Melia Welling put a huge smile on big bro Julian’s face Thursday when she belted a two-run double during her little league softball game. (John Fisken photo)
Thursday night was all about making big brothers proud.
Mixing an opportunistic offense with lights-out pitching from star hurler Chelsea Prescott, the Central Whidbey Little League Juniors softball squad pounded visiting South Whidbey 12-4.
The win lifted the Venom to 3-2 on the season.
And while there were plenty of highlights, it was two plays in particular, pulled off by young women whose older, high school baseball-playing brothers were in the stands, that carried the evening.
The first came when Central Whidbey’s #9 hitter, first-year player Melia Welling, socked a two-run double to left field to break the game open in the sixth inning.
Kicking off a four-run rally that doubled the Venom’s lead, Welling’s base knock plated Mollie Bailey and Marenna Rebischke–Smith, while causing big bro Julian Welling to come unglued.
Bouncing up from his seat at the top of the bleachers, the sophomore sensation, who will be playing for a league title Friday with his CHS teammates, pumped his fist in the air while his sister’s smile carried all the way across the diamond.
“That just made my day, Melia!!,” Julian said as he sat back down while wearing a huge grin of his own.
The moment was almost matched an inning later, when Coupeville closed out the win with a sensational snag from second baseman Maya Toomey-Stout.
Slicing backwards, the fastest softball player in all the land reached backwards over her shoulder and snagged the ball out of the air as her feet carried her into the outfield grass, pulling down the ball in one elegant motion.
That set off older brother Cameron, who, along with fellow Wolf diamond men Joey Lippo and Hunter Smith, had been watching the action from the first row.
While Prescott didn’t have an older sibling in the crowd, she more than made her parents proud, giving up just a pair of infield singles while whiffing 11 batters.
Stalking around the pitcher’s circle like a caged lioness, slapping the ball into her glove in between pitches, the 7th grade phenom retired the side in order in four of seven innings.
When she did get base runners, her defense stepped up to help.
Hannah Davidson pulled off the best defensive play — at least until Toomey-Stout made her bid for Sports Center glory — turning a double play in which she snared a grounder, stamped on first for the force and fired to second to gun down a runner.
With the game tied 1-1 heading into the bottom of the third (Central Whidbey’s run came around on an RBI double from Prescott), the Venom exploded for five runs and never looked back.
Scout Smith started things off by cracking a single under the shortstop’s glove, then Central used five walks, three steals, two South Whidbey errors and a pair of passed balls to keep their runners zipping around the bases.
After tacking on a run apiece in the fourth and fifth, the Venom closed strongly in the sixth.
Welling’s blow was a big one, but she also showed some skills on the base paths as well.
When South Whidbey’s catcher dropped a third strike, Davidson beat out the ensuing throw to first.
With the ball headed the other way, Welling, bouncing around at third, took off for home, beating the throw back from first base and sending her relatives into a brief moment of delirium.
Her big brother? He’ll probably still be smiling the rest of the night.
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