Scout Smith sizzled at the plate, on defense and in the pitcher’s circle Monday as CHS softball swept a doubleheader from Blaine. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
This wasn’t one player having a good day. Or two, or even three.
This was a team, from top to bottom, firing on all cylinders and beating the living snot out of their foes in one fiery, day-long assault on the scoreboard.
By the time the red-hot Coupeville High School softball sluggers were done Monday, they had rocked Blaine pitching for 29 hits, including four doubles, two triples and a home run to straight-away center field.
So it should come as little surprise that the Wolves returned from the Canadian border bearing not one, but two wins, having swept the Borderites 12-1 and 20-6.
The non-conference victories, coming against a large 2A school, stretches Coupeville’s win streak to three games and lifts its record to 5-1.
After a couple of days to enjoy spring break, the Wolves play three home games in two days, hosting Meridian Friday and Forks Saturday. The second of those match-ups will be another doubleheader.
If CHS comes out swinging like it did against Blaine, the games will be over quickly, though it may not be painless for their opponents.
Coupeville scored in 12 of 13 innings at Blaine, failing to notch at least one run in just the top of the third in game #2.
Even then, they came within an inch of doing so, their run-scoring dream only denied when Blaine’s pitcher made a fairly spectacular snag on a scorching liner off the bat of Sarah Wright.
Mostly a wild defensive move, a bid to save her rib cage from being tattooed by the incoming laser, it earned well-deserved cheers from both teams.
Pretty much every other applause-worthy moment on the afternoon came courtesy of a Coupeville player, as the Wolves mashed from the top of the lineup to the bottom.
Toss in a nearly error-free defense, including a couple of great throws on the move from freshman third-baseman Chelsea Prescott and a “I said, sit down!” throw from Wright to nail a would-be base stealer, and CHS hurlers Katrina McGranahan and Scout Smith just had to be consistent, not inspired.
Not that the duo listened, as they took turns keeping the Blaine hitters off balance and both had stretches where they retired Borderites at a steady clip.
So, a very satisfying, if long, day for CHS coach Kevin McGranahan.
“We came off the bus ready to go; the whole offense just chipped away and kept fighting,” he said. “Everybody got a lot of solid playing time and we gained a lot of experience for our younger players against a big 2A school.
“This is how we build our program and these girls are all buying into the program and giving everything they have every game,” McGranahan added. “Game to game there are stars of the game, but really, this is a TEAM, and they all play for each other. Outstanding day for the Wolves!!”
Game #1:
Using speed and base-running guile to their advantage, the Wolves steadily built a lead, scoring in every inning and pushing the game into 10-run rule territory after the sixth inning.
Early RBI’s from Katrina McGranahan and Nicole Laxton staked CHS to a 2-0 lead, then Wright and Veronica Crownover bashed back-to-back run-producing base-knocks in the third to help their team begin to pull away.
Coupeville really surged in the fourth, when Laxton and Mackenzie Davis came around to score on a two-run single by Lauren Rose.
Davis beat the throw to home by a millisecond, dipping to get below the tag at just the right moment.
Hope Lodell cranked a wicked liner to center field to spur a rally in the fifth, and the Wolves came within an out of pulling off the shutout before Blaine scored its solitary run.
The bottom of the sixth also included some major Katrina McGranahan mojo, as she recorded her seventh and eighth strikeouts, then accidentally exploded an inside pitch off a Borderite batter’s hip.
Ball hit bone with the kind of sound normally reserved for runaway semi trucks hitting grocery carts full of glass bottles, causing even the toughest softball lifers to flinch and mutter under their breath, “Dang! She’s probably dead!!”
She wasn’t, thankfully, and even stayed in the game, after much hobbling around while wailing “Take me now, sweet Jesus!”
Katrina McGranahan, among the classiest of all classy athletes, profusely apologized to her inadvertent bulls-eye, even while knowing, deep in the back of her brain, that not a single Blaine hitter would even remotely crowd the plate the rest of the season.
Game #2:
Showing some chippiness, the Borderites returned from the between-games snack break ready to do some damage, and actually carried a 5-3 lead into the fifth inning.
Coupeville mixed up its lineup a bit, with freshmen Coral Caveness and Mollie Bailey getting major playing time and Smith coming on to replace McGranahan in the pitcher’s circle in the third.
After scraping out a run in both the first and second, thanks largely to hits from Smith and Prescott, CHS briefly stalled out.
Falling behind 5-2, the Wolves chipped back with a run in the fourth, courtesy an RBI single into the gap from Smith, then turned the volume to 11 in the fifth.
Seven of the first eight CHS hitters reached base in the inning, with Prescott lashing a two-run triple to tie the game, before Crownover poked an RBI single over the bag at first to put the Wolves back ahead for good.
RBI’s from Laxton and Smith, packaged around Emma Mathusek being drilled (in the toe, not the hip, and she appreciates it) stretched the lead to 9-5, and then it was time to get medieval.
With two on and two away, Wright hefted her bat like Thor wielding his hammer and sauntered to the plate.
At that exact moment, a particularly cold gust of wind surprise-attacked from behind the bleachers, ripping through the souls (and across the exposed legs) of any fans dumb enough to be wearing shorts.
The goosebumps hadn’t even settled, though, when Coupeville’s catcher turned on a pitch and tore the stitching off the ball.
By the time the hapless orb dropped out of sight, landing on the other side of the center field fence, Wright was halfway to second, and she only slowed down when her teammates charged out of the dugout, ready to gang-tackle her as the ump twirled his hand to signal a three-run dagger of a long-ball.
Her home run marked the end of Wright’s day, as Bailey, who had already taken over her catching duties several innings earlier, also took her spot in the hitting order after that.
Bailey walked during a seven-run seventh, a final Wolf explosion which included RBI singles from Mathusek and Crownover and a gut-check slide into home from Laxton.
Arriving at the same moment as an incoming ball, the Wolf junior collided with the Blaine catcher and took the brunt of the blow.
While it obviously hurt, she was safe, however, and limped back to the bench to be healed by her teammate’s extended cheers.
By the time the stats were totaled up, Crownover came out as the Hit Queen, rattling off five base-knocks on the day, including a double.
Smith and Prescott had four hits apiece, with Lodell, Wright and Caveness each collecting three.
Mathusek (2), Laxton (2), Rose (1), Davis (1) and Katrina McGranahan (1) rounded out the attack.
Seven of those 29 hits were of the extra-base variety, with Wright (2B, HR), Lodell (2B, 3B), Prescott (3B), Crownover (2B) and Katrina McGranahan (2B) all making the big turn at first and heading off to extended glory.
