Coupeville Sports

   Mikayla Elfrank collected four hits Wednesday, including two doubles and a triple, in a 17-6 win. (John Fisken photo)

One win away.

Taking care of business Wednesday, the Coupeville High School softball squad handed host Port Townsend its 48th straight loss, rallying from an unexpected 3-0 deficit to win 17-6.

The victory lifts the Wolves to 6-2 in Olympic League play, 15-2 overall.

It also sets Coupeville up for a chance to grab a share of the program’s first league title since 2002.

To accomplish that goal, the Wolves simply need to go to Chimacum May 8 and beat the only school which they haven’t been able to solve this season.

The Cowboys (6-1, 8-3) sit a half game up on Coupeville and own the tiebreaker, having won the first two meetings.

If the Wolves win May 8, and then Chimacum (very likely) bounces back and drills Port Townsend in its league finale May 12, the schools would finish with identical 7-2 marks and would be co-champs.

As I was reminded today, head-to-head results decide playoff positioning only, with the Cowboys a #1 seed, the Wolves a #2 seed to districts.

They do NOT give one school the title outright if the records are identical.

Wednesday Coupeville mixed up its lineup, starting all of its younger players in a bid to not hammer a struggling, very green RedHawk team.

It almost backfired. At least for two innings.

Port Townsend, which has barely been able to score this season, compiling just one run in its first 11 games, has gotten much more aggressive in its last two games.

After scoring five runs in a loss to Klahowya, the RedHawks “came out swinging and hitting the ball hard,” said CHS coach Kevin McGranahan, and caught the Wolves by surprise.

After seeing his young guns surrender three runs in the bottom of the first and go scoreless in their first two trys at the plate, the diamond guru had seen enough.

Enter Coupeville’s starters, for two innings at least, and the game changed in an instant.

Throwing down seven runs in the third and another six in the fourth, the Wolf regulars blew out to a 13-5 lead and then turned the game back over to the reserves.

From there, CHS coasted in for the win, while McGranahan got his sudden bout of angina to calm down.

“Well, it was a very weird game tonight. Either way, a win is a win,” he said. “A big change from the last several times we played (them).

“All in all, a good game and lots of learning happened.”

Mikayla Elfrank and Lauren Rose led the way at the plate for the Wolves, each cracking four hits.

While Mouse punched out four singles, Elfrank brought the big wood, compiling two doubles and a triple among her base-knocks.

Wolf catcher Sarah Wright added three singles after entering the game, while Katrina McGranahan, Veronica Crownover, Scout Smith and Nicole Lester each collected a hit.

Before Coupeville gets to its big-time match-up with Chimacum, the Wolves will honor seniors Tiffany Briscoe, Jae LeVine and Robin Cedillo Thursday after a non-conference home game with 2A Sequim.

First pitch is 3:30 PM.