team, Emerald Ridge, 2-0, lost the Class 4A West Central District III championship game to Rogers of Puyallup 10-1 Saturday at Sprinker Recreation Center in Tacoma.

CK, the only Narrows League team to advance to this year’s Class 4A state fastpitch tournament, will make a state appearance for the third consecutive year. Its most recent district title was 1992.

“Doing this three years in a row, it really feels amazing,” said senior pitcher Carolyn Cross, who started all four district games, winning three. “A lot of us knew that it was going to be a hard road and just to be able to make it (to state) for the third year in a row, it’s a really big honor. We worked hard to get here.”

The work began Friday with a first-round victory over South Puget Sound League (SPSL) No. 6 seed Jefferson, 3-2, and continued later that day with a state berth-clinching, upset win against the No. 1-ranked and previously undefeated Emerald Ridge Jaguars, 2-0.

“We played well enough to get to the championship round,” coach Bruce Welling said. “We finished higher in this tournament than 14 other teams, so it’s a big success. And there’s no other Narrows League team, out of 12 teams, we’re the only one going to state. It’s a feather in our hat, the kids did extremely well.”

With one of the district’s six berths to state already cinched, the Lady Cougars opened Saturday’s action with a 4-0 win against Auburn Riverside, the SPSL No. 4 seed. Cross pitched a complete-game, one-hit shutout to outlast Riverside ace and University of Washington-bound Amanda Fitzsimmons, catapulting CK into the title game.

But Cross finally ran into trouble against Rogers, with the Rams erupting for nine runs on 13 hits in the bottom of the sixth to build a 10-1 lead and put the game away.

CK nearly took a 2-1 lead in the top of the sixth, but shortstop Jenna Bartlett was called out at the plate on what many — at least the CK fans — believed was a bad call on a close play.

“We are really happy with how we did,” Cross said following the Rogers game. “Overall, we see this as a win. Going to state was the huge goal.”

Welling echoed Cross’ sentiment, although he said his team would have liked to win the title after having also made a championship appearance last year with virtually the same lineup.

“Our wheels fell off,” Welling said of the nine-run sixth against Rogers. “Now we go back to the repair shop, put ’em back on, get new treads and we’re gonna be rolling again.”

The Lady Cougars open the state tournament against Kamiakin at South End Recreation Area (SERA) in Tacoma at 1 p.m. Friday. A win would put them in the second round against either Thomas Jefferson or Redmond.