Sluggers exit in style

May 12, 2023 by David Svien

Coupeville seniors (l to r) Sofia Peters, Maya Lucero, Allie Lucero, and Melanie Navarro exit as winners. (Photo courtesy Paula Peters)

The season ended as it began, with the Wolves thumping their next-door neighbors.

Returning to the diamond after an eight-day break, the Coupeville High School varsity softball squad swamped host South Whidbey 23-0 Friday in a game mercy-ruled after five innings.

The victory, fueled by a ferocious tsunami of hits, gives the 2B Wolves a sweep of their two-game season series with the 1A Falcons and leaves Coupeville’s final record at a sweet 14-6.

While there won’t be any playoffs for CHS softball this season, its five-pack of splendid seniors — Allie Lucero, Melanie Navarro, Sofia Peters, Maya Lucero, and Gwen Gustafson — finish their prep careers with a 42-9 record.

Not bad for a group which lost a season-and-a-half to pandemic restrictions but stayed together and finished strongly.

Gwen Gustafson tossed five scoreless innings and smacked three hits during her final high school softball game. (Photo courtesy Irene Gustafson)

Coupeville’s seniors, and their younger teammates, overwhelmed South Whidbey in the finale, crunching extra-base hits at the plate and playing precision defense in the field.

Wolf catcher Teagan Calkins, much spryer after a week-plus to rest an injured ankle, popped out of her crouch and gunned down a runner straying off the bag at first base.

The ball smacked into Allie Lucero’s glove before the wanderin’ Falcon knew what was what, and happened so quickly it almost seemed to catch the ump off guard as well.

He recovered, however, punching out the runner with an emphatic yell, which was quickly overwhelmed by the roar from the Coupeville bench.

Equally applause-worthy was a double play which could have been a triple play pulled off by sophomore shortstop Madison McMillan.

Spearing a liner out of midair for out #1, she whirled, slapped the tag on a runner going by for out #2, then whipped a laser to first in a bid to also catch that Falcon straying.

And she would have, except South Whidbey already had an out before the play happened, and you can’t get four outs in the same inning most days.

“We only need two, Maddie,” Coupeville coach Kevin McGranahan said with a chuckle as he headed for the dugout. “But I like your thinking.”

Coupeville actually only scraped out a single run in the top of the first, as South Whidbey clamped down, for a moment, on defense.

Taylor Brotemarkle smoked an RBI single back up the middle to make it 1-0, and while CHS failed to get more at the moment, it soon made up for it.

The Wolves, swinging from their heels and spraying the ball all over the field, tacked on five more runs in both the second and third innings, then closed with six more tallies in both the fourth and fifth.

Everyone in the lineup was hitting, from top to bottom, as all 11 Wolves who picked up a bat Friday collected at least one base knock.

Mia Farris mashed a three-run triple to straight away centerfield to bust the game open, while Calkins, Allie Lucero, and Brotemarkle all zinged RBI doubles to deep and dark parts of the park.

Not to be outdone, Farris came back around, and flexing her biceps in true “sun’s out, guns out” fashion, thumped a pair of doubles to go with her three-bagger, having herself a day.

And then, with the end of the season just a whisper away, Maya Lucero erupted, launching a cannon shot which cleared the fence in left field for a titanic tater that’s never, ever coming back.

Her final high school at-bat and her first out-of-the-park dinger, in one compact swing. Kismet.

Maya “The Mad Masher” Lucero. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

While Coupeville loses its five seniors, and foreign exchange student Layla Heo, 10 of the 16 players on the roster can return next season.

And they’ll be around for a while, as Chloe Marzocca, Jada Heaton, Bailey Thule, McMillan, Farris, and Brotemarkle are currently sophomores, while Calkins is a freshman.

Haylee Armstrong, who started most of the season, Capri Anter, and Melanie Wolfe are just 8th graders.

Friday stats:

Haylee Armstrong — One single
Taylor Brotemarkle — One single, one double
Teagan Calkins — Two singles, one double, two walks
Mia Farris — Two doubles, one triple, one walk
Gwen Gustafson — Two singles, one double, one walk
Jada Heaton — One single
Allie Lucero — Two singles, one double
Maya Lucero — One single, one home run
Madison McMillan — One single, one double, one triple, one walk
Melanie Navarro — One single, two doubles
Sofia Peters — One single, one walk