The Redwood Empire 9’s/10’s girls softball team advanced to the State Tournament with a victory over North Yuba by a score of 2-0 in the Section II Championship in Manteca Thursday.

Leading the way for RE was winning pitcher Shannon Palmer, who kept North Yuba off the scoreboard while teammates Mattie Morre and Ty Allen scored the team’s only runs of the game on passed balls by North Yuba.

“It was a tough game and neither team hit well, but the defense was stellar,” said RE head coach Brett Moranda. “And we aggressively stole bases.”

Earlier in the championship tournament, RE defeated Corning 14-6 and Inter Mountain 6-3, with the Inter Mountain victory requiring a late rally in which RE scored three runs to prolong the game before winning in extra innings.

RE then proceeded to defeat North Yuba 4-1 in their best-of-three series before falling 3-0 to force the deciding game.

This will be the second straight year the RE squad will play at states, which will start at 10 a.m. today.

Moranda said he thinks the team’s strengths should serve them well against whomever they face.

“One of the big things is the cohesiveness of this team. They play together and have developed into a family group,” Moranda said. “They’re extremely good defensively and know their positions. They just need to have a good attitude and desire to win. We’ll see what happens.”