Coupeville Sports

Haley Sherman patrols left field Wednesday. (John Fisken photos)

The Wolves, led by Breeanna Messner (6) and Monica Vidoni (14), head out to congratulate Granite Falls.

It wasn’t good. But it could have been worse.

A lot worse.

Playing the #1 team in the Cascade Conference Wednesday, the Coupeville High School softball team struck out 13 times (eight in a row at one point) en route to losing 12-3 to visiting Granite Falls.

Still, that’s not as bad as losing 21-0 in just five innings, a pasting Coupeville’s Island rival, South Whidbey, suffered against the Tigers just a few days ago.

So, small victory.

Now 1-3 on the season, the Wolves play their next six games on the road, starting with a rematch Friday against South Whidbey, who they beat in their opener.

After that come doubleheaders at Archbishop Thomas Murphy and Sultan (the extra games due to earlier rain-outs) packaged around a non-conference tilt at Meridian.

Coupeville finally returns home April 16 and then plays five of its next six at home.

Facing off with Granite Falls, the only unbeaten team in the conference, the Wolves got picked apart quickly.

The Tigers led off with a single and a towering home run to left that was still gaining elevation as it cleared the fence.

Granite loaded the bases after that, but Haley Sherman put an end to that threat.

The Wolf senior snagged a long fly to left for the second out, then pivoted and unleashed a cannon throw to Breeanna Messner behind the plate, gunning down a Granite runner who tried to tag up and score.

While the Tigers never had a big break-out inning, they continued to toss up numbers on the board in every inning. Another home run sailed over the fence and Granite put together 10 runs of offense in the first five innings.

Coupeville did little to counter, at least at first.

After Madeline Roberts led off the bottom of the first with a ground-out, the next eight Wolves went down on strikes.

“The hitters need to make adjustments at the plate. They need to be ready to hit,” said CHS coach David King. “We are watching too many good pitches go by for called strikes and then get into a hole and that puts the pitcher in control and we have to hit their pitch.”

CHS finally broke through in the fourth on back-to-back bunt singles off the bats of Roberts and Messner, followed by an RBI sac fly from Hailey Hammer.

The Wolves added two more in the sixth, with Hammer’s two-run single plating Roberts (hit by a pitch) and Messner (walk).

The damage could have been more, but McKayla Bailey, hitting in front of Hammer, was flat-out-robbed when her blast to center was hauled in, over the shoulder, on the run, by a Tiger outfielder.

While Coupeville committed five errors in the field, King was pleased with the hustle he saw.

The Wolves turned three double plays, including a smooth one by Bailey, who snatched a liner out of air on the third base side of the pitcher’s mound, then whirled and nailed the runner at second for the punch-out.

Along with her double play, Sherman narrowly missed making a spectacular diving catch on another well-hit ball.

“We are making strides on the defensive end, despite the errors,” King said. “What we are doing better is reducing the mental mistakes and making the proper play when needed.

“We need to keep plugging away and reduce the physical errors now and get more aggressive on attacking the ball on defense,” he added. “Even though Haley didn’t come up with the diving catch in left, this is the kind of effort we need to be making on every ball. Don’t hold anything back.”