Coupeville Sports

   Freshman Mackenzie Davis had a pair of RBI singles Saturday and was a defensive spark-plug in her debut as a high school catcher. (John Fisken photo)

Let the hits rain down.

With eight different players getting at least one base-knock Saturday, the Coupeville High School JV softball squad had plenty of offense to keep their faithful fans warm on a cold, chilly afternoon on the prairie.

By the time they were done knocking Vashon Island around, the Wolves had rung up 14 hits, one for every run they scored in a 14-7 win.

The offensive explosion, which included a pair of doubles from Scout Smith and a resounding inside-the-park grand slam off the bat of Veronica Crownover, lifts the young CHS players to 1-0 on the season.

Coupeville actually spotted the visiting Pirates a three-run lead after the first half inning, and still trailed 4-2 headed into the bottom of the third.

Then the fireworks went off.

A nine-run, seven-hit, 15-batter affair, the bottom of the third went on longer than some entire games do. And the Wolf fans wouldn’t have had it any other way.

An infield single from Tamika Nastali and a walk to Kyla Briscoe set the stage, then Wolf catcher Mackenzie Davis started the barrage.

Rifling an RBI single down the first-base line, she dropped the ball flawlessly in front of an oncoming outfielder, kick-starting a run of five straight Coupeville hits.

Melia Welling dumped a ball between the catcher and pitcher and zoomed into first, Nicole Lester whacked a shot to center, Jae LeVine crushed the ball to the same spot (but even deeper) and Emma Mathusek whipped a frozen rope into right-center.

All that was mere prelude, however.

After Smith walked to juice the bags, still with just one out, Crownover turned on a pitch and drove it to the base of the wall in center.

A couple of inches higher and her home run trot would have been conducted at half-speed as someone hopped the fence to retrieve the ball.

Instead, with the ball still in play and her teammates running wild in front of her, Crownover hit the jets and came crashing around third.

As she stamped on home, beating the throw, dad Darren pretended he wasn’t a cop who had just witnessed someone break the speed limit right in front of him.

Up 10-4 at that point, with all the air having been punched out of the Vashon players, Coupeville cruised home, adding a few more runs along the way.

Crownover and Davis both delivered late-game RBI singles, while the Wolves also scored twice off of double steals.

Smith led the hit parade, collecting two doubles and a single. She also collected a pair of walks, successfully reaching base all five times she came to the plate.

Backing her up, LeVine, Crownover, Davis and Nastali had two hits apiece.