It was made to order.
The Coupeville High School softball squad has been going through a rough patch of late, so the arrival of Port Townsend in town Friday was the perfect cure for all that ails the Wolves.
Facing a team which hasn’t won since April 28, 2014, Coupeville did its best to win decisively while not making things worse than they had to be, strolling to a 16-3 victory.
The victory lifts CHS to 3-4 in the 1A Olympic League, 8-7 overall.
It also pulls the Wolves back within a game of Klahowya (3-2, 8-6) in the battle for second-place, while clinching a playoff berth.
Defending league champ Chimacum (6-0, 10-4), which nipped Klahowya 6-4 Friday, is sitting pretty right now, needing just one more win, or an Eagles loss, to clinch another title.
While Coupeville can’t win the title this year, a very young squad that is comprised almost entirely of freshmen and sophomores, with just a sprinkling of juniors and not a single senior, has the program’s best record in years.
Facing a RedHawks team that entered play Friday with a 32-game losing streak, the Wolves put the gas pedal down early, then tried to hit the brakes as much as possible and coast home.
While the Wolves stole 14 bases, they piled those up early while building their lead, then switched over to a far more conservative style of play.
Their bats were smoking all game long, though, as they pounded out 10 hits to go with the 12 walks they earned.
Sarah Wright led the way with a three-hit day, while Mikayla Elfrank notched a pair of base knocks.
Lauren Rose, Tamika Nastali, Hope Lodell, Jae LeVine and Kailey Kellner each collected a hit, while Katrina McGranahan turned all three of her walks into runs.
The knockout punches came courtesy of Wright and Kellner, who both thumped triples.
When she wasn’t going ballistic at the plate, Wright, normally Coupeville’s catcher, stepped into the pitcher’s circle and gave McGranahan a day off.
Going the distance, the freshman whiffed 11 RedHawks and scattered the three runs evenly, only surrendering one per inning, with a scoreless second and fifth.
After dropping a quick five-spot in the first inning, Coupeville broke things open for good with seven in the second before tacking on a final four in the fourth.
While he’s always happy to get a win, especially one which moves his squad back over .500, CHS coach Kevin McGranahan primarily looked at Friday’s game as a teaching tool and confidence builder.
“As usual, it was a fight to keep the game reasonable, but we somehow managed to get some new players some valuable experience and also rest Katrina for the stretch run,” he said. “Nicole (Lester) and Hannah (Benway) both started and played valuable live game innings and at-bats.
“The experience will pay off in the future as they are both very excited about their future as Lady Wolves.”
Coupeville closes the regular season with two more league games (May 2 at Chimacum and May 4 at home against Klahowya), then non-conference tilts at Bellevue Christian May 10 and La Conner May 16.
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