Freshman Thora Iverson smacked three hits Wednesday, pulled off several defensive gems and helped propel Coupeville’s JV softball team to another win. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
It was jaw-dropping.
17 batters. 13 runs. 11 straight hitters reaching base safely. Eight base-knocks. One dazed opponent.
And that was just the first inning.
Closing their season with a mad flourish, the Coupeville High School JV softball team decked visiting Sequim Wednesday, then held on for the win when the visitors sprang off the mat throwing hay-makers of its own.
The 16-14 victory, sealed by the game’s only one-two-three inning, lifts the young guns final record to 4-1.
And what a win it was.
Coupeville fell behind 5-0, unleashed an inning they’ll be talking about for years, then weathered a late Sequim comeback, escaping thanks to key defensive plays from freshmen Chelsea Prescott, Thora Iverson and Mollie Bailey.
But what you really want to hear about is the bottom of the first, a frame for the historians to pore over and parse.
The Wolves could have been a bit down, after giving up a quick five-spot in the top of the first, but, if so, it was hard to tell as they hustled to grab their bats.
Energy crackled from the dugout, noise flowed out across the darkening prairie, Bailey flexed her biceps and … the impending tsunami of diamond destruction started with a mere walk.
A carefully-achieved walk, as Coral Caveness outlasted the Sequim hurler, using a precise eye to avoid swinging at anything bad, but a walk nonetheless.
It would be the last walk for some time.
Mackenzie Davis, swinging from her heels, bashed a single and the onslaught was under way.
Deep breath…
Prescott mashed a two-run double, Bailey crunched an RBI single, Chloe Wheeler smoked an RBI double that hit the edge of the outfield and shot crazily into the great beyond, Thora Iverson poked a single that slid between three players and … I’m hyperventilating.
Good thing the Sequim pitcher promptly plunked Nicole Laxton in the leg.
Maybe not so good for Nicole’s leg … but it kept the rally alive, caused varsity second-baseman Scout Smith to bellow “I love you in black and blue, kid!!!” and started a new streak.
The next three batters reached base on free passes, with walks to Marenna Rebischke-Smith and Caveness packaged around Jenna Dickson being righteously drilled by a wayward pitch.
This one hit flesh with an audible bang, causing even Smith to visibly wince for a moment before the best cheerleader in the Wolf softball program recovered, put her game face on and yelled “Way to wear it, Jenna!!”
There was a point, right after the Sequim catcher lost her mind and came dangerously close to throwing her face mask at her own teammates, where it looked like Coupeville would never make an out.
Like ever, ever.
Of course, the Wolves did, or I’d still be at the game and not writing this story.
But, even when that first out came, on the 12th batter of the inning, it brought another run home.
And then the hits started flying again, with Bailey, Iverson and Laxton smacking base-knocks that kept Sequim’s outfielders busy running this way, that way and every which way.
By the time the first inning came to a close, some seven or so hours after it started, the scorekeeper had carpal tunnel, sparks were flying off the over-heated scoreboard and the game looked like a knock-out.
Not so fast.
While CHS stretched the lead out to 15-6 after two innings, the Wolves were robbed of more when Sequim’s shortstop robbed Laxton, spearing a liner that left her bat like a 747 taking off.
Building off of their web gem, the visitors plated four in the third, then another four in the fourth, while Coupeville was forced to settle for a lonely run in the third and nada in the fourth.
Suddenly what had looked like a romp was a collar-tightener at 16-14.
Even getting there had gotten dangerous, as Iverson had to pull off a great play in front of the bag at second to help the Wolves escape danger.
A Sequim hitter topped a ball, sent it skyward, and when the orb plunged, it took a crazy skitter on the dirt.
Iverson was having none of these shenanigans, though, staying in front of the ball, snaring it, then flipping it over her shoulder to Caveness for a key force at second.
Prescott, helping herself from the pitcher’s circle, reached deep for a run of strikeouts, then nailed a rival foolish enough to run on her.
Making a perfect strike to Melia Welling at third, who slapped on the tag, Prescott lived for another day.
And then, when it mattered most, the freshman hurler slammed the door.
Up by two heading into the top of the fifth and final inning, Prescott opened the frame by throwing BB’s to Davis, who was set up behind the plate.
Down went one batter on strikes, down went a second batter swinging, and then the third popped the ball meekly into the air where Bailey, still flexing her biceps, calmly gathered it in for the final out of the JV season.
Coupeville rang up 10 hits in the finale, with Iverson and Bailey claiming three apiece.
Wheeler, Prescott and Laxton all doubled, while Davis rounded out the hit parade with a single.
Coupeville Sports 