It had already been a near-perfect summer for the Cranston National Budlong 12-year-old all-star softball team heading into Wednesday’s state championship game with Cumberland.

CNB went ahead and added the cherry on top.

In its toughest game of the tournament, CNB out-lasted Cumberland 4-1 to claim the Rhode Island state championship and punch its ticket to the Northeast Regional in Bristol, Conn.

“They were thoroughly excited,” said CNB manager Chris Gentili. “We’ve never done little league before. It’s our first year doing Little League with this group. They didn’t know what to expect. It worked out really nicely.”

The victory completed an unbeaten run through the District 1 tournament and through states, where CNB ended Cumberland’s four-year reign as state champion. CNB has now won six games consecutive games in the two tournaments.

But the final win was from easy, especially considering how lopsided some of CNB’s other games had been up to that point.

CNB grabbed three runs in the first inning to take a 3-0 lead, but the game was even from that point, making it a true test all the way down to the end.

“Credit to the girls, they seem to play well in some big games this year,” Gentili said. “They’ve had a few tournament victories. They’re excited for that. They get up for that and like that challenge.”

Helping CNB’s three-run lead stand up was pitcher Cait Lopez, who pitched the entire game and surrendered just the one run.

“Our girl really started off hot and stayed strong pretty much the entire game,” Gentili said.

CNB added its fourth run in the fifth inning, and that proved to be more than enough for Lopez and her defense, which kept a Cumberland team that scored 11 runs in its previous game completely off-balance.

“Good performance all the way, top to bottom,” Gentili said. “Defensively, especially, and pitching wise was very strong.”

Team members on the state champions team are Katy Lewandoski, Morgan Ruggieri, Megan Anderson, Lopez, Victoria Williams, Giulianna Gentili, Casey Regine, Madison Marcello, Bianca Conti, Isabella Ferry and Julia Hazian.

Next up for CNB is the regional tournament. The team will leave Thursday morning for Bristol and then play the very first game of the entire tournament on Friday at 12:30 p.m. against the Massachusetts state champion.

While CNB certainly left its mark on Rhode Island, Gentili isn’t quite sure of what to expect on the bigger stage.

Yet, especially with the pitching strength his team boasts, he’s confident that CNB will at least represent itself well and potentially make some noise.

“They’re not afraid of that,” Gentili said. “They’re a strong group. No superstars. No egos, no attitudes. They play together and they win together and lose together.”

And they’ll be trying to keep up their perfect summer.

“If we play well, we’re probably going to be in a lot of games,” Gentili said. “But only one team comes out of this group of 11.”

The Little League Softball World Series is held in Portland, Ore. Beginning Aug. 7.