The Wolf defense was strong all day Monday, with Kailey Kellner pulling off a slick unassisted double play at first. (John Fisken photo)
Shelby Jeffries is a bad, bad woman.
The Sultan High School senior, who signed a college softball scholarship after her sophomore season, cranked two over-the-fence home runs Monday, giving her 22 dingers for her stellar prep career and lifting the Turks to a come-from-behind 6-1 win over host Coupeville.
The non-conference loss evened the Wolves early season record at 1-1.
Jeffries, who has destroyed Coupeville each time she has faced them, was her usual overpowering self, striking out 12 Wolves from the pitcher’s circle.
She then tacked on two moon shots, starting off with a towering solo round-tripper that soared well over the left field fence and landed somewhere down the street around the produce department at Prairie Center.
Even with that epic tater, though, Coupeville’s defense, and strong pitching from sophomore Katrina McGranahan, kept the game knotted at 1-1 until the top of the seventh.
The Wolves had broken through early, eking out a run in the bottom of the first by being aggressive and always looking to take an extra base.
Mikayla Elfrank beat out a one-out infield single to kick things off, then took second and third on consecutive pitches that the Sultan catcher bobbled.
With her teammate perched on third, McGranahan drew a walk and promptly stole second.
With Jeffries possibly on the ropes, the Wolves went for blood, but Sultan forced Elfrank at the plate on a chopper back to the mound.
Shrugging that off, McGranahan zipped home a pitch later, taking advantage of a passed ball.
The slim lead held up until the top of the fourth, when the Turks finally got their first hit off McGranahan, who had whiffed six through the first three innings.
Leading off, Jeffries caught a pitch that got up a little, launching it like a rocket on its way to the moon.
Consensus among Wolf fans was it was the longest home run anyone had seen in the history of Coupeville’s softball diamond.
It would have been easy for the Wolves to break at that moment, but they didn’t, instead pulling off sweet double plays in consecutive innings.
Elfrank turned the first one, snatching a grounder at short, stepping on the bag and firing across the field to first baseman Kailey Kellner to beat the runner by a step.
An inning later, it was Kellner putting on a one-woman show, snaring a liner and hopping to her left to double off a straying Turk, who slid into second only to discover she never should have left first.
Coupeville had runners on in the fourth, fifth and sixth, but couldn’t bring them home to break the tie.
Their best chance came in the fifth, when Veronica Crownover drew a pinch-hit walk, took second on a wild pitch, then went to third and partway around when Elfrank’s hard chopper was booted.
The ball didn’t get quite far enough away to make it worth the risk, though, and Crownover was forced to retreat to the bag, where she was left hanging when a strikeout ended the inning.
Sultan finally struck in the seventh, putting runners at the corners with one out.
After trying and failing to get a bunt down twice, a Turk hitter yanked the bat back and delivered what would turn out to be the game-winning run with a well-placed RBI single.
A juggled grounder let another run come in, and then it was time for Jeffries to cap things.
Taking her final swing at Coupeville, she tied a ribbon on four years of beatings by crushing a three-run long ball that Wolf center fielder Hope Lodell could do nothing with as it dropped over her head and the fence in the deepest part of the park.
After that, Sultan exited stage right to go mash on Cascade Conference foes, while the Wolves pivoted and immediately started getting ready for Concrete’s visit on Wednesday.
