Coupeville freshman Coral Caveness (in sunglasses) smacked two hits Saturday in a playoff game. (Photo by Kelly Crownover)
They were among the best to ever wear the uniform.
Coupeville High School seniors Hope Lodell, Lauren Rose and Katrina McGranahan were not only four-year players for the Wolf softball squad, but four-year stars.
All three were on the field, claiming the spotlight, from the first day of their freshman season, and their stellar play and quiet leadership helped the program blossom.
The trio’s journey ended a few days earlier than hoped, when Coupeville was eliminated from the district playoffs Saturday after a 7-4 loss to Olympic League rival Klahowya.
The defeat denied the Wolves (12-9) a trip to state, the second-straight season CHS fell a single game short of the big dance.
Klahowya (12-7), which snapped a two-year, six-game losing streak against Coupeville, advances to state for the first time since 2004.
While the loss ends the on-field run for the Wolf seniors, it can’t dim what they accomplished.
The trio won 47 games over four seasons, led CHS softball to a league title this season, its first in 16 years, and were the heart and soul of the program.
Last year’s team went 19-5, the second-best finish in the 40 years the Wolves have played softball, but Mouse, The Surgeon and Killer Kat shone as brightly in defeat as they did in victory.
And all three went down fighting Saturday, on a day when the game wasn’t decided until late, and when a hit here, a bad bounce there, and the result would have likely flipped.
Coupeville was hanging tough at 2-2 late in the top of the fifth, having pulled off the defensive play of the game.
Left fielder Mackenzie Davis fielded a hit with two runners on base and just one out, came up firing and laid a strike into Scout Smith’s glove at second.
The sophomore infielder pivoted and fired a rocket to catcher Sarah Wright, who slapped the tag on the incoming runner, preserving the tie and igniting the Wolf faithful in attendance.
At that moment, with CHS having crawled back from an early 2-0 deficit, all the momentum seemed in favor of the Wolves.
It wasn’t to be, however, as the Eagles cracked back-to-back huge hits to bust the game open.
A two-run double broke the tie, then an RBI single stretched the lead to 5-2 and, in two quick, lethal swings, KSS seized the day.
Coupeville didn’t go down quietly, though, as McGranahan came back to end the inning with the seventh of the eight strikeouts she tossed in her final game as a prep pitcher.
She added a spectacular diving catch in front of the circle in the sixth, but Klahowya scraped out two more runs in the seventh to really seal the deal.
Down to their final outs, the Wolves plated two of their own, setting the table with a single from Coral Caveness and a frozen rope of a double from Rose.
One run scooted home on an RBI ground-out from Smith, before McGranahan whacked an RBI single in her final at-bat.
While the late innings were full of offensive fireworks, much of the game was a pitcher’s duel between McGranahan and KSS hurler Amber Bumbalough.
In the four years the schools have played each other, Klahowya held the advantage in the first half, winning five of six games.
Years three and four belonged to Coupeville, as the Wolves won all six before Saturday, with this year’s three-game regular season sweep coming thanks to a 60-22 advantage.
In their final match-up with Bumbalough, the Wolves had the D-1 recruit on the ropes several times, but she escaped with a little skill and a little luck.
After surrendering two runs in the top of the first, CHS got one back on a single from Smith and a thunderous one-out triple off of McGranahan’s bat.
Klahowya escaped though, inducing a grounder for out #2, then nailing McGranahan at the plate on a wham-bam play off a passed ball.
Coupeville had a golden opportunity in the second, with Veronica Crownover and Chelsea Prescott camped at second and third with no outs.
Bumbalough reached deep for a little magic, though, punching out back-to-back Wolves, before forcing a chopper to first for the third out.
The game stayed 2-1 until the bottom of the fourth.
Prescott walked, stole second, then took off like a rocket and scored when Crownover, the team’s leading hitter this season, sliced an RBI single through the gap.
After a Caveness single and a drawn-out, testy exchange between the Klahowya coaching staff and the umps, Bumbalough took matters once again into her own hands.
With the go-ahead runs at second and third, she cracked off an inning-ending strikeout.
The two pitchers, who have dueled for four years running, finished their final meeting with eight strikeouts apiece.
Coupeville, which went 7-6 against Klahowya between 2015-2018, rapped eight hits in their final game in District 3.
The Wolves, who jump back to District 1 and the new North Sound Conference next year, got two hits each from McGranahan (3B, 1B) and Caveness (1B, 1B).
Rose smoked a double, while Prescott, Crownover and Smith added a base-knock apiece.
While the Wolves will miss their three seniors, they are primed to be a contender for years to come, as their roster was extremely balanced.
CHS had three seniors (Rose, Lodell, McGranahan), three juniors (Wright, Crownover, Nicole Laxton), three sophomores (Smith, Davis, Emma Mathusek) and three freshmen (Prescott, Caveness, Mollie Bailey) on their varsity roster.
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