Jae LeVine: “I’m a hittin’ machine, coach! A machine, I tell you!!” She proved it Friday, with three hits to spark another Wolf win. (John Fisken photo)
“I wish we could start games as fast as we finish them.”
The Coupeville High School softball squad keeps winning, but they also keep prematurely aging coach Kevin McGranahan.
Friday afternoon was another perfect example, as the Wolves went from the team that couldn’t score to the team that wouldn’t stop tallying runs en-route to a 10-5 thrashing of host Concrete in extra innings.
The non-conference victory, coming in its first road game of the season, lifted CHS to 3-1.
The game, played in the shadow of snow-topped mountains, saved most of its drama for the latter stages.
In the early going it was all Concrete, as the Lions bashed two home runs while building a 4-0 lead through five innings.
Coupeville almost lost one of its starters when left fielder Tiffany Briscoe went up and over the fence trying to bring back one of the dingers.
Despite getting the wind knocked out of her pretty good, the eternally feisty one refused to leave the game, however, and ended up being a huge key to the comeback.
With the Wolf baseball squad strolling to a blowout win just feet away, the softball players picked up on the good vibes, and, sparked by the roaring voice of catcher Sarah Wright, suddenly surged in the sixth.
Mikayla Elfrank, Katrina McGranahan, Wright, Hope Lodell and Kailey Kellner all shot across the plate, as Coupeville reclaimed the lead at 5-4.
Then promptly gave it back, surrendering a run in the bottom half of the frame.
But, at that point, with a tie game instead of what was starting to look like a lopsided loss, the Wolves were the calm, cool and collected one between the two squads and it showed when the game crawled into extra innings.
Before the top of the eighth was barely under way, Coupeville was back at it, mixing big hits, hard-earned walks and a ruthless running style on the bags.
By the time the Wolves were done, they had doubled their output and all that was left was for Concrete to go down one-two-three, rather meekly at that, in the bottom half of the inning.
Still cracking off her pitches at a late hour, McGranahan, who struck out six on the day, smothered any Lion comeback hopes, setting off a celebration from her bench and a sigh of relief from her father.
“A total team win. Everyone contributed with hits and very timely hitting, just very late again,” Kevin McGranahan said. “They fought back as a team. This is what we are this year, a scrappy team that just won’t go away.”
Coupeville racked up a season-high 12 hits in the game, with Joltin’ Jae LeVine leading the way with three singles.
McGranahan crunched a triple and joined Kellner and Wright with two hits apiece, while Lauren Rose smacked a double.
Briscoe and Elfrank rounded out the hit parade with singles, while Hope Lodell was a perfect four-for-four, drawing walks in every plate appearance.
