Coupeville Sports

Hope Lodell had four hits across two playoff games Friday. (John Fisken photo)

The dream lives.

After escaping a wild and wacky opening day at the West Central District 3 softball tournament, Coupeville High School has a simple plan for day two.

Win two straight games and the Wolves are headed back to state for the first time since 2014.

CHS, which sits at 18-4 after splitting a pair of games Friday, plays Seattle Christian (9-7) in a loser-out game at 11:15 AM Saturday at Sprinker Fields in Tacoma.

Win and the Wolves play the loser of the championship game between Chimacum (11-4) and Bellevue Christian (16-1) at 3:15 PM for 2nd place and District 3’s final slot to the state tourney.

If it does play twice Saturday, Coupeville will at least have a reasonable break between games.

On day one, the Wolves, after a 90-mile drive on a school bus, played two extra innings in their opening game, rallying in the bottom of the ninth for a walk-off 10-9 win over Vashon Island.

Having already gone past the projected start time for game two, they hopped on to a different field without any real break and ran into a fresh Bellevue Christian squad.

Trailing just 4-3 heading into the fifth, Coupeville ran out of energy a bit in the late going, eventually falling 9-3.

The Wolves Olympic League rivals, Chimacum and Klahowya, both faced Seattle Christian, with very different results.

Klahowya was bopped 10-3 in a loser-out game, while the Cowboys emulated Coupeville by going to extra innings, falling behind, then rallying for a walk-off win.

Chimacum scored twice in the bottom of the eighth to beat the Warriors 9-8.

For Coupeville, two very different games.

Game 1:

Facing off with a team they whomped 13-5 in the regular season, the Wolves looked to be headed for a similar finish, jumping out to a 7-1 lead after five innings.

Using a lot of walks, smart base running (Mikayla Elfrank scored from first on a play where she stole second, then kept on going when the throw was airmailed), and a couple of well-timed hits, Coupeville was cruising.

The knockout punch came in the bottom of the fifth, when the Wolves put together three bases-loaded walks and a booming two-run double off the bat of Lauren Rose to plate five runs.

Things were peachy, until they weren’t.

Vashon suddenly found a bit of a groove at the plate, scoring three in the sixth and another three in the seventh, while Coupeville went cold.

Rose played a key role on defense, gunning down a runner at the plate in the sixth, while Tamika Nastali chased down a troublesome fly to stop the bleeding in the seventh.

Tied 7-7, the two teams battled through a scoreless eighth (Vashon stranded a pair of runners while CHS went 1-2-3), then exchanged body blows in the ninth.

Thanks to a quirky softball rule that’s intended to help end games, both teams started the inning with a “free” runner at second, and both teams brought that runner around.

Vashon tacked on another run, exiting the top of the ninth having scored eight unanswered runs to take a 9-7 lead.

Enter “The Surgeon.”

With the bases juiced and one out in the bottom of the ninth, Hope Lodell ripped a two-run single to tie the game and give Coupeville new hope.

The Wolves capitalized immediately, as Tiffany Briscoe and Nastali drew back-to-back walks.

The first one re-loaded the bags, while the second one sent the Coupeville bench and fans into hysterics, as it forced in the game-winning run.

Rose and Lodell paced the Wolves in the opener, both rapping a pair of hits, while Veronica Crownover, Sarah Wright and Nastali added a base-knock apiece.

Game 2:

Making an immediate u-turn and returning to the diamond, the Wolves ran into Bellevue Christian’s well-rested Katie Pippel, one of the most successful pitchers in the state.

Going 1-2-3 in both the first and second against her, Coupeville fell behind 3-0, then rallied in the third.

It started with a bunt single off of Lodell’s bat, followed by a walk to Briscoe and another bunt single, this one by Rose.

A passed ball plated Coupeville’s first run, before Wolf pitcher Katrina McGranahan smoked a two-run single off of her rival to knot the game back up.

Pippel escaped the inning, getting Wright to ground-out, but CHS had her back on the ropes in the fourth.

A walk to Elfrank and another single from Lodell had the Wolves feeling good, only to see the inning end suddenly when a liner to shortstop turned into a double play.

Coupeville was still just one play away, though, trailing only 4-3 heading into the bottom of the fifth.

It was then, for the first time, that one team looked like it was playing in its 14th inning with no break, while the other team was not.

BC tagged McGranahan for four hits in the bottom of the fifth, scoring four to turn a taut game into a bit of a runaway.

That sucked a bit of the life out of the Wolves, and Pippel retired the final seven hitters in order.

Lodell finished with two hits for the second straight game, while Rose and McGranahan added Coupeville’s other two base-knocks in the nightcap.