The Wolves feast. (Kim Brotemarkle photo)
Diamond coach Kevin McGranahan wants to take his Coupeville High School softball team back to the state tourney.
The Wolves were last there in 2019, playing three games in one day against elite competition and holding their own in the spotlight.
Then came the pandemic, wiping out any chance of returning to the big dance in 2020 — no games were even played that spring.
Now, as 2023 unfolds, with this year’s seniors the girls who were denied a season as freshmen, McGranahan and Co. continue to build back towards the big goal.
A two-day, two-game, 320-mile round trip to Onalaska this weekend is proof of that.
Wanting to play the kind of teams the Wolves might meet at state, CHS set up a Saturday doubleheader with the Loggers.
The mission – a team-building trip in which players, coaches, and family members left Whidbey Island Friday, ended on a high note as McGranahan’s squad earned a split at Onalaska.
The Wolves fell 5-1 against a top-caliber pitcher in the opener, then unleashed holy heck with their bats in the nightcap, rolling to a 23-9 victory in a game mercy-ruled after six innings.
The split lifts Coupeville to 8-5 heading into its biggest game of the season, when Friday Harbor travels to Whidbey Tuesday, April 18 for a clash with huge playoff implications.
Win, and CHS will have split its first two games with the Wolverines, after a tough 13-12 road loss at the end of March.
That would set up a winner-take-all clash when the Wolves travel to Friday Harbor May 4, with the victor claiming the lone playoff spot up for grabs among the 2B schools in the Northwest 2B/1B League.
For now, though, the Wolves can bask in the glow of their most-recent trip.
After arriving in Tumwater (where, side note, I attended school from grades 6-12), Coupeville watched the T-Birds play Rochester, then put in some practice time.
“The Tumwater coaches were nice enough to let us use their practice field,” McGranahan said. “A class act.”
Starting the day right. (Katrina McGranahan photo)
The Wolves also found time for a team dinner, a celebration of Wolf Mom Kim Brotemarkle’s “25th birthday” and an early morning visit to Dutch Bros Coffee for “the morning pick-me-up.”
Once on the field, Coupeville faced off with an Onalaska squad which McGranahan hailed as “a great group of girls and coaches, who were very good hosts.”
Game #1:
CHS wanted a major challenge, and they found it in Logger sophomore hurler Lisa Liddell.
“Their ace pitcher was exactly what I was looking for,” McGranahan said. “Hard throwing with good command – something we don’t see in our league.
“She held us in check; we had some good hits but couldn’t sustain rallies. But good for our girls to see that type of pitching.”
Coupeville pitcher Allie Lucero was on target as well, whiffing seven Loggers and never letting her foes put together any big surges.
Onalaska put up a run in the first, two more in the third, and one each in the fourth and fifth, with the Wolves scratching out their tally in the top of the sixth.
Taylor Brotemarkle bashed a leadoff double, then came flying home to score on a groundout RBI off the bat of Madison McMillan, before Liddell shut things back down.
Game #2:
Let the bodies hit the floor, and the bats hit the ball.
With a different Onalaska pitcher in the circle, Coupeville unleashed, pounding out 27 hits, including nine which went for extra bases.
The Wolves put nine runs on the scoreboard in the top of the first, effectively ending the game right there, then built a 14-2 lead coming out of the top of the third.
The Loggers managed to prevent the 10-run mercy rule from being enforced after the fifth inning, having trimmed the margin to 15-6, but that just set CHS off again.
With Teagan Calkins and Mia Farris both picking up two base knocks in the sixth frame, the Wolves sent eight more runners zipping across the plate.
Everyone chipped in, but senior Gwen Gustafson was especially efficient in the nightcap, with all four of her hits resulting in RBI’s.
Wolf 8th grader Haylee Armstrong enjoys a breakfast of champions before the doubleheader. (Michelle Armstrong photo)
Whichever team emerges from District 1, whether it’s Coupeville or Friday Harbor, that squad plays a team from District 4 — where Onalaska hails from — in a loser-out, winner-to-state playoff game.
Having made their epic trek this weekend, and played solidly, the Wolves are ready for whatever awaits them, McGranahan said.
“Our girls now know that we can beat teams in District 4,” he said. “We can have some confidence if we have to come down here again.”
Saturday stats:
Haylee Armstrong — Two walks
Taylor Brotemarkle — One single, three doubles
Teagan Calkins — Five singles, one double
Mia Farris — One single, three doubles, one triple
Gwen Gustafson — Four singles, one double
Jada Heaton — Three singles, one walk
Allie Lucero — Two triples, one walk
Maya Lucero — Three singles, one double, one walk
Madison McMillan— Three singles
Melanie Navarro — One walk
Sofia Peters — One single
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