Adeline Maynes works her magic in the pitcher’s circle. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
“That was the most complete game we played this year.”
Having watched his very-young Coupeville High School softball squad dismantle visiting Nooksack Valley 11-2 Friday, Wolf diamond guru Kevin McGranahan was in a great mood.
The non-conference victory, coming against a school which won a 1A state softball title in 2022, is a huge feather in the cap for the 2B Wolves.
Now 13-4 on the season, Coupeville, which starts three 8th graders and two freshmen, has one more regular-season game left on the schedule.
That’s a home tilt next Friday, May 10 with South Whidbey, a team it beat 20-9 on the road way back in the season opener in mid-March.
After that, the Wolves wait until May 18, when they travel to Centralia to play a District 4 team to be named later in a winner-to-state, loser-out playoff rumble.
With no seniors, but a lineup which can deliver from the top of the order to the bottom, McGranahan likes what he’s seeing.
“It’s a good time to be hitting our stride,” he said, “Hopefully we can maintain it for two weeks.”
Facing off with Nooksack, the Wolves came out wearing black uniforms, and gunning to take down the Pioneers, who hail from one of the toughest sports leagues in the state.
“Don’t use up all your pitches. I need you for seven innings today,” McGranahan had told 8th grade pitcher Adeline Maynes as she warmed up with catcher Teagan Calkins.
The young ace was listening, as she came out on fire, picking up two of her seven strikeouts in the first frame.
Maynes not only pitched with passion, but she also slung smartly, letting her defense back her up.
Taylor Brotemarkle and Sydney Van Dyke, holding down the middle of the infield, snared hot liners, while third baseman Madison McMillan, crashing hard, speared a bunt out of the air to deny a Nooksack hitter.
Sydney Van Dyke encourages her pitcher. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
The Wolf outfield, comprised of Jada Heaton, Mia Farris, and Capri Anter, gobbled up everything that came its way on an overcast, but warm and tranquil (at least for this sun-free spring) afternoon.
And then there was Calkins, in full “Red Dragon” mode, springing up like a jack in the box to snare a popped-up bunt for one out, before pivoting and firing a strike to sure-handed Haylee Armstrong at first to double off a straying runner.
Maynes only spot of trouble came in the third, when Nooksack briefly cut the lead from 6-0 to 6-2, but then the calm ‘n collected middle schooler bore down and escaped thanks to back-to-back strikeouts.
At the plate, the Wolves were swinging hot, cracking 14 hits, with eight different players collecting at least one base knock.
Armstrong and Brotemarkle bashed singles in the first, before McMillan and Heaton delivered the game-busters.
McMillan kept Grandpa Gordon busy on the scorebook, launching a two-run double to left field which left her bat like a laser.
Meanwhile her fellow junior perfectly placed a two-run single about five feet over the shortstop’s outstretched glove, as Heaton used her bat to paint a best-seller.
Up 4-0 after one inning of play, Coupeville tacked on two more in the second, scoring both after it already had two outs.
With Anter aboard after one of her three hits, CHS went boom-bam-boom with the middle of the order.
Brotemarkle, mashing the ball and taking names, zipped a ball off a glove, before McMillan scorched a hot grounder which burned a hole down the first-base line.
That brought Calkins into the spotlight, and she delivered for the 10,047th time, lacing a two-run single into deep left field to the delight of her fervent fan club.
Nooksack did get two runs back, then held Coupeville scoreless in the third and fourth, but the dam broke in the fifth.
Calkins and Van Dyke outhustled Nooksack to get aboard on grounders that could have been, and probably should have been, outs.
Given new life, Coupeville made sure the sting was epic.
Danica Strong plans out her day. “First, destroy Nooksack…” (Mia Farris photo)
Danica Strong, pinch-hitting for Ava Lucero, smoked a two-run double to left to make it 8-2, before Armstrong bashed her own two-run double — this one to right-center — to all but seal the deal at 10-2.
The Wolves, and their super sub, weren’t done, however.
Strong came back around in the sixth to pick up her third RBI of the day, plating Calkins, who hit the ground hard and slid in under the tag.
Down to its final outs, Nooksack swung for the cheap seats, but Maynes wasn’t having it.
She induced a liner to Van Dyke, got a fly ball to Heaton, who chased it down on the run, then closed things by firing three strikes past the final Pioneer hitter.
After that, all that was left was for the Wolves to sing their farewell song to bleachers packed with CHS fans, their voices, showcasing a mix of pride and joy, carrying across the prairie.
Friday stats:
Capri Anter — One double, two singles
Haylee Armstrong — One double, one single
Taylor Brotemarkle — One single, one walk
Teagan Calkins — Three singles, one walk
Jada Heaton — One single
Madison McMillan — One double, one single
Danica Strong — One double
Sydney Van Dyke — One double
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