Coupeville Sports

   Melia Welling rapped out three hits and reached base five times Thursday night. (Joey Lippo photo)

The bottom of the order was on fire.

The 7-8-9 hitters for the Central Whidbey Little League Juniors softball squad collected six of their team’s nine hits Thursday, more than doing their share.

And while the Venom eventually fell 19-14 to visiting Anacortes in a wild (and sometimes weird) game, that’s a huge positive going forward.

Now 1-2 on the young season, Central got its biggest offensive push Thursday from Marenna Rebischke-Smith, Melia Welling and Willow Vick.

Welling rapped out three hits and reached base all five times she stepped to the plate (also scampering to first on a walk and an error), while Rebischke-Smith collected two gorgeous hits.

The first was a two-run single up the middle, while the second was a long, looping liner over the first baseman’s head that cleared its target, then quickly dove and bit grass before an Anacortes outfielder could track it down.

The Coupeville Middle School 8th grader had a strong all-around game, also making two really nice snags on fly balls hit to deep center-field.

Rebischke-Smith tracked down both balls and smothered them in mid-flight to the delight of her fan section.

Vick swung a nice stick herself, with an RBI single during a five-run first inning for the Venom.

Up 5-2 after one, Central Whidbey hit a rough patch in the second, as a string of errors forced Venom hurler Scout Smith to face 16 hitters in the inning.

Putting up 10 runs before Rebischke-Smith ended the onslaught with one of her web gems, Anacortes seemed to have the game on ice.

Even an injury mid-way through the inning, when an Anacortes runner plowed awkwardly into the bag at second and spent several minutes on her back, couldn’t slow down the visitors.

But the Venom fought back, picking up an RBI on a second-inning ground-out from Mollie Bailey before erupting for six in the fourth.

Six walks, three passed balls and a dropped ball at home helped the cause, while speedster Maya Toomey-Stout swung the big stick, bashing a two-run single to knot things up at 12-12.

With darkness approaching (the game was shortened to six innings) and the Venom players tiring (the game went two-and-a-half-hours), Anacortes took advantage, however, using a pair of two-run, inside-the-park home runs to reclaim the lead and make off with the win.

Hannah Davidson tied Welling, also reaching base five times (two singles, three walks), while Scout Smith and Chelsea Prescott eked out three walks apiece.