Tiffany Briscoe had two hits and gunned down a runner at home Saturday as Coupeville crushed Lynden Christian. (John Fisken photo)
They’re the real deal.
Three wins in three days, coming against progressively tougher competition, and now the Coupeville High School softball squad is flying high at 11-1, matching the start of the legendary 2002 Wolf sluggers who finished 3rd at state.
The latest win, a 5-1 dissection of visiting Lynden Christian Saturday, coming in steady rain and howling wind, was a particular thing of beauty.
Facing off with a traditional power they haven’t beaten in at least a decade, including five straight playoff losses, the Wolves controlled every aspect of the game.
If they needed a big play, they got the big play.
If they needed a small, but important, play, they got the small, but important play.
And if they needed a bit of luck, they got the bit of luck.
Coupeville was the better team, top to bottom, and, in a refreshing twist, these Wolves didn’t allow a big-name school to scare them, didn’t back down from a team where every girl on the other side of the field looked like they had stepped off a college diamond.
Katrina McGranahan grabbed the ball, paced around the pitcher’s circle, quietly muttering, “Hey, good luck hitting me today!” and then mowed down Lync after Lync.
By the time the Wolf hurler was done, she had whiffed 11 batters, including striking out the side in the third and sixth, and calmly walked away with a fairly dazzling no-hitter.
A couple of walks, courtesy a home plate ump with a strike zone which seemed to dip and dive as much as McGranahan’s pitches, allowed the Lyncs to score one run, but the CHS defense quickly shut things down.
Literally, as left fielder Tiffany Briscoe alertly sprang on a loose ball and gunned down what could have been the tying run at the plate.
Her throw dropped on a dime into catcher Sarah Wright’s waiting glove, and the sophomore spark-plug, imitating the Great Wall of China and refusing to concede the plate, held her ground and made the tag even after the ball was momentarily jostled loose.
Coming right after McGranahan made a snazzy snag on a soft liner over her head, the one-two web-gem combo got Coupeville out of the fifth inning still holding a 2-1 lead, and blunted any Lync comeback fever.
The Wolves promptly seized the momentum, picking up a run in the fifth and two more in the sixth, to stretch the margin out to a more comfortable range.
Veronica Crownover mashed a laser shot to deep center in the bottom of the fifth, a two-out RBI double which plated McGranahan.
An inning later it was up to Killer Kat herself, as the sweet-swinging junior lobbed a two-run single to center right as the sun came out the first time all afternoon.
The opportunity was set up by back-to-back singles from Briscoe (a hard shot up the middle) and Tamika Nastali (a stupendously gorgeous bunt), and, like Crownover’s rip, also came with two outs.
The Wolves actually scored all five of their runs with two outs, time and again pulling off the perfect swing to thwart Lynden Christian’s best-laid plans.
CHS opened the scoring with a run in the first, with Wright lashing an RBI single over the third-base bag, then added another in the third.
That time it was Crownover, who has tore the cover off the ball all year.
The sophomore first-baseman cranked a single to right, sending freshman pinch-runner Scout Smith hurtling around third and onto home as dad Chris, the CHS baseball coach, hyperventilated through every one of his daughter’s rapid steps.
Smith was running for Wright, who beat out a two-out infield single.
Once in the game, Hunter and CJ’s lil’ sis promptly stole second, winced as Mikayla Elfrank was drilled in the calf, then tore for home on Crownover’s smash.
While Lynden Christian couldn’t buy a hit off of McGranahan, credit also needs to go to the Wolf defense, which was spot-on, even with the ball slickened by rain.
Wright threw out a runner trying to steal third, Robin Cedillo, hidden under 23 layers of clothes in right field, made a superb catch on a dangerous fly and Elfrank twice successfully tracked down high flies while on the move at short.
The Wolves, who have outscored foes 128-61 this season, cranked out 12 hits on the afternoon, with seven different players getting a base-knock.
McGranahan led the way with three singles, while Wright, Briscoe and Crownover had two apiece. Lauren Rose, Nastali and Hope Lodell also collected hits.
Kyla Briscoe joined Smith as an able pinch-runner, while second-baseman Jae LeVine charged around the field making sweet defensive plays and high-fiving everyone, including Crownover, who has a considerable height advantage on her.
JV picks up experience:
A day after getting 17 walks in a win at Klahowya, the Wolf young guns faced a much-more overpowering pitcher, falling 16-4.
The loss drops the JV squad to 2-1 on the season.
Coupeville rallied for three runs in the bottom of the fifth and final inning, showing a refusal to lose.
The star of the game, without a doubt, was Nastali, who punched out two hits, collected an RBI, made two sensational defensive plays, and danced in the middle of the field after throwing a runner out by a step.
Emma Mathusek, Melia Welling, Nicole Lester and Mackenzie Davis all saw their first action of the day in game two.
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