Coupeville Sports

     Madeline Roberts, proving she can hit with her eyes shut in a earlier game, delivered one of Coupeville’s three hits Tuesday. (John Fisken photo)

It wasn’t a bad game.

The final score, 11-0 in favor of visiting Lakewood Tuesday, sounds far worse than it was.

Toss out a mental error or two and one huge two-run home run over the center field fence, and there were some bright spots for the Coupeville High School softball squad.

Maria Rockwell waged an epic, 14-pitch battle with a Cougar hitter in the first inning that was a thing of beauty. Neither combatant would give an inch, until the Wolf hurler ultimately got the better of her foe.

Combined with a web gem by Chevy Reyes, who backpedaled into the outfield from short to snare a towering pop-up, Rockwell’s grit kept Lakewood at bay in the early going.

Ultimately, though, the Cougars relentless running got the better of Coupeville.

Too many singles turned into more, as Lakewood routinely took an extra base at every opportunity and then the Wolves compounded matters by trying to hurry to combat Lakewood’s quickness and dropped several balls.

Rattled by the small ball, things came fully unglued when Lakewood turned on their long ball hitting as well, with Cougar pitcher Hailey Malakowski crushing a moon shot over the center field wall to go with her two doubles.

The Cougars added another pair of two-baggers and got a triple from Maddie Holmes before they were done.

After a hit from their opening batter — Madeline Roberts slapped a shot over the shortstop’s head — Coupeville’s bats went quiet until Sydney Aparicio lined a frozen rope into right center in the fifth inning.

The Wolves actually got stronger in the late going, following Aparicio’s hit with a booming double off the bat of McKayla Bailey to open the sixth.

Malakowski refused to bend, however, much to the delight of the world’s loudest bench, retiring the final three batters.

The final out wasn’t easy, though, as Bessie Walstad crushed the ball to center field, only to have a Cougar outfielder make a gorgeous sliding catch to end things.

While the Wolves, now 4-7 heading into a Wednesday doubleheader at Cedarcrest, have hit a rough patch at the plate the last two games, CHS coach David King continues to see improvement.

“The girls have not given up and continue to work hard,” King said. “In our last at-bat, both McKayla and Bessie made the necessary adjustment at the plate. The results were good and Sydney’s hit could be placed in with going with the pitch and staying back on the ball as well.

“We will continue to work and recognize what adjustments we need to make on defense and work on discipline with our at bats,” he added. “We need to think right side and up the middle instead of trying to pull every pitch.”