Madeline Roberts digs the long ball. (Jay Roberts photo)
Bessie Walstad put a stamp on a four-year, three-sport run by hammering seven hits in the district tourney. (John Fisken photo)
They went down swinging hard — with their slap-hittin’ lead-off hitter blasting a ball over the fence — but, in the end, the Coupeville High School softball squad couldn’t quite keep the magic alive long enough to get to the next level of the playoffs.
A 9-5 loss to Blaine at Janicki Fields in Sedro Woolley Saturday eliminated the Wolves after three hard-fought games at the 1A District 1 tourney. The only Coupeville team to win a playoff game this spring, it fell one win shy of advancing to tri-districts.
But it wasn’t for a lack of effort, as the Wolves rapped out 13 hits in the finale, with eight of their nine hitters getting at least one base knock.
Senior Bessie Walstad had three hits, putting together a 7-for-9 playoff performance in her final moments as a high school athlete, while junior Madeline Roberts, the mightiest mite of them all, socked a two-run shot over the left field fence.
It wasn’t quite enough, however, as both Cascade Conference schools fell by the same score Saturday (South Whidbey lost to Lynden Christian) and were swept out of the tourney.
The Northwest Conference nabbed all four berths to tri-districts, with Nooksack Valley, Mount Baker, Blaine and Lynden Christian advancing.
The Wolves weren’t out-played, out-hustled or out-hit, but Blaine was able to get key plays when they needed them.
“This team never gave up, played solid defensively once again along with good pitching. They battled until the very end,” Coupeville coach David King said. “McKayla (Bailey) said it well after the game. Blaine had to earn the win with how well we played.
“What she said was so true,” he added. “We put everything together in this game. They just had some clutch hits we couldn’t get.”
Coupeville opened strongly, scoring two in the top of the first. Breeanna Messner ripped a double to left to kick things off, before singles from Walstad, Maria Rockwell and Hailey Hammer plated the runs.
Messner then figured prominently in the game’s best defensive play, a bang-bang double play. Hold on, though, you might need a diagram to fully comprehend what went down.
Fielding a ball, Roberts airmailed a shot to Hammer at third, who relayed it to Messner at home as a runner rounded the bag and headed home. The ball got away from Messner for a moment, but the runner panicked and headed back to third. Then, things got wild.
Messner to Hammer back to Messner to catch the runner coming home, then, on her knees, the Wolf catcher zipped a picture-perfect strike back to Hammer to nab the trailing runner headed into third.
“It was a 7-5-2-5-2-5 double play, executed well,” King said, after he stopped hyperventilating.
The hyperventilating started again when Roberts followed a single by Haley Sherman (her second of the game) by morphing from a slap hitter into a long ball lover, launching a deep blast that cleared the fence in left. Chasing it down for the family trophy case was dad Jay Roberts.
Down 9-4 headed into its final at-bats, Coupeville finished with pride.
Walstad singled in her final high school at-bat, then fellow senior Rockwell earned a base on balls in her swan song, before Bailey crushed an RBI single to net the Wolves’ final run.
While a loss wasn’t in his game plan, King came away pleased with the beautiful final weekend put together by his seniors (“These two will be missed for the many things they bring to the team”), and the promise of a team that will return virtually every starter.
A team plagued by rain-outs like no other, which forced them to play three double-headers, permanently washed out a non-conference game against Meridian and have a scheduled home game against ATM turned into a road contest, was far better than its 6-16 record might indicate.
When they were on, they were a hit-machine. And even when they were off, they were a play or two away from taking wins in at least half of their losses.
“We have seasoned players coming back next year with eight players getting regular playing time this year,” King said. “They have seen what it takes to compete and how to make adjustments. They need to look at playing summer ball and maybe going to a camp.”
Coupeville Sports 