After losing to Tampa last year in the junior softball regional final, two members of the Cape Coral Senior All-Stars team met coach John Manetta at a birthday party and said their experience was the most fun they ever had.

And they wanted to do it again.

Manetta made some calls to say, “We’re getting the band back together again.”

They played the same tune all season, culminating in another headline appearance in the Little League Senior Softball Southeast Regional championship game.

They didn’t hit a sour note as they got great pitching from Maddy Peres and took advantage of four errors en route to an 8-0 win Wednesday night over North Carolina at Fleishman Park. The win is Cape’s third by shutout in five regional games.

The win not only salved the wounds from last year’s 14-inning heartbreaker, it made Cape the first Lee County team to make a World Series since Fort Myers American senior baseball in 1981.

Cape Coral travels to Delaware for the Senior Softball World Series, which begins Sunday. They play South Bend, Ind., in the opening game at 5:30 p.m. Sunday.

“I couldn’t do this without the players. They made the calls to the girls and they were disgusted with how it ended last year,” Manetta said.

After Peres struck out the side in the first inning, Cape struck quickly. Katie Grubb walked before Sierra Myers bunted to Morganton, N.C., third baseman Vanessa Saunders, who threw wildly to first base. Grubb scored and Myers wound up on third to give Cape a 1-0 lead. Meghan Sullivan’s RBI single made it 2-0.

“The top of the order was great all tournament. They got on base and set the tempo,” Manetta said.

Morganton pitcher Paula Davis settled down, retiring 10 straight at one point, while Peres had control issues early. She Walked the bases loaded in the second before fanning Temple Cook, one of 13 strikeouts on the night to end the threat.

“Maddy and Meghan Sullivan were phenomenal. We gave up two unearned runs the whole tournament,” Manetta said.

Peres allowed only two hits and walked four in going the distance.

“I had to keep my focus because of nerves, but after the first two runs it helped,” Peres said. “I have a good team to back me up.”

Morganton, which scored 11 runs in the sixth inning to beat Crystal River (Fla.) in the semifinals, were on the receiving end Wednesday. Myers walked before another error put runners on second and third.

Deniece Dent had an RBI single and Peres executed a suicide squeeze to build the lead to 4-0.

After another error, Jessica Nuccio hit a two-run triple to make it 6-0 and chased Davis. Nuccio came home on the third error before Rylee Manetta doubled to end the scoring.

“We couldn’t come up with the big hits and we sort of crumbled,” said Morganton manager Colon Saunders, whose team finished second in the regional for the second straight year.

As for Cape Coral, this is only the beginning.

“We didn’t set out to win the regional. We’re here for the whole thing,” Manetta said.

N. Carolina 000 000 0 0 2 4

Cape Coral 200 006 x 8 7 2

W – Peres. L – Davis.

2B – Manetta (CC). 3B – Nuccio (CC).