“Strasburg is pleased. McDonald’s for everyone on the way home!!”
They don’t just break a streak, they shatter it into a million pieces.
Crushing the ball like it was being thrown up to the plate by an 85-year old woman, the Coupeville High School softball team rained 17 runs and 20 hits down on Archbishop Thomas Murphy Friday afternoon.
By the time they had cooled their bats down and packed them back on the bus for the trip home from Everett, the Wolves had a 17-8 victory that earned them a doubleheader split, snapped an eight-game skid and kept them ahead of Island rival South Whidbey in the race for a #1 seed come playoff time.
Forced to play two on the road after a rained-out home game from April was magically turned into an away contest, the Wolves came off the bus a bit road-weary, dropping the opener 11-2. Maria Rockwell crushed a double, Madeline Roberts smacked a pair of hits and Bessie Walstad and Monica Vidoni each delivered an RBI.
Then came game two and everything clicked. And I mean EVERYTHING.
All nine Wolf starters had at least one hit, one run and one RBI in the second game, as ATM’s frazzled pitchers had no where to run and definitely no where to hide.
Roberts, Rockwell, Haley Sherman and Madeline Strasburg collected three hits apiece, while Coupeville’s #9 hitter, Chevy Reyes, drove in a team-high four runs.
The Wolves struck early, gave ATM a brief ray of hope, then crushed their dreams with a sustained three-inning finish.
Roberts led off with a walk in the first and then it was on like Donkey Kong. Running wild and freakin’ out the Wildcat hurler and her defense, Coupeville scored five runs in the first frame and knocked ATM’s starting pitcher out of the game.
They were so effective with the small ball attack, the Wolves actually only needed two hits to get the damage going.
Coupeville added a run in the third, off of singles from Walstad and McKayla Bailey and a throwing error by the ATM catcher, then things got dicey for a moment.
Powered by a pair of two-run home runs from Gemma Miller, ATM came back to take a 7-6 lead. But, instead of buckling, the Wolves merely switched it to another gear and unleashed Hell, throwing up 11 runs in the final three innings.
Everyone chipped in as the ball started jumping off of Coupeville’s bats and finding empty holes in the ATM defense seemingly on every swing. Then, just to put a definitive stamp on things, Bailey and Rockwell made two sensational defensive plays.
First Bailey robbed Miller of what looked like her third round-tripper, chasing down a shot to dead center.
“McKayla got a great jump on the ball and caught it about 10 feet from the fence. She made the catch on a dead sprint and had to leap for it,” Wolf coach David King said. “That was a huge play for us and really kept the momentum in our favor.”
Then, in the seventh, with two runners on and Miller pacing in the on-deck circle, Rockwell closed out the game with her own display of flat-out hustle. The ATM batter topped a 3-2 pitch, resulting in a slow roller that Rockwell charged and managed to snag and throw in the same motion, gunning down the 21st and final out.
A game where offense gets the headlines also had stellar defense. Not only the plays by Rockwell and Bailey, but also the grit shown by Breeanna Messner, who played through both games with back pain that has kept her from swinging a bat.
Messner teamed with Roberts on a bang-bang play in game two, when Roberts air-mailed a strike to Messner, who had perfectly positioned herself to block the plate and slapped the tag on a very surprised runner.
“This game had some weird plays and some outstanding plays along with hustle throughout,” King said. “Overall, strong pitching and we played very good defensively.
“Offensively, we needed a game like this,” he added. “We have been working on our approach at the plate and with two strikes looking to shorten our stroke and following off pitches. We did this consistently throughout the game. Up and down the lineup we hit the ball hard.”
Now 5-12 overall, 4-12 in league play, the Wolves head into the final week of the regular season looking to hold off South Whidbey. They host Granite Falls Tuesday, and will honor their seniors (Walstad and Rockwell), then travel to Sultan Thursday before starting the double-elimination district tourney Friday at Janicki Fields in Sedro Woolley.
“This upcoming week is big for us. We want to build on this game,” King said. “If we play like this, we will be tough to beat.”
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