Katrina McGranahan whacked a single and a triple Wednesday at Chimacum. (John Fisken photo)
They were right there on the edge of the dream.
Six outs away from beating Chimacum for the first time in three tries this season and clinching a share of the Olympic League crown, the Coupeville High School softball team had success slip through its fingers.
The Cowboys, a disciplined, veteran team which thrives on capitalizing on the smallest mistakes, rallied for six runs in the bottom of the sixth inning Monday, upending the visiting Wolves 7-2.
The loss drops Coupeville to 6-3 in league play, 15-3 overall.
The Wolves, who are undefeated against teams which don’t have the word Cowboys on the front of their jerseys, close the regular season with a non-conference doubleheader Wednesday at Sequim.
CHS, which finished second in the Olympic League — its best showing in the three-year history of the conference — opens the district playoffs May 19.
Chimacum (7-1, 9-3) clinches its third straight league title, a testament to the six seniors it honored in post-game festivities.
While Shanya and Mechelle Nisbet are the undisputed leaders of the Cowboys, it was one of the other seniors, Kelle Settje, who delivered the coup de grâce.
The Cowboy outfielder looped a two-run single into right, dropping the ball into a narrow patch of open grass, to turn a 2-1 Wolf lead into a 3-2 Chimacum advantage.
Settje’s blow came after a throwing error and a walk put the first two Cowboy hitters in the sixth on base.
Up until then, the home town hitters had experienced little luck against Coupeville hurler Katrina McGranahan, who gave up a run in the first, then started throwing up zeroes on the scoreboard.
Whiffing six and helping herself with her glove — she pulled off a nifty double play to close the second, snagging a popup and doubling a straying runner off of first — McGranahan was in fine form all day.
She had a two-hitter headed into the sixth, even while dealing with a home plate ump with a shall we say, “creative” strike zone.
That was when things fell apart a bit, and the well-seasoned Cowboys took advantage, mixing well-placed base-knocks, a Wolf miscue or two, and at least one blatant howler of a call by the man in blue to plate six in the inning.
It was an emotional killer, as the Wolves had held on to their lead since the top of the second, and were playing stellar ball.
If there was any downside to the first five-and-a-half innings, it was Coupeville once again had Chimacum on the ropes, but couldn’t deliver the knockout punch.
Much as in their last clash with the Cowboys, the Wolves had runners on base all day long, but found a game-busting hit — which has come so frequently against other teams — elusive.
The first inning is a perfect example.
After opening the game with consecutive singles from Lauren Rose, Jae LeVine and McGranahan (Rose nimbly side-stepped Mechelle Nisbet at the plate to score the opening run), CHS was on fire.
Add a walk to cleanup slugger Sarah Wright and the Wolves had the bases juiced with no outs, a hit away from really punching Chimacum in the gut right out of the gate.
Except it didn’t happen.
A popup, a strikeout and a hard ground-out which Shanya Nisbet gobbled up stranded all three runners, setting a tone for the rest of the game.
Coupeville did score one more, plating Tiffany Briscoe in the second.
The senior left-fielder walked, went to second on a passed ball, took third on a fielder’s choice and scampered home when Rose chopped a ball off the first-baseman’s glove.
But Rose, sitting at first with just one out, was left on base, and the Wolves stranded eight base runners on the day.
Coupeville put people on base in six of seven innings, but three times saw runners at third unable to come around.
The final one was McGranahan, who lashed a two-out triple to right in the top of the seventh in a bid to prolong the game.
The Wolves finished with seven base-knocks, as LeVine (two singles), McGranahan (single, triple) and Hope Lodell (two singles) had two hits apiece.
Rose rounded out the hit parade with a single.
Coupeville Sports 