The Whidbey Thunder carry big bats, and they swing them with a great fury. (Shelly Ryder photo)
Adapt and attack.
It was a wild weekend of tourney action for the Whidbey Thunder 18U softball squad, which overcame numerous obstacles on its way to earning a pair of wins.
The scrappy band of sluggers, who mix players from Coupeville, Oak Harbor, Sedro-Woolley, and Anacortes, also picked up a diamond dandy from Poulsbo in Kailee Engdahl, who immediately meshed with her new teammates.
“She helped fill a role in the success of the team,” said Thunder coach Matt Suto.
“And that’s what makes us a great team, is that we have great players that when their number is called, they come in and do their job and the girls trust each other.”
Whidbey split its four pool games, then fell just short in its first bracket game.
Along the way, the Thunder had to overcome miscommunication from the tournament director over which pool game wouldn’t count in the standings, and at least one ump doing his best to channel legendarily awful former MLB strike caller Angel Hernandez.
But no matter what was thrown at his team, Suto’s sluggers responded.
“A great weekend of ball for the most part,” he said. “The girls played hard all weekend long.
“We battled through adversity, injuries, and disappointing officiating! Even though we didn’t win the tournament we still battled hard every game!”
When the umps were giving them a chance to swing, the Thunder delivered, bopping big hits to all fields.
Coupeville twin titans Teagan Calkins and Madison McMillan smacked home runs, as did Oak Harbor’s mighty masher, Loto Tupu.
The Thunder were on point on defense as well, giving hurlers Grace Swenson, Zoe Abbott, and Ramona Ryder plenty of help.
As the tournament played out, though, Whidbey was stung by injuries, with Abbott tweaking an ankle and the team’s top hitter, Layla Suto, going down after a bang-bang play at home.
The Thunder will get some time off to heal, then get back at it with a few practices before starting tournament play back up at the end of the month.
Suto’s squad heads out of the country for the Canada Cup June 28-July 1, then is slated to play at the Cascade Nationals July 10-14.
After that, the Thunder have two more tourneys at the end of July as they wrap up summer play.
As they go forward, both the present and future are bright for the young stars.
“I’m proud of these girls and so fortunate to get the opportunity to watch them grow as players and as a team,” Suto said.
“We are right there. We are gonna break out and make a statement — I can feel it coming.”
Weekend stats:
Zoe Abbott — One walk
Taylor Brotemarkle — Four singles, one double, one walk
Teagan Calkins — Four singles, one home run, two walks
Hayden Davies — Two walks
Kailee Engdahl — Two singles
Anna Friedrichs — Four singles
Jayme Kallio — Three singles, one double, one walk
Madison McMillan — Two singles, one double, one home run, two walks
Mia Regan — Four singles
Ramona Ryder — Four singles, one double, one walk
Layla Suto — Six singles, one triple, one walk
Grace Swenson — Three singles, one walk
Loto Tupu — Three singles, one home run
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