Lauren Rose stamps on home for one of the 33 runs scored Wednesday. (John Fisken photos)
Fighting through harsh wind (but no rain), the Wolves prepare to claim their one true destiny.
If you weren’t there, this is going to seem a bit like a fairy tale.
And, if you were, your brain is probably still a bit frozen and sluggish, so you’d probably believe just about anything right now.
But I swear, it really happened. All of it.
Playing in non-stop, icy cold, gale force winds (which deposited a fair amount of infield dirt into the mouths of fans), the Coupeville High School softball squad somehow found another miracle Wednesday in what is shaping up to be a season chock full of miracles.
Trailing by seven runs heading into the bottom of the sixth against visiting Bellevue Christian, the Wolves pulled off a stunner, rallying to knock off the Vikings 17-16 in eight innings.
The non-conference win, as improbable, unlikely and ultimately satisfying as any in memory on the prairie, lifted the never-say-die sluggers to an impeccable 4-1 on the season.
Now of course, the question lingers: are the Wolves, who have shown a penchant for storming from behind, good or lucky?
I say both.
They are young (not a senior on the roster), they are talented, they seem to have no nerves, they play as a team, picking each other up during rough moments while celebrating joyous moments by holding spontaneous group hugs, and they feed on other school’s mistakes.
Trailing 15-8 entering the sixth, very cold, a bit desperate after frittering away two-run leads twice, Coupeville could have quietly packed things in and headed home for dinner.
Except this team doesn’t begin to think that way.
Waiting until they had two outs (and two runners on base), the Wolves then reeled off five straight RBI hits, plating six runners and pulling back within 15-14.
Heather Nastali started things, slapping an RBI single up the middle, then Lauren Rose, Mikayla Elfrank and Katrina McGranahan went rat-a-tat-tat with their own run-producing base knocks.
Sarah Wright, the freshman catcher who plays like a seasoned vet, her raucous encouragement for her teammates reverberating across the prairie, closed the surge by crunching a two-run single that tore off a hunk of second base as it skittered into the outfield.
Bellevue Christian, suddenly flailing wildly, reloaded the bags, but escaped (seemingly) inducing a ground out to end the inning.
Except, the game had turned, and turned convincingly.
The Vikings looked miserable, they looked frazzled, they looked stunned, they looked like they wanted to be anywhere else but trapped on the frozen tundra the locals were passing off as a prairie.
And the Wolves jumped on them and devoured them whole.
First CHS took BC down 1-2-3 for the first (and only time) on the afternoon in the top of the seventh, with McGranahan reaching deep for a last bit of fire in her pitcher’s arm.
Then Coupeville dodged the biggest bullet yet.
With Jae “Flash” LeVine running for Veronica Crownover, who had started the bottom of the seventh with a gorgeous single into the gap, Bellevue had what should have been the KO punch.
Rose lashed a one-out liner down the first-base line, the Viking fielder snagged it in mid-air as LeVine started to break for second, and we were one second away from an unassisted, Coupeville-crushing double play.
Only, LeVine, the Mighty Mite herself, sacrificed her spine, throwing her body back to the bag in mid-stride and somehow, improbably, staying alive.
Which is all Elfrank needed, as the sophomore sensation made boyfriend Jordan Ford’s voice go up three octaves as he screamed like a madman when she immediately doubled LeVine home to tie the game.
Now, this being a game like no other, played in conditions that made grown men cry (starting with me…), there was no way it could end immediately.
The Viking third-baseman, who had taken a shot to the hand earlier in the game, somehow went deep into the hole two batters later to throw Wright out by a step, preventing attempt #1 at a walk-off hit and sending us to extra innings.
With both teams playing the eighth under tie-breaker rules (teams started with a runner at second), Bellevue eked out a run to re-take the lead.
At which point Hope “The Surgeon” Lodell decided to make a bid for automatic, early induction into the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame.
Fighting through the swirling winds in center field, Lodell snagged a high, arcing shot for the second out of the inning, then unleashed a cannon shot that nearly ripped Wright’s glove off her hand at home.
She held on though, even through a pop that sounded like someone had decided to go duck-hunting on the prairie, and slapped the inning-ending tag on a Viking runner who meekly collapsed in a pile and stayed down.
Roaring like a wild woman, Wright charged into a pile of her teammates as Lodell sprinted in to join the giddy melee.
Now, let’s stop for a moment and remember, Coupeville was still down a run.
Not that it mattered, because Bellevue took the field looking like the walking dead.
When you face the team of destiny and fail to land the knockout punch, you know, deep in your heart, the bell is about to toll for thee.
And, of course, it did, because this is a fairy tale come true.
Coupeville juiced the bags, thanks to a dropped ball at third (divine providence) and some crafty base-running, before Tamika Nastali and LeVine brought home the tying and winning runs with back-to-back bases-loaded walks.
As joy swept the land, as bitterly cold fans staggered around hugging each other (mainly for warmth), as the Wolves danced on the field and the Vikings stared into a dark abyss that even a stop at McDonald’s wouldn’t fix, one thing was certain.
Call it fate.
Call it destiny.
But call it amazing.
